May 28, Evening

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope." — Lamentations 3:21 · KJV

Memory is often the slave of despondency. Despairing minds recall every dark foreboding of the past and dwell on every gloomy feature of the present; and so memory, dressed in mourning, hands the mind a cup of bitterness. But there is no necessity for this. Wisdom can readily transform memory into an angel of comfort. The same power of recollection that brings so many gloomy omens in its left hand can be trained to carry a wealth of hopeful signs in its right. Memory need not wear a crown of iron; she may bind her forehead with a band of gold spangled with stars. That is exactly what happened in Jeremiah's experience. In the previous verse memory had brought him to deep humbling of soul: "My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me." Now that 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 killed his despair with the other. As a general principle, if we would use our memories more wisely, we could, even in our darkest distress, strike a match that would instantly light the lamp of comfort. God does not need to create something new on the earth in order to restore believers to joy; if they would prayerfully rake through 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 brightly as before. Let it be our practice to remember the lovingkindness of the Lord and to recount His deeds of grace. Let us open that volume of recollection so richly illustrated with memorials of mercy, and we will soon be happy. In this way memory becomes, as one poet called it, the inner spring of joy, and when the divine Comforter bends it to His service, it can be the chief of earthly comforters.