MY Mercies are New Every Morning
I wish that those words were my words. I mean MY mercies. I read this scripture: “The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies are new every morning.” Lamentations 3:22-23. I know those words are so true. I know His faithful love, His fresh mercy each morning. But, then there’s ME! What about my love, my faithfulness, my mercy to others? I want MY faithful love, MY faithfulness and MY mercies for others to never end.
I’ll admit it. My love, faithfulness and mercies falter. Sometimes I’ll get bugged because there are no cashiers in all those cashier lines and I’m standing in a long line at the only one line that is open. Then there’s the lawn sprinklers that are aimed at the street more than their lawn and my clean car gets hit. And, the McDonald’s drive-thru leaves out the fork and napkin for my pancakes as I drive home from Tulsa and I have to use my fingers! Argh! Sometimes I’ll get aggravated at a driver who cuts in between me and another car and I almost hit him. And, then yesterday, the engine light came on my car again, after it was in the shop all day, the day before. I had to take it in again — another day for not getting all my errands done. To top it off, I need MY mercies for me, who is oftentimes my biggest challenge. Oh that MY mercies were new every morning!
I sincerely desire to be like Jesus. He set the example for us in the love, faithfulness and mercy departments. Clearly, that’s why God set Him as our role model. He modeled how to do it. God daily invites us to come and sit with Him and His Word (His “how to” manual) to learn about His Son’s countless ways of never-ending love, faithfulness, and mercies.
Sometimes we’re overridden with guilt about our lack of performance. We turn down His invitation to meet Him at the watering (Living Water) well. Maybe you’re familiar with some of these thoughts: “It’s been so long since I’ve sat down with my Bible. I can’t remember the last time I prayed for more than a few hurried minutes. Who am I to ask God to speak to me?”
But how wrong to think those thoughts. God isn’t keeping a spiritual scorecard to see when we deserve the right to sit in His presence and feast on His Word. His invitation has nothing to do with our performance and everything to do with His mercies and desire to fill us with His wisdom and encouragement.
My heart is overwhelmed by the example that God gives to us. His mercies are unending. And He extends a fresh, grace-filled invitation for us to draw close to Him each and every morning. His eyes are brimming with hope that we’ll accept His invitation afresh today. He knows the more we lean in closer to Him, the more we’ll become like Him. That’s my prayer today.
Make me more like You, Jesus. Give me a heart that’s filled with love AND mercy, and make me more like You! A merciful heart like yours each and every morning. Lord, have MERCY!