Those engaged in the current efforts to censure and erase certain inconvenient truths about American history from public school curriculums may not understand the critical role those inconvenient truths play in building hope. Hope doesn’t emerge from bloated bastions of tranquility and sensual seas of satisfaction. Hope springs forth in deserts of desperation and discontent. Hope thrives in climates of scarcity and chaos.
I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope… – Lamentations 3:19-21 (NIV)
History speaks of the pains of our past. Awful pains that can never be healed by space and time alone. Pains that speak to a certain consciousness of being in perpetual turmoil.
Yet for those who appreciate that the pains of our past are not the pains of our present, our recollections of past pain are always accompanied by remembrances of powerful persistence. Remembering where we’ve been also inspires us to appreciate and evaluate the progress we’ve made and the people who’ve been a part of that progress. Analyzing our past predicaments helps us to more clearly comprehend our present possibilities.
Jeremiah, the Weeping Prophet and purported writer of Lamentations, remembered the pain and devastation caused by the Babylonian conquest of his Judean homeland. But Jeremiah’s deep lamentations are precisely what served as the seedbed for a renewed affirmation of Jeremiah’s faith.
The remembrance of his pain moved him to remember the faith that brought him through the pain. And in remembering the faith that brought him through the pain, Jeremiah found new hope in this faithful affirmation: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.”
Prayer ~ Lord, please retard every effort to diminish our history and restrain our hope. Amen.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Decatur, Georgia.