His Mercies Are New Every Morning - Lamentations 3:22-24

Throughout history hordes of people have anticipated the future with a combination of longing and fear. They greet each new day with a feeling of emptiness, lacking any sense of purpose in life. But to those who place their hope in the Lord, He promises unending love, great faithfulness, and a fresh batch of mercy every morning.

Consider these ancient words of truth that give hope to the desperate, instill perseverance in those whose strength has come to an end, and reassurance to those who have experienced the worst upheaval imaginable:

As a teenager, before I received salvation in Jesus Christ, I woke each morning with a terrible sense of dread. But all that changed when I encountered the love of my Savior. Since then I have discovered one sure thing I can count on: the steadfast love of the Lord. And I am not alone in this discovery.

Just as people live with the certainty that the sun will rise in the morning, believers can trust and know that God's strong love and faithfulness will greet them again each day and his tender mercies will be renewed every morning.

Our hope for today, tomorrow, and for all eternity is based firmly on God's unchanging love and unfailing mercy. Every morning his love and mercy toward us are refreshed, new again, like a brilliant sunrise.

Steadfast Love

The original Hebrew word (hesed) translated as "steadfast love," is a very important Old Testament term that speaks of the faithful, loyal, constant goodness and love that God shows to his people. This is the Lord's covenantal love, describing God’s act of loving his people. The Lord has an inexhaustible supply of love for his children.

The writer of Lamentations is suffering through a painfully distressing situation. Yet, in the moment of his deepest despair, a remarkable change in attitude takes place. His hopelessness turns to faith as he remembers the Lord's loyal love, compassion, goodness, and mercy.

The writer's transition to hope does not come easy but is born out of pain. One commentator writes, "This is not a smug or naively optimistic hope, but a serious and profound act of expectation that is only too aware of the hurtful reality from which it demands deliverance."

In this fallen world, Christians are bound to experience tragedy, heartache, and loss, but because of God's enduring love that never fails, believers can have renewed daily hope to triumph over it all in the end.

The Lord Is My Portion

Lamentations 3:22–24 contains this interesting, hope-filled expression: "The Lord is my portion." A Handbook on Lamentations offers this explanation:

The sense of The LORD is my portion may often be rendered, for example, “I trust God and I need nothing more,” “God is everything; I need nothing else,” or “I need nothing because God is with me.”

So great is the Lord's faithfulness, so personal and sure, that he holds out just the right portion—everything we need—for our souls to drink in today, tomorrow, and the next day. When we wake up to discover his steady, daily, restorative care, our hope is renewed, and our faith is reborn.

Therefore I Have Hope in Him

The Bible associates hopelessness with being in the world without God. Separated from God, many people conclude that there is no reasonable basis for hope. They think to live with hope is to live with an illusion. They consider hope irrational.

But the hope of the believer is not irrational. It is based firmly on God, who has proven himself faithful. Biblical hope looks back on everything God has already done and trusts in what he will do in the future. At the heart of Christian hope are the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of eternal life.

Sources

• Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (p. 996).
• Reyburn, W. D., & Fry, E. M. (1992). A handbook on Lamentations (p. 87). New York: United Bible Societies.
• Chou, A. (2014). Lamentations: Evangelical Exegetical Commentary (La 3:22).
• Dobbs-Allsopp, F. W. (2002). Lamentations (p. 117). Louisville, KY: John Knox Press.