Drafted with AI assistance, then reviewed, edited and approved by Jeff Robb. Scripture is quoted from the King James Version.
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Key passage: Lamentations 3:22-24 (KJV)
22 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
Reflection
Lamentations is not an easy book to read. It is a set of five poems of grief, written over the ruin of Jerusalem. The city has fallen. The temple is gone. The people have been carried away. Page after page, the writer weeps.
Chapter three is the darkest of all. He says he is the man that hath seen affliction. He says God has set him in dark places. He even says that when he cries and shouts, his prayer seems shut out.
And then, right in the middle of the book, something changes. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. Nothing around him is different. The city is still in ruins. What has changed is what he chooses to remember.
And what does he remember? It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
Notice that word, morning. Mercy isn't handed out once, in a lump, to last us the rest of our lives. It comes fresh, the way the sun comes up. Yesterday's failures don't use up today's supply. Each morning there is new mercy waiting.
Then he says, The LORD is my portion, saith my soul. A portion was a share of the inheritance, the land that belonged to a family. This man has lost his home, his city, and his land. And he says, the LORD is my portion. When everything else has been taken, God Himself is still his.
That is where real hope comes from. Not from pretending things are better than they are. Lamentations never pretends. The hope comes from remembering who God is, right in the middle of the loss.
Maybe this is a heavy season for you. Maybe you woke up this morning already tired, already carrying something. The verse doesn't ask you to feel cheerful. It asks you to remember. His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. That was true in the ruins of Jerusalem, and it is true wherever you are today.
So before the day gets loud, take a moment and call it to mind on purpose. Great is thy faithfulness. Say it even if you don't feel it yet. Remembering is often where hope begins.
Cross-references
Prayer
Lord, thank You that Your mercies are new every morning and that Your compassions never fail. When my heart is heavy, help me to call to mind who You are. Be my portion today, and teach me to hope in You and to wait quietly for You. In Jesus' name, amen.
For today: Call to mind on purpose today that the Lord's mercies are new this morning, and let that be where your hope begins.