I remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:19–24 (NIV)
Heavenly Father, another day and another deposit of your fresh mercies greet us. You are so grace-full and generous toward us, so we join Jeremiah in calling to mind your great love and your great faithfulness. Indeed, rather than focusing on things we cannot control, people we cannot change, and stories we’d love to rewrite, we will set our minds and hearts on things above (Col. 3:1-4).
In fact, we can “call to mind” much more of your love and faithfulness than Jeremiah was able to do. For our place in the history of redemption is much more awesome than his. Jeremiah lived looking forward to the coming of Jesus and the fulfillment of the astonishing promises of the new covenant (Jer. 31:31–34). But we live on this side of those blessed events. How much louder should we praise you, quicker trust you, and more fully hope in you?
Because of your gift of Jesus, we aren’t consumed with guilt and paralyzed with fear, stuck in our shame and drowning in doubt. For Jesus fulfilled the law we could never keep and exhausted the judgment we truly deserve.
Father, it’s because of this gospel, this good news, that we also join Jeremiah in lamenting our wanderings. With humility we still sing, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love.” We need the gospel every day and every hour. Only your grace is sufficient for our needs. Only Jesus can save us.
When we lose sight of Jesus, make the gall more galling; make the bitterness bitterer; make downcast feel even more downcast. We don’t want to ever get used to feeling disconnected from the gospel. In view of your steadfast love and never-failing compassions, we proclaim, “The Lord is our portion” (Lam. 3:24 NIV). So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ beautiful and bountiful name.
