Spurgeon: May PM
* 05/28/PM
"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope."
--Lamentations 3:21
Memory is frequently the bondslave of despondency. Despairing
minds call to remembrance every dark foreboding in the past, and
dilate upon every gloomy feature in the present; thus memory,
clothed in sackcloth, presents to the mind a cup of mingled gall
and wormwood. There is, however, no necessity for this. Wisdom
can readily transform memory into an angel of comfort. That same
recollection which in its left hand brings so many gloomy omens,
may be trained to bear in its right a wealth of hopeful signs.
She need not wear a crown of iron, she may encircle her brow
with a fillet of gold, all spangled with stars. Thus it was in
Jeremiah's experience: in the previous verse memory had brought
him to deep humiliation of soul: "My soul hath them still in
remembrance, and is humbled in me"; and now this same memory
restored him to life and comfort. "This I recall to my mind,
therefore have I hope." Like a two-edged sword, his memory first
killed his pride with one edge, and then slew his despair with
the other. As a general principle, if we would exercise our
memories more wisely, we might, in our very darkest distress,
strike a match which would instantaneously kindle the lamp of
comfort. There is no need for God to create a new thing upon the
earth in order to restore believers to joy; if they would
prayerfully rake the ashes of the past, they would find light
for the present; and if they would turn to the book of truth and
the throne of grace, their candle would soon shine as aforetime.
Be it ours to remember the lovingkindness of the Lord, and to
rehearse His deeds of grace. Let us open the volume of
recollection which is so richly illuminated with memorials of
mercy, and we shall soon be happy. Thus memory may be, as
Coleridge calls it, "the bosom-spring of joy," and when the
Divine Comforter bends it to His service, it may be chief among
earthly comforters.