New Mercies Every Morning

Lamentations 3:22–23: “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, / Because His compassions fail not. / They are new every morning; / Great is Your faithfulness.”

Jeremiah had been writing about how difficult and depressing his circumstances were in captivity. But then suddenly, in the middle of this bleak account, his thoughts take a startling positive turn toward the character of God. The Hebrew word translated here mercies is used 250 times in the Old Testament. It is a sweeping, all-inclusive term for God’s love, goodness, forgiveness, compassion, and faithfulness. Even in the bleakness of God’s discipline, there was hope. Judah would not be permanently destroyed, but ultimately restored.

Throughout the history of mankind in Scripture, God’s unmistakable pattern is seen over and over again: disobedience brings consequences, but confession always brings forgiveness and renewal. When Jeremiah meditated on this, he remembered that God had many mercies available all over again, every single day. This section ends with a powerful statement: “Great is Your faithfulness.”

This line about God’s faithfulness makes me stop and think of the people I know, who, no matter what the circumstances and how they personally are doing, always do exactly what they say they will do, without excuse. The more I think about it, the more I realize how few people I know like that. We live in a world filled with broken promises and disappointment, a world filled with people who are unfaithful, including ourselves. So what do we do?

Jeremiah was struggling with discouragement, but he chose to focus on this particular characteristic of the Heavenly Father—Faithfulness. When we become discouraged, we should do what Jeremiah did, stop and remember God’s faithfulness. We need to memorize this verse and get into the habit of quoting it to ourselves when we are discouraged. We need to remember how God has answered our prayers. How He has provided for us, given us courage when we were afraid, loved us when everyone else disappointed us, and been faithful to us when no one else was. When storms are overwhelming us, we need to get alone and reflect on this amazing truth: God is faithful! Our Heavenly Father is faithful and full of mercy (not giving us what we deserve), when we humbly approach Him.

“LORD, we join in with Your children and all of Heaven and sing of Your great faithfulness to us, reminding ourselves of Your fresh, new mercies that are extended to us again this morning.”