“New every morning”: a devotional on Lamentations 3:22-23
The city had been burned. The temple was destroyed, the people exiled and the streets full of the dead. Lamentations is a book of grief written over the ruins of Jerusalem. And right in the middle of it, the writer says something astonishing: “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.”
A book of tears
Lamentations is a collection of five poems mourning the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon in 586 BC. Tradition links it to the prophet Jeremiah. The poems are raw. They describe hunger, shame, death and the feeling that God has turned away. Chapter 3 begins with one of the bleakest passages in the Bible: “I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.” The writer feels walled in, chained and ignored. “Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.”
New every morning
Then comes verse 21: “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.” Hope begins with remembering. Nothing outside has changed. The writer chooses to recall what is true about God.
Verse 22 says that the people are “not consumed” because of God’s love. The disaster was terrible, but it was not total. Survival itself is a sign of mercy. God’s compassions are “new every morning”. Yesterday’s mercy is not stretched to cover today. Each day brings a fresh supply. For anyone exhausted by grief, that means you do not have to carry tomorrow’s strength today.
Great is your faithfulness
These words inspired the famous hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness“, written by Thomas Chisholm in 1923. Millions have sung the hymn without knowing it came from a book of laments. Verses 25 and 26 add: “The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.” Hope is not the same as instant relief. It includes waiting.
Lord, when I am surrounded by loss, help me call to mind your love. Thank you that I am not consumed, that your compassions never fail and that they are new this morning. Great is your faithfulness. Amen.
