I’m so grateful and thankful for this rain. Now, most of the time that’s not true for me. I love the sunshine. But yesterday, I was not out very long, but it hit me. I came back in the house and told my wife, “Boy, I have really been hit.” It was allergies.
I got into bed and took some antihistamines, and I was in bed for about three hours. Finally, I recovered some. So, I recovered this morning, and I’m thankful for that—and for this rain that will help us a little bit with our allergies. I’m thankful for the rain as well as the sunshine.
Well, love lifted us. Love lifted me. I’m so grateful and thankful. Love has lifted, I think, probably everyone in this room out of the pit of sin and death, out of a life of despair. I’m just so thankful for the Lord’s love this morning.
I want us all to be thankful for His love this morning. In fact, I hope that, through the Scriptures that I read, in the end we will see how great the Lord’s love is.
These Scriptures are very comforting for many, particularly those who are in deep suffering and have gone through deep trials in their lives. Often, the Lord will bring you to this Scripture. It is from Lamentations 3.
I am reading from the Darby translation, beginning with Lamentations 3:19.
Remember Thou mine affliction and my wandering,
The wormwood and the gall?
My soul hath them constantly in remembrance,
And is humbled within me.
This I recall to heart;
Therefore, I have hope.
It is of the Lord’s loving-kindness that we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning:
Great is Thy faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul;
Therefore, I will hope in Him.
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore, I will hope in Him.
Now let us go to Lamentations 5:21.
Turn Thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned;
Renew our days as of old.
Turn Thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned. Renew our days as of old.
Well, as I said, this psalm—I mean, it is more like poetry, if you really read it. You will understand that this is more of a poetic style than an explanation of doctrine or the giving forth of history.
In this, we see the soul of one who is suffering deeply. I do think that this lamentation also reflects the soul of our Lord Jesus Christ as He died on Calvary’s cross for us.
The book of Lamentations is quite interesting. There is no author given to this book, but most think it is, of course, Jeremiah the prophet. I would not say that my agreement means a whole lot, but I do agree with that. I think it is fairly obvious.
Actually, in the Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Torah from the third century—probably one of the first Greek translations—the preface to the book of Lamentations says this:
It came to pass, after Israel had been taken captive and Jerusalem had become desolate, that Jeremiah sat and wept, lamenting with this lament over Jerusalem, and was sad.
The weeping prophet, Jeremiah—a dear brother in the Lord, who poured out his heart and love for the people of God. I think he really represents God in His heart toward us sinners.
Jeremiah prophesied for over forty years. His prophecy began during the reign of King Josiah. Now, King Josiah was a good king. He was one who tried to bring the nation of Israel back to the Lord. They had gotten quite far away from the Lord.
He was the one who started tearing down the idols and trying to reform. He did do that. But unfortunately, the people’s hearts still were not with the king and his reforms. Their hearts were getting colder and colder toward the Lord and falling deeper and deeper into sin.
This was the condition under which Jeremiah began to prophesy. He prophesied under this king for many years, probably around eighteen years, I think. He was always trying to warn the people where their sins would lead them and that they needed to repent and return.
That was his ministry. That was his message. Jeremiah preached his heart out, but the people did not respond.
The Lord eventually had to destroy Jerusalem and the temple. You know, they thought they were okay because they had the temple, even though they were deep in sin: “I’ve got the temple. We’ve got the temple.”
The Lord took the temple away—that physical temple. He took it away. Jeremiah had to see that. Jeremiah, of course, loved God. He loved that temple. He loved Jerusalem. It was God’s place, where He put His name.
But the name of the Lord was no longer being upheld by His people. So, the Lord took away the thing in which they were putting their trust. They were not putting their trust in Him, but in the physical temple, and He had to take it away.
Jeremiah had to witness the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian Empire of Jerusalem and the temple. He also had to witness many whom he knew being taken away captive to Babylon.
In the beginning, they took away the nobles, one of whom was Daniel. Daniel came from a noble family and was taken into the court of King Nebuchadnezzar. I am sure they knew each other, even though the Bible does not say much about it. They probably did know each other through their teachings.
Later on, when they were taken over by the Babylonians, Jeremiah told the people, “Look, we are in this condition because of our sins and because we have gotten away from God. Now God has brought the Babylonians upon us, and we are captives because of our sins.”
