New Every Morning

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion, therefore I will wait for him’. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him.” (Lamentations 3:22-25)

In my sporadic devos throughout the last month, I’ve been challenged (once again) in how I view faithfulness and hope and longing and waiting. I suppose it comes part and parcel with the season of Christmas. Christmas is all about joy and the promise of hope and presents, and celebrating God’s faithfulness and love. But Christmas also means the end of one calendar year, and the beginning of another. Another year to experience growth in my shortcomings. Another year to learn what it means to be faithful and to have great faith from Him, who despite my shortcomings, is completely willing to put himself out there again.

In praying for a scripture that embodied what it was exactly I was feeling in this time, I found myself in Lamentations of all places. It was written way before the Christmas story when Jerusalem fell. The title actually depresses me. However, as I read the third chapter I realized it’s a cry out to God from the fallen and chastened Chosen people. In the same way, we who live trying to follow God cry out, also fallen and chastened. But unlike ancient Jerusalem, we already have God’s response: Jesus.

My prayer for the upcoming year is that I wake up to a new sense of God and of hope derived from Him every morning like it says in the above verse. The Lord is my portion – not my dreams, not my job, not my family or friends, not the blessings. The sense of anticipation and excitement of Christmas can be felt anew everyday because there’s a promise in Jesus: “For his compassions never fail, they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness…The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him”.

Miel can be reached via email here.