Bring every thought captive to Christ, especially your sad thoughts – bring them under the authority of the lens of God’s Word.
SHAUNA: This is Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. And here’s Joni with a little lesson about memories.
JONI: You Have heard me share many good memories: Camping with my family, life on our farm back in Maryland. I love recalling the past. But you know it wasn’t always that way. There was a time when memories of well, like that fateful day I dove into the water; those memories only brought regret and depression. I would hate talking to people about those early days when I was in the hospital. Those hospital memories only made me more depressed, even memories of early hospital visits from Christian friends. Those memories made me sad. And it was because – and here’s the important part; listen up – it was because I looked at every memory through the lens of my despondency. I refused to view my memories through the lens of God’s Word.
Now let me explain. Face it, memories of painful times in the past will always be gloomy, if we remain pessimistic about those sad times. But when we remember difficult things through the optimism of God’s Word, then we can know that God works even that awful thing, that memory, out for good. We are assured that nothing back then touched us that was not first filtered through God’s wise fingers. We’re assured that even the worst of times in our past, somehow, some way fit into God’s greater plan for our life. Friend, this is the sort of biblical optimism, which turns every, every gloomy memory into a bright awareness of the awesome and mysterious ways of God; God who turns our suffering into victory if we would but let Him.
And that’s exactly what happened to Jeremiah. In Lamentations 3:19 [get this] he says, “I remember my affliction and my soul is downcast.” Okay, there’s Jeremiah, right – allowing his emotions to take over. He remembers his afflictions and it makes him depressed. But then just a couple of verses later, that same memory of all his afflictions gave Jeremiah life and comfort because he says, “This I recall to mind, and therefore have I hope.” Whoa! Like a two-edged sword, the same memory first humbles him on one edge and then lifts him out of despair with the other.
Charles Spurgeon once wrote: “A person who tends toward despairing thoughts will remember every dark foreboding in the past, and focus on every gloomy feature in the present. Thus memory, when clothed in sackcloth, becomes a cup of gall and wormwood. But this need not be. Because the same memory which, in its left hand brings gloomy omens, can be trained to bear in its right hand, a wealth of hopeful signs.” Okay, let’s just unpack that. Spurgeon says that memories can be trained. Okay, so God allowed some hurtful things in your past, sure, but it wasn’t for no reason. Look at that memory through Romans 8:28 or Ephesians 1:11 or James 1:3-5. Those verses are your lenses through which to view that memory. Oh friend, God’s working out everything for your good and his glory. Tell your memories that, tell your feelings that.
And don’t let your recollections breed despondency. Please let each of your memories be a reason for joyful hope. I mean, come on, you are a Christian; the precious blood of Jesus has rescued you. He has redeemed your past.
SHAUNA: And if you need help in looking at your memories through an optimistic lens, just go to joniradio.org; let us know how we can pray for you. And while you’re there, how about sharing today’s program with a friend? Let’s bring every thought captive to Christ, especially our sad thoughts; let’s bring them under the authority of the lens of God’s Word.
© Joni and Friends