He said, “We need to yield to that. We need to be submissive to God’s hand of discipline.” But they refused his words.
There was a little rising up about eight years later under Jehoiachin, the king who had been established by the Babylonians. There was rebellion against the government, so they came once again to Jerusalem. They put down the rebellion, and then they took away more captives—the craftsmen, the well-known people, and the more prominent ones.
One of those taken back was the prophet Ezekiel. If you remember reading in Scripture, Ezekiel was by the river Chebar along with the captives. They were located about two hundred miles north of the city of Babylon.
He was with the captives there by the river Chebar, where he saw the great glory of the Lord in his ministry. So we have Daniel in the palace, Ezekiel with the captives by Chebar, and Jeremiah left with the poor in Jerusalem—mostly farmers and people who took care of cattle and sheep.
But Jeremiah’s heart loved them. Yet once again, the people kicked against God’s discipline. They began to rise up against the Babylonians under King Zedekiah.
Zedekiah was a weak king. Actually, his commanders were the ones really in control. Johanan and the others said, “Look, we’ve had enough of this Babylonian control. We’re going to Egypt.”
Jeremiah warned them against it. He said, “No, you should not go. You should submit to God’s disciplining hand.” But they refused, went to Egypt, and took Jeremiah with them.
He was there in Egypt for fourteen years, where he prophesied. As far as we know, that is where he died.
So you see, Jeremiah had a very difficult life. He lived in very turbulent times. He loved the people. He had prophesied for almost twenty-five years until the destruction of Jerusalem. He had warned the people, yet they rejected his warnings.
He told them that they should submit themselves under the mighty hand of God, but they refused and rebelled. His message was, “You need to submit to the yoke of the Chaldeans of Babylon.”
Because of that message, his people considered him a traitor. There were other prophets who prophesied that they would only be in captivity a couple of years. They prevailed and had Jeremiah put in jail and then put in the stocks, out in the town square.
Some wanted to kill Jeremiah for being a false prophet. They were the false prophets. He was a representative of the Lord to the people.
Zedekiah also had him in prison because of his message. He said, “You are turning the people against me. You are turning the people away from trying to overthrow this government.” So they put him in jail.
Within the prison there was a cistern, which is basically a well. It did not have any water in it, but they let him down into this well. The Word of God says that he sunk in the mire because it was murky and muddy. They left him there to die.
They did not like Jeremiah. He certainly was not beloved by the ones whom he loved.
They never returned to the Lord during Jeremiah’s lifetime. He ministered his whole life out of love for those people, but he never saw any fruit. It was amazing.
I guess the one comfort he had was that, as you can read in Jeremiah 29:10, the Lord met him and said, “Jeremiah, these people will be in captivity for seventy years. But after seventy years, a remnant will return to build My house.”
That was an encouragement, and he prophesied that. Now, interestingly enough, just to show you how faithful the Lord is: though Jeremiah saw no fruit, there was fruit.
In the sixty-eighth year of the captivity in Babylon, Daniel was reading the prophecies of Jeremiah. The Lord had told Jeremiah to write them down. Three times in the book of Jeremiah, He tells Jeremiah to write these things down. “I want the people to know it when they finally return.”
So Daniel was reading Jeremiah’s prophecies, and he saw in the sixty-eighth year of captivity that there were only two years left before they were to be released. He began to pray and be before God.
God brought him to the prophet Isaiah, who had prophesied two hundred years before. In Isaiah 44:28, Isaiah had prophesied that the people would go into captivity, but that King Cyrus—named by name two hundred years before—would be God’s servant.
He said that King Cyrus would let a remnant return and would build God’s house. Daniel, being in the court, had a presence with the king, so he likely shared this with him. The Bible does not say that, but most likely it was Daniel who shared this with the king.
The king was so touched that he said, “Yes, I want to build a house for God.” That is when we remember the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and Haggai and those prophets. They returned to build the house of God. So we see how faithful God was.
Jeremiah lived an extraordinarily difficult life. I think, to appreciate this lamentation, you need to see how difficult his life was and how he lived.
As you read the book of Jeremiah and Lamentations, you get the impression that there was really no joy in his life. There was seemingly no happiness in his life. There were no positive results that he could see from his ministry.
Not only that, he was hated by the ones he loved. He was ridiculed, despised, and rejected.
