"God's mercies are new every day" - Lamentations 3:23

"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."

This pillow was a special request for a special friend.  She likes to be reminded every morning as she makes their bed of the blessings God gives her family every day.  Poor Jeremiah was rather like Eeyore in most of the book of Lamentations.  As a wholehearted pollyanna, I can barely read how hard he thinks his life is.  But in the middle of Chapter 3, he finally recognized that God's great love never fails and that He gives new blessings every day!

John Piper says "today's mercies are not designed to carry tomorrow's burdens".  Fenelon says "do not insult today by looking for a better tomorrow".  We lose the blessing of today's gifts by looking to get more tomorrow or by worrying about what we have to face next week.  Our task today is to be grateful for His provision today, to seek to understand His purposes and to not lose the opportunity we have to glorify Him in these gifts.  Do we wake up each morning desiring to be fertile ground for Him or do we wake up fretting over what we can't control?  He has given us TODAY.

The great hymn by Thomas Chisholm "Great is Thy Faithfulness" reminds us we have "strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow".  Look around you - can you speak of God's faithfulness in your day?  Like the psalmist in Psalm 71, are you proclaiming God's goodness to the young around you?  Are they seeing you praise God for His "marvelous deeds" (v. 17) or are they seeing you complain about what you don't have?

What will I do with today's "new mercies"?  Will I consume them like a cupcake and look for my next treat?  Or will I be grateful and bear fruit from the experience?  "This is the day the Lord has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it" (Psalm 118:24).

For further study:  Deuteronomy 4:31, Psalm 57:9-10, Psalm 71:17-18, Proverbs 27:1, Matthew 6:11, 34, 2 Corinthians 6:1-2, 9:8-11, Hebrews 3:13, Hebrews 13:8, James 4:13-16.

Be blessed in your understanding of God's word.

Love,

Holly