It never comes to an end!

When you saw the title of today's post what came to your mind? What feels as if it never comes to an end for you? Is it one of these: 

War? Hatred? Corruption? Trouble? Suffering? Crises? 

Well, the answer I wanted to offer us today is very different. I will let Jeremiah tell you:

"The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!” - Lamentations 3:22-23

Eugene Peterson puts a slightly different slant on it, when he writes:

God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
    his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
    How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
    He’s all I’ve got left.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

God's strength

"God’s strength behind you,

His concern for you,
His love within you and his arms beneath you
are more than sufficient for the job ahead of you.” - William Arthur Ward

"The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.
So, it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord." - Lamentations 3:25-26

May you know the love and strength of Jesus in all that you do today.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Never ending

"The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.

Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.
I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” - Lamentations 3:22-24

There are so many beautiful promises in these 3 verses, and I hope that they encourage you as much as they helped me.

1. God's love is faithful

2. God's love never ends

3. God's mercies also never end

4. Great is God's faithfulness

5. God's mercies begin afresh everyday

6. God is our inheritance

7. We can place our trust in him

Here is the reading from Lamentations from the Complete Jewish Bible: 

21 But in my mind I keep returning to something,
something that gives me hope —
22 that the grace of Adonai is not exhausted,
that his compassion has not ended.
23 [On the contrary,] they are new every morning!
How great your faithfulness!
24 “Adonai is all I have,” I say;
“therefore I will put my hope in him.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Never failing compassion

"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. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him.” - Lamentations 3:22-24 (NIV)

As I read these words today a few things stand out for me.

What does 'consumed' mean for us in today's language? I found the Living Bible offers more clarity for me: "It is only the Lord’s mercies that have kept us from complete destruction." (v.22)

And how can the word 'portion' speak into our lives? Well, that word can also be read as 'inheritance' - so, what the writer is suggesting is that God himself will be our reward for faithfully following his ways. In this world, we can possibly expect to leave a material inheritance for our families, but can you imagine if we could leave 'God' as the eternal gift?

Eugene Peterson writes:

God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
    his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
    How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
    He’s all I’ve got left.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

If we fall, we can rise again

"No one has ever fallen so grievously that he may not rise again. Conversely, no one stands so firmly that he may not fall. If Peter (and Paul and Barnabas) fell, I too may fall. If they rose again, I too may rise again." - Martin Luther.

These humbling words from Martin Luther remind me of two valuable lessons:

1. No one is exempt from trials and testing.

2. When we fall, we must know that God's grace can raise us to life again.

Lamentations 3:31-33 - "For no one is cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to anyone.

 

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Enter the silence

Lamentations 3:28-30 - When life is heavy and hard to take, go off by yourself. Enter the silence. Bow in prayer. Don’t ask questions: Wait for hope to appear. Don’t run from trouble. Take it full-face. The “worst” is never the worst (Message).

I don't think that one needs to add any other words to these majestic thoughts from Eugene Peterson. Advent is a time when we need to Enter the Silence and ...
wait for Hope to appear.
With Christ we can face trouble face on, because the worst is 'never' the worst.

Have a blessed Advent Day.

Living in Grace
D3LM3   

Steadfast - part 2

Yesterday's post was about how we need to remain strong and Steadfast in the face of opposition and of trials. However, today I wanted to remind us all that even if we can't be Steadfast, God is always STEADFAST. Listen to what the Bible says:

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end." - Lamentations 3:22

Psalm 6:4 - Return, O Lord, rescue my soul; Save me because of Your [unfailing] steadfast love and mercy.

I am greatly encouraged by the fact that God will always be there for me. His love remains steadfast and secure through all the uncertainties of life.

Hold onto the goodness of Jesus today.

Living in Grace

D3LM3

Do you depend on it?

How many times do you look at your phone in a day? Just think about it for a moment and then do the maths. If we consider that we spend about 8 hours/day sleeping (if we are lucky), then we are awake for the other 16 hours. If you looked at your phone 5 times an hour, that would make it 80 times a day, but I think that many people look at their phones more than that.

So, if you smoked 80 cigarettes a day would you consider that a lot?!
If you needed a drink 5 times an hour, would you be worried?
If you looked at pornography more than 80 times a day, what would you think?
If you felt you had to shop every hour of that day would you not be bankrupt?

So, here is the thing - I think many of us (including myself) are tending towards addiction - technology and social media have had huge impact on our lives and we are very good at justifying that we only "use them" for work purposes or to connect with others. This may be true, but then most addicts would say the same thing.

I am challenged to make sure that I am not abusing the 'gift' of social media and technology. Like all good things, when it is abused it can cause endless harm. I need to remind myself daily that I should depend on the Lord and not on other things. This is why a few friends have given up Social Media for Lent - that is a good practise - challenging, but good!

"The Lord is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him." - Lamentations 3:25

If you are near Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday 8th March pop into the Wesley Methodist Church at 6:30pm - we are speaking openly about addiction and our guest speakers are going to be including the topics of Technology/Social Media in their address. It should be challenging indeed.

Depend on the Lord today. Use your technology, but don't let it own you.

Living in Grace
D3LM3

Good?

What do you make of the word 'good?'

"The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him, to those who seek for him. ²⁶ It is good both to hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." - Lamentations 3:25-26

I find that it is actually quite hard to define 'good' in simple terms. Of course we can use many synonyms to help us understand it a little better ... great, favourable, satisfying, positive, superb, etc.

The reason I ask this question about 'good' is because Jeremiah uses it a number of times in this collection of verses - if you read through Lamentations 3:25-27, you will see him use it three/four times. Perhaps this is just another case of our English language falling short of the original text, but the repeated use of 'good 'certainly gets our attention.

Anyway, whatever word we prefer, I still believe that the message for us today is the same - It is to our 'benefit' to wait patiently for the Lord. We need to believe that God has our best interests at heart and that all things will work out for the best for us.

What do you think?

Psalm 71:16 - I walk in the strength of the Lord God. I tell everyone that you alone are just and good.

Living in Grace
D3LM3