Great is His Faithfulness

²² The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
    His mercies never cease.
²³ Great is His faithfulness;
    His mercies begin afresh each morning.

…

³¹ For no one is abandoned
    by the Lord forever.
³² Though He brings grief, He also shows compassion
    because of the greatness of His unfailing love. – Lamentations 3:22-23,31-32

The great hymn of the church “Great is Thy faithfulness” chorus line says,

“Great is Thy faithfulness!” “Great is Thy faithfulness!”
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided—
“Great is Thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!

I find it amazing how the writer of Lamentations writes such promises and uplifting words in the middle of such downtrodden descriptions written in the chapters and verses before these.  Some descriptions include “I weep; tears flow down my cheeks. No one is here to comfort me … my children have no future … I begged for allies to help but they betrayed me … I have cried until the tears no longer come; my heart is broken … My own people laugh at me.  All day long they sing their mocking songs.  He has filled me with bitterness and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink.  … Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is.”  There are descriptions of babies lying faint and dying because there is no food and the mothers can’t feed them from their own starvation.  Such a terrible description of suffering that brings images of the Nazis and concentrations camps.  Today it would be the Christians who suffer from ISIS who would know such suffering.  Yet in verse 21 of chapter three we find these words, “Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this”.  What does he remember?  “The faithful love of the Lord never ends!”

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” – Psalm 23:4

Surely this description in Lamentations is close to the valley of the shadow of death.  And in the midst of it, the writer has in his deepest heart the truth that says the love of the Lord never ends.  That His mercy never stops.  Every morning His mercy begins anew!  What blessed hope this is for all of us to grab hold.  Today we have a God whose love and mercy for us will not end.  The writer goes on to say that no one is abandoned by the Lord.  We are not abandoned.  He is ever mindful of us.

Take a minute today and let that sink in, believe it in your heart of hearts.  You are always on His mind and in His thoughts.  His love and mercy for you will never stop.  Praise God for who He is today.