What made it more difficult was that it was not because of Jeremiah himself. It was because of the word that God had given him to give to the people that he suffered all these things.
I thought about it. Was anybody in the Bible who suffered more than Jeremiah? I thought about Job. Job had everything taken away in a day’s time. But in the end, Job’s self-righteousness was discovered, and when he saw the Lord, his whole life changed. In the end, he received a double blessing.
Then I thought of Paul. The Lord even told Paul how greatly he would suffer for His name, and Paul did suffer greatly. Brothers and sisters, we know of the beatings, the shipwrecks, running for his life, being imprisoned, and the Judaizers following him everywhere he went, trying to discount his message.
In the end, it says that almost all had left Paul—the ones who were close to him. It did not mean all had actually left him. There were a few, Timothy and a few others, still following him. There had also been fruit, because many of the Lord’s testimonies had been raised up because of Paul.
There is only one person in the whole Bible whom I could think of who, I believe—and this is my opinion—suffered more than Jeremiah. Who was that? It was Christ, our Lord and Savior.
He had a message: “To come into this kingdom, you must repent of your sins. Come to Him for life.” He preached all His life.
The Word says, “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” He also said of His life on this earth that birds have nests and foxes have holes, but He had nowhere to lay His head.
He was despised and rejected, Isaiah said. A worm, He was called. He was scourged beyond recognition before they took Him to the cross of Calvary. His visage was so marred that you could not even recognize our Lord, and they hung Him there on the cross.
He died not because He had a problem. He died because we were sinful people. He loved us. Even as He went to the cross, He said, “Lord, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.” How He loved.
So we see in Jeremiah something of a reflection of the love of God for His own, even though they are in sin and turning away from Him. His heart cries out. It is the Lord’s heart that is wounded—unfortunately, not the people’s heart. His heart is pierced. Jeremiah’s heart was pierced.
Let us look at this lamentation for a moment. We will read Lamentations 3:19 again.
Remember Thou mine affliction and my wandering,
The wormwood and the gall?
My soul hath them constantly in remembrance,
And is humbled in me.
How deeply Jeremiah’s soul was affected. To the depths of his soul and being, he was affected by what he had gone through—his afflictions.
It speaks about his wandering, and he did wander and ended up in Egypt, dying there. He speaks of the wormwood and the gall. Wormwood is one of the most bitter plants there is. Gall is a bitter substance—perhaps even considered a poison.
The wormwood and the gall were in his life, things that he had experienced. He says, “I have them constantly in remembrance.” It was not just something that happened occasionally. His soul was constantly affected.
His deep agony of soul came because of his deep love for the people. The deeper he loved the people, the more he agonized in his soul.
When he spoke to the people, he was condemning their sin, but not them. He wanted them to return. He loved them.
You would think that Jeremiah, after all his ministry and no results, would say, “Well, Lord, just go ahead and take them out. They are not going to respond.” But he did not. He loved them, and he kept on loving them. He felt the pain deeply. It affected his soul greatly.
I could not help but think of Joseph. Remember Joseph being put in prison? Potiphar’s wife had accused him, so Potiphar had him put in prison. It was not his fault. He had done nothing wrong, and he spent those years in prison.
In the New Testament, it says the iron bars entered into his soul. It deeply affected his soul.
I think for most who experience a life like Jeremiah’s, the bitterness of life would make us bitter. We would be bitter toward the ones who despised us, the ones who rejected us—the ones whom we loved and yet who rejected us.
Not only would we be bitter toward the people, but we would probably be bitter with the Lord for allowing such things in our lives. “Lord, how could You do this? I love these ones so much. They despise and reject me. Lord, I know You have allowed it.” Eventually, people begin to blame the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, if you ever find yourself in bitterness toward the ones you love, or bitterness with the Lord—which many times we are unwilling to admit—we need to humble ourselves before Him.
It says in this word, “He had these things constantly in remembrance and is humbled in me.” Humble. Jeremiah was humbled in this, not bitter. His spirit was humble.
He was not offended with the Lord. He was submissive to the Lord and continued to give the Lord’s word to the people.
Now, do not let me misrepresent Jeremiah. Jeremiah was greatly distressed at times. You will probably remember the story of where, one time, he stopped speaking.
Then he said, “But God’s word was like a fire in my bones. I had to speak.” He had to.
