do you dare?

How do you react when life isn't all you hope for it to be?  What is your attitude?  How does that affect that your actions?  From where I sit, I see a lot of hurting.  I have people come into my office to share their grief.  Probably more likely - since I primarily work with a younger generation - my phone is constantly abuzz with texts from hurting people.  People hurting in their lives, hurting for other people, frustrated, scared, defeated people.  People lay out their problems on Facebook for public consumption, crying out for help (or possibly just attention in some instances).  There is a lot of despair.

Jeremiah understood despair.  He was called the weeping prophet.  The guy was just in a funk most of the time, nut he still had the chutzpah hope in God.  Lamentations was written by him shortly after the fall of Jerusalem.  Being that Israel's success was closely related to their relation to God throughout the Old Testament, such a blow to the nation would have been particularly devastating for the man God called to warn them.  They hadn't been listening.  His life was a mess.  His career was a mess.  What was he to do?  Hope!  Read these verses:

Lamentations 3:19-26
New Living Translation (NLT) 

 ¹⁹ The thought of my suffering and homelessness
      is bitter beyond words.^[a]
 20 I will never forget this awful time,
      as I grieve over my loss.
 ²¹ Yet I still dare to hope
      when I remember this:

 ²² The faithful love of the Lord never ends!^[b]
      His mercies never cease.
 ²³ Great is his faithfulness;
      his mercies begin afresh each morning.
 ²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
      therefore, I will hope in him!”

 ²⁵ The Lord is good to those who depend on him,
      to those who search for him.
 ²⁶ So it is good to wait quietly
      for salvation from the Lord.

When your life is spiraling out of control, do you dare to hope?  When your job isn't as fulfilling as it used to be, or maybe you're just not good at it, do you hope?  When your family lets you down, hurts you, misbehaves (for you parents), do you hope?  When the economy plummets further, do you hope?  I guess that depends on what you choose to remember.  If you remember that despite what we did yesterday, God's love and mercies for us are fresh today, then you hope.  If your hope rests in Him and not your current circumstance, then you hope.  Do you dare to hope?