Ever wonder when things are going to get better?

There’s no dark and cold that can hold back the new day. There are always new mornings that break through the old mournings because there is a faithfulness that is beyond ours. There is hope when we remember there will always be mercy and compassion that will never fail.

“This I recall to my mind, there I have hope. 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. ”

Lamentations 3:21-23

You may be mourning this morning. What a difficult way to start the day. Maybe a loved one that you are missing terribly. A family mess that seems hopeless. An assault to your neatly-filed and nailed-down faith because your prayers are yet unanswered. Sit with that. Sit with the Word, Jesus. You will not be consumed. He cares and more than that, he feels your pain. To have compassion means to co-suffer. To experience deep sorrow and desire to help alleviate suffering. Jesus has that for you.

“The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul that seeks Him.”

Lamentations 3:25

You can rest. Take a deep breath, let the Light in and feel the warmth of His love.

I was a much “younger” believer in Jesus when I came across these verses from Lamentations. They were life-changing for me. Way back then, I felt like it was possible for me to drown in all my questions and failings. I thought there was a limit to what God would tolerate and just zap me out. Take me “home,” or heaven forbid, not let me in. And at times, I forget. I need to recall, remember, over and over that God’s mercy, compassion and faithfulness are in a league all Their own. He has no limit, “they are new every morning.”

When Jeremiah penned this chapter, God was pretty angry with His people. They had defiled themselves with false gods. The One True God hates this. In chapter two we read, “The Lord has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out a line; He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying; therefore, He has caused the rampart and wall to lament; they languished together.” (Lamentations 2:8) My study Bible says of this Scripture, “When God stretched out a line, He intended to destroy His city. Jerusalem had been measured, marked, and numbered for judgement.”

Then we hear from God’s prophet, Jeremiah. He laments for those who experience God’s wrath. He reveals the mercy of God and the hope that is still there in the midst of their disobedience. Jeremiah remembers that God is compassionate and full of mercy. God’s wrath is His love that knows there is no other way to get our attention. This is really a growing-in-my-faith belief that has taken me years to confess. Wrath scares me. It sounds so negative, doesn’t it? Yet as a mother of 4 grown children, I have had to display a little of my own in order to get results. However, I believe it grieves God to see us suffer for our own sinfulness. Because He suffers with us. Immanuel. He is with us.

Jesus came to be with us in all of the stuff that makes up our lives. He came and lived and died and rose again to show us the heart of His Father; to pay the price for all the disobedience we just would never be able to make right. He came to make peace with God’s wrath towards our sin. He came to show us that there is just no way he will leave our side, no matter what is going on. He came to show us that none of our stuff will separate us from His perfect love, mercy and compassion.