Jeremiah’s testimony was not that he was never distressed, but that he was not bitter or offended. He was humble before the Lord. He had a humble, submissive spirit. He knew that the Lord’s discipline was for the people’s good, and he knew it was for his good.
He accepted it and was willing to yield himself under God’s hand, as he hoped the people would.
Jeremiah saw much bitterness, witnessed much sorrow, and was greatly discouraged. Yet he saw how patient God was with His people and with those who were turning from Him. He saw the patience and longsuffering of the Lord. It humbled Jeremiah.
Then it says in Lamentations 3:21:
This I recall to heart;
Therefore, I have hope.
“This I recall; therefore, I have hope.” I think this is a real secret in Jeremiah’s life. How did Jeremiah survive such a difficult life? I think we begin to see something of the secret of his survival.
He said, “This I recall; therefore, I have hope.” He was in a hopeless situation. No hope.
I could not help but think of Abraham. You remember, he was a hundred years old. He said, “Lord, I have no child. I cannot have any children. My wife cannot have any children. There is no hope.” But it says Abraham hoped against hope because he had the Lord.
This is a secret. He says, “I have these things, this bitterness, constantly in remembrance. But you know what? There is something else I remember.” He begins to focus on the Lord Himself.
He remembers the Lord, and he begins to have hope. This is what comes to his heart as he turns his heart toward the Lord:
It is of the Lord’s loving-kindness that we are not consumed.
Brothers and sisters, it is obvious. I am sure, as Jeremiah looked at the nation of Israel, he wondered why God had not just totally consumed them. After all those years of calling to His people through Jeremiah, they still rejected God’s love and God’s message.
Jeremiah said, “Lord, it is only Your loving-kindness that we, as a people—as Your people—are not consumed. Our sins are great.”
I love Jeremiah because he said, “It is of the Lord’s loving-kindness that we are not consumed.” He did not say, “It is of the Lord’s loving-kindness that they are not consumed.”
In other words, brothers and sisters, he lived with these people. He loved these people. He was a part of them. He did not look at himself as being separate from them.
Jeremiah was such a dear brother, who loved the Lord and obeyed the Lord. Yet I think Jeremiah knew in his heart that, in the sense of being a sinner, it is always there.
It was of the Lord’s loving-kindness toward him that he had not gone that way and that he was not consumed. But I think the main emphasis of Jeremiah’s statement is that they were so sinful, and yet the Lord had not just taken them out.
I think there were times in Jeremiah’s life when he just felt like he could not go on. That is why he stopped speaking at one point. The suffering and pain in Jeremiah’s life were so deep that, in his soul, he was almost overwhelmed.
But you know what? He was still there. He was still loving the people. He was still praying for them and still ministering to them. He was still there because of the Lord’s loving-kindness. He knew it personally.
I think that is a lesson we all have to learn, isn’t it? The great loving-kindness of the Lord toward us. May the Lord be able to open our eyes to see how great His loving-kindness is toward us. We are not consumed. We are still here.
It says, “Because His compassions fail not.” Our Lord is a compassionate Lord. Our God is a compassionate God.
Brothers and sisters, we were lost and dead in sin, and God the Father sent His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in the Son should not perish but have everlasting life. What compassion God had.
I have to say it: if I were in His position, with His authority, I would have done away with all of them. I would have said, “I have had enough of this human race.” But He did not. He sent His only begotten Son on our behalf to deliver us from our sins.
Jeremiah also experienced the compassion of the Lord. The Lord gave Jeremiah a brother named Baruch, a brother in the Lord. He was the one who actually wrote down the prophecies of Jeremiah. He was like Jeremiah’s secretary and confidant.
Baruch, who was well liked among the leaders, also tried to defend Jeremiah, unsuccessfully. But Jeremiah did have Baruch with him in those turbulent years.
I mentioned when Jeremiah was put in the pit. I think it is an interesting story. Zedekiah had a servant called Ebed-melech. He was an Ethiopian.
Apparently, he had heard Jeremiah’s messages. Apparently, he loved Jeremiah, because he was willing to go before the king on Jeremiah’s behalf and convince King Zedekiah to let Jeremiah out of the pit.
The king yielded, so Jeremiah did have a few who were with him.
You know, the Lord loves us. Brothers and sisters, He has compassion on us, even in our great sufferings. The Lord was always compassionate. He was always showing mercy toward people.
