22 Certainly the faithful love of the Lord hasn’t ended; certainly God’s compassion isn’t through!
23 They are renewed every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
24 I think: The Lord is my portion! Therefore, I’ll wait for him.
Reflection
Throughout most of the book of Lamentations, the prophet Jeremiah’s poetry tells a story of regret and the wounds of God’s people who were left waiting and wanting. Living in loss through generations, the Hebrew people were awaiting the restoration of Jerusalem. But through these particular verses, the prophet Jeremiah turns to a rare moment of hope found deep within. What evidence exists that God’s compassion is still there?
The morning is coming. It has been a traumatic time when there seems to be no end in sight. For sure, the darkness has been difficult to bear. Yet the prophet Jeremiah gives assurance that the Lord’s faithfulness hasn’t ended– because tomorrow is a new day. Whatever mess there is, morning is coming.
God’s compassion for the world must be great, because our Lord is giving us a redo every twenty-four hours. Even when we mess things up, tomorrow we get another chance to change. For sure, what’s done is done, but tomorrow gives rise to another way of thinking and being. Morning is evidence of God’s faithfulness in our human ability to make change for good. So our God keeps finding us a space, “a portion,” to grow and change in God’s name. The least we can do is to keep finding faith in return.
By Barbara Carlson
For Pondering & Prayer
The book of Lamentations is considered to have been written by Jeremiah, also known as the “weeping prophet.” Lamentations are expressed for the loss of Jerusalem; but then Jeremiah’s words return us to the hope found in the new day. How might we relate to the overall longing found in the book of Lamentations? In terrible days of unrest, how do you relate to being left waiting and wanting? When morning comes, how does/doesn’t this change your faith?
Prayer: Today’s prayer is actually a hymn – “Morning Has Broken,” from the 1989 United Methodist Hymnal, no. 145.
Morning has broken like the first morning; blackbird has spoken like the first bird. Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning! Praise for the springing fresh from the Word! Sweet the rain’s new fall sunlit from heaven, Like the first dewfall on the first grass. Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden, sprung in completeness where his feet pass. Mine is the sunlight! Mine is the morning Born of the one light, Eden saw play! Praise with elation, praise every morning, God’s recreation of the new day! Words: Eleanor Farjeon, 1931. Music: traditional Gaelic melody, harm. by Carlton Young, 1988.
Amen.
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