Have you ever woken up, and had the thought, “God, I just can’t do it today.  In fact, I don’t want to do ‘this’ today”.  I remember waking up with those exact thoughts.  I was tired and frustrated and just didn’t have the energy to put a smile on my face and push forward.  As soon as I muttered those words, the Lord spoke to my heart: “My mercies are new every morning”.  I would like to say, I responded, Oh Yes Lord! Thank you for the promise.  In reality, my reply was, “That’s great God. No offense, but I really just want to be myself right now; I really don’t even want to spend time with You”.  (Don’t worry, there were no lightning bolts.  God knows what we are thinking and loves us enough to encourage us to be real with Him!)  He just very sweetly spoke again, “My mercies are new every morning”.   With a sigh, I got out my Bible and searched for related scriptures and what that means for me.

I don’t know what your ‘this’ is.  Maybe it is financial pressure, relationship issues, past failures, health issues, emotional struggles or a combination.  Whatever your ‘this’ is, I know God is speaking: His mercies are new every morning, and they never dry up.  We just have to tap into them. 

Lamentations 3:22-23 talks about His compassion, His never ending love and His mercy.  Jeremiah talks about how they never fail.  His mercy and His love are never consumed up.  Every morning His tender love awaits.

Lamentations is a collection of 5 poems expressing struggles, reactions and hope.  Lament means: a passionate expression of grief or sorrow.  When Jeremiah wrote that, he had been feeling hopeless.  He was looking over a nation in rubble, under God’s judgement.  I imagine he woke up sometimes and said, nope, not today.  I don’t want to deal with it.  Yet, he chose to remember God’s faithfulness.  When we continue to read in chapter 3, we see that he made a choice to wait on the Lord. 

I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion, therefore,
I will wait for Him (Lamentations 3:24 NIV)

I began to think about David and how he encouraged himself in the Lord.  It was a choice.  Sometimes life is hard.  But, He remains faithful all the time.  I encourage you today, to focus less on your ‘this’ and more on His unfailing love, His mercy and His faithfulness. 

Instead of this:                  Focus on:
Financial issues                 Philippians 4:19
Relationship issues          Isaiah 43:16
Past failures                       Philippians 3:14
Confusion                           James 1:5
Health issues                     Malachi 4:2

Just as Jeremiah did, just as David did, choose to wait for Him. Jeremiah remembered God’s love, His covenant love, His great love, His compassion and His mercy.  David chose to encourage Himself in the Lord. (1 Samuel 30:6)  Take some time and just be with our Lord. 

He longs to be with you. 

Written by Collette Sawyer