Remember the man who came to our Lord and said, “Lord, if You will, You can heal me.” He said, “I will.” He had pity. He had pity on the lepers who came to Him and healed them, even though nine of the ten turned away and offered no appreciation for what He had done.
He was a compassionate Lord. I remember the people had been following the Lord for three days, and they had not eaten. The Lord turned to His disciples and said, “We need to give them some food. They are hungry, and I have compassion on the people.”
The disciples said, “Well, let us just send them away. Let them go back to their houses. That is the easy way to do this.” But you remember how the Lord took those few fishes and loaves and continued to break them and distribute them among the people. There were twelve baskets full left over.
Compassion and mercy of our Lord Jesus.
Then it goes on to say—and I think this is amazing, considering those forty turbulent years—“Lord, Thy compassions, Thy mercies are new every morning.”
He did not say, “Lord, I thank You that occasionally, once in a while, Your compassions come to me and I am relieved.” He said, “They are new every morning.”
Jeremiah had learned a real secret. Every morning, he came to the Lord and said, “Lord, I avail myself of Your mercies for this day.”
“No matter what I might encounter, Lord, Your loving-kindness and mercies are toward me. Your compassions are toward me. Your compassions are always available. Lord, this day, I receive all of Your compassion and mercy.”
His eyes were opened to see that. Often, brothers and sisters, in our distress—particularly in times of great suffering—we do not recognize the compassions of the Lord in our lives, but they are there.
We just need, by grace, to avail ourselves of those mercies every day.
Then it is like Jeremiah cannot hold it back any longer. He says, “Great is Thy faithfulness. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord. Lord, You are faithful.”
“Lord, I do not see any fruit, but You are faithful. Lord, I do not see any reason to have hope, but You are faithful, and I have hope. Lord, why should I speak another message? Lord, You are faithful. Therefore, I will once again speak.”
Israel experienced the faithfulness of God. He was speaking to them all the time, almost daily, through the prophets Daniel, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, trying to encourage them and restore the whole people.
Thank God there was a remnant. There was a remnant touched by God in that deep period of tribulation. They realized that God had them under discipline, and they were willing to submit to His discipline.
They loved Him, and they wanted to see the testimony rebuilt. They kept that in their hearts. They kept it alive in their hearts. As we know, seventy years later, some returned.
That also means, brothers and sisters, that they had to pass on this passion for the Lord and for the Lord’s house to the younger ones. Most of them did not make it through those seventy years, though a few did.
Jeremiah personally experienced the Lord’s loving, keeping power—the great faithfulness of the Lord in his life. Right in the beginning, when the Lord commissioned Jeremiah, He said, “You are going to destroy and tear down, and then there will be a building up.”
He said, “The people will rise up against you, Jeremiah, but I will not let them prevail against you.” And they never did prevail. The Lord was faithful.
Brothers and sisters, are we able to declare, “Great is Thy faithfulness”? I hope so. Great is Thy faithfulness.
That is not a doctrine, is it? Some people could look at the Bible and say, “Right here it says God is faithful. Great is His faithfulness. Yes, I believe that.” But you know what? This is something you have to experience, isn’t it?
That is what is so marvelous about this lamentation. It was the soul’s experience—the soul’s experience of the faithfulness of God. Jeremiah could not hold back, and he said, “Great is Thy faithfulness.”
The Lord’s faithfulness overwhelmed every opposition that came against Jeremiah and against Jeremiah’s heart for the people.
In 2 Timothy, it says that we may be unfaithful, but He is always faithful because He cannot deny Himself. That is His character. That is His nature. He will be faithful with you and me, brothers and sisters. For that, we should be thankful.
Lamentations 3:24 says:
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul;
Therefore, I will hope in Him.
“The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore, I will hope in Him.” This is what I call the secret within the secret.
Jeremiah, in remembering the Lord and remembering His loving-kindness, His compassions, and His faithfulness, was refreshed in spirit and soul.
He suffered tremendously, brothers and sisters. He was looking upon Jerusalem. It was flattened. It was destroyed. He wept. He looked for the temple, and it was destroyed. He wept.
He looked at the people who had not changed, and he wept. All hope seemed to be lost, and he wept—the weeping prophet.
But he says the most profound thing, I think—the thing that is the stability of our soul in the Lord. He says, “The Lord is my portion, and therefore I have hope.”
