Change the Channel
My mother and I sat watching a nice TV program when one of us accidentally clicked the remote. Our program disappeared; we were plunged into a raunchy police drama fraught with domestic violence, drugs, and gunfire. We both recoiled. I snatched the remote and hit another button; screeching tires and gunfire vanished. In an instant, we were deposited into an easy-listening channel. Calming flute and guitar music played against the backdrop of a gently flowing waterfall. What a difference it made to simply change the channel.
I discovered something stunning in Scripture. I found that I could alter my emotional state by simply changing the channel in my mind. Last week, in my blog post, Deep Roots, I talked with you about David and how he encouraged himself in the Lord in 1 Samuel 30:6.
Writing the blog post last week led me to a scenario in Lamentations 3: 16-26, where the prophet Jeremiah engaged in a similar process. Though Jeremiah was not on the run or hiding in a cave like David, he was in dire circumstances. He had just witnessed the overthrow of his homeland and the beloved city of Jerusalem; death and destruction were all around him. He had ample reason to be grieved in spirit, yet within the span of a few verses, he walks himself from being completely downcast toward one of the most hope-filled declarations of faith recorded in Scripture.
However, Jeremiah begins by lamenting the bitterness of his circumstances in these words:
“My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.” Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.” (Lamentations 3:18b-20)
Did you hear Jeremiah? How does one become so consumed with the “wormwood and the gall” of their life that they have lost all hope and are close to giving up? When we lose hope in God, we forget Who He is. We forget that He is the Ancient of Days, that He holds this world together, and all our days are in His hands. We forget that His word is pure and holy truth—the very breath of God. When we lose hope, we forget that His promises are trustworthy and as sure as the rising sun. Though we will not understand His timing or His ways, we can trust the heart of Him, Who is right and true.
When we lose hope, we begin looking at our circumstances and evaluating the truth of Scripture in light of them. We ask ourselves questions like: “If He’s so strong, then why ___?”. Jeremiah was there. He was looking about him at the smoldering ruins of the city he loved, with the stench of death in his nostrils, asking similar questions. In light of this, isn’t it interesting how Jeremiah links his inability to go on with a loss of hope in God?
However, Jeremiah did something that was a game-changer for him. He changed the channel in his mind; it’s right there in verse 21:
“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul. “therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who seek him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” (Lamentations 3:21-26)
Jeremiah likely stood among the ruins of his burned-out home and, with all the strength he could muster, wrenched his gaze away from the devastation around him. He then reached through the dust and smoke of his circumstances and tightly grabbed ahold of the truth of Scripture. He shifted his gaze from the “wormwood and gall” about him, lifting them to the God Who stands larger than all of our hopeless circumstances.
Jeremiah inspires me. I too wrestle with troubling situations, and my life, like yours, has its fair share of “wormwood and gall.” However, like our brother Jeremiah, I too, can change the channel in my mind. I can join Jeremiah as he reaches through the debris of his broken life and holds fast to the truth of Scripture. With my hope in God restored, I can stand alongside Jeremiah, and belt out in faith the hymn lyrics that his declaration of faith inspired.
“Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father, There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not; Thy compassions they fail not, As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be. Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning, new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hast provided—Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!”