This is the secret, I think, of his endurance. He had made the Lord his portion.
In other words, brothers and sisters, he loved the people. He loved Jerusalem. He loved that temple. And they were all gone. The thing in which he may have put all his hope was gone—all lost.
Then he says, “But you know something? The Lord is my portion. There is where my hope lies. It does not lie in the people returning. My hope does not lie in Jerusalem, where God chose to put His name, or even in the temple. My hope lies in the Lord. He is my portion, and I can go on.”
What a deep lesson we learn.
I have to ask the question: Where have you put your hope? In your own money? In your job? In college? I do not know, brothers and sisters. People who do not know the Lord put their hope in so many things.
Even those who know the Lord often find themselves putting their hope in things that can be lost.
I want to be very careful about this subject, but I think it is often brought home in our family relationships. The people we are so close to are often the people with whom we find ourselves at odds or offended, the people with whom we have problems.
I have to say, brothers and sisters: Is your family your portion in this life? Is that where you put your hope? Is it in your children, your grandchildren, your husband, or your wife? Is your hope in that? Is that your source of joy and hope?
Let me say this much to you: if that is what you are expecting from your mate, from your children, or from your family, you will be disappointed.
It is a deep lesson to learn, because God has designed us in such a way that He is to be our portion. Everything else in life will disappoint you.
We expect too much sometimes of our husbands, wives, and family members. “They should be the ones making me joyous and happy.” The Lord is saying to us, “I am your joy and happiness. I am your portion. You need to keep that straight.”
Then you can enjoy your family. Then you can be happy. Then you can truly be happy in the Lord.
Who is the anchor of your soul?
I think that is what it means for the Lord to be your portion. It means He is your anchor, the anchor of your soul, no matter what happens.
No one else—your husband, your wife, your family, or your children—can be the anchor of your soul. If you make them such, sooner or later you will find yourself adrift, because those anchors cannot hold in the deepest troubles of life.
There is only one anchor that can hold, and that is the Lord Jesus Himself. Hebrews 6:19 says:
We have this as an anchor of the soul,
A hope both sure and steadfast,
And which entereth into that which is within the veil.
Christ has entered within the veil, brothers and sisters, on our behalf before the Father. He is our hope. He is our anchor. We should always remember that He is the anchor.
Sometimes we get depressed. We get discouraged. We may get offended with other brothers and sisters or with family. Brothers and sisters, who is the real problem?
Sometimes it is because we have tried to make them an anchor to our soul, and they are not. Only the Lord can serve that purpose in our lives. He is the anchor of our soul. The Lord is our portion.
I would like to end with Lamentations 5:21.
Jeremiah’s cry, right at the end of these lamentations:
Turn Thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned;
Renew our days as of old.
Is that not an encouragement to turn back to the Lord? “Turn Thou us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned.”
Have you ever found in your life a time when you could not turn? You wanted to, but you could not. You could not turn back.
Jeremiah said, “Turn us unto Thee, O Lord, and we shall be turned.” How is it that the Lord turns us when we will not be turned? It is through discipline.
It is what this book tells us. It is His loving, disciplining hand that causes us to turn back when we find we want to turn but cannot. He continues His loving discipline.
That is why we are encouraged in the Word of God not to refuse the discipline of the Lord in Hebrews, and not to faint under His disciplining hand. If we do, we hinder His return to us. He wants to return to us.
There is a song that always touches my heart. We sang it Wednesday night, and it came to my heart again: “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”
There is a verse in that song:
Bind my wandering heart to Thee,
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
Prone to leave the God I love.
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
That song always touches me because, boy, I sense that heart within that is prone to wander. But He is faithful through His discipline—His loving discipline—to turn us back.
May that be our prayer: “Lord, turn me, and I shall be turned. Renew our days as days of old.”
We remember those days when we were in fellowship with the Lord. It was glorious. He says, “Lord, renew our days as of old.”
Lord, we just come to You today. Lord, it is of Your loving-kindness that we are not consumed. Lord, it is because Your compassions fail not.
Lord, Your Word says they are new every morning. Open our eyes to see Thy compassions as the days go on.
Lord, cause us to really take You as our portion, the anchor of our soul. Lord, do that. There are no other anchors that can hold in this life.
Turn me, Lord, and I shall be turned.
Amen.