New every morning

In Door County for ten days. Ten. Days. A generous friend allowed our family to use their home last week end, and for my husband and I this next week end. So I stayed for the week between. A couple of the kids stayed through Monday, and a friend visited Tuesday overnight to Wednesday, which makes today the first (and only) full day alone. Solitude. Today’s plan is quiet time with God and Baxter. Read, listen, write, nap, walk, knit, repeat.  That’s the plan.

My first read is Lamentations 3:19-26. Meditating on it. Chewing. Listening.

 Jeremiah remembers his own painful story, and reminds God of it too.  It’s so comforting to have a Friend who knows my complete and total backstory: all the details that have brought me to who I am today. (the good, the bad and the ugly) Jeremiah acknowledges that his soul is heavy, BUT THEN... he preaches to himself.  I love this!  Jeremiah reminds himself who God is, and immediately recognizes his reason for hope. Our reason for hope. He writes out the attributes of God which speak to his downcast soul.  Such an example!

In my Bible I use an orange gel highlighter to mark “promises to plead.” (my term) When my soul is “...bowed down within me,...” I can flip though to an orange-streaked passage and “recall to my mind...and have hope.”

THAT my friend is our reason for being... to know Him better, and to share the hope. “The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.”  

Verse 23 speaks of “every morning.” The dailyness of it reminds me of the manna provided to the Israelites in Exodus 16. God provided nourishment day by day, and required a daily harvest. In Lamentations Jeremiah again shows how God’s mercy is a daily sustenance. In John 6:35 Jesus refers to Himself as “the bread of life”- the One who satiates hunger and thirst. Again, bread or food is a daily need. Perhaps the manna was a reminder of our daily dependence on Him... we can’t store enough to sustain us for tomorrow.

“The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning.  Great is Your faithfulness.” (Note the change from ‘His’ to ‘Your’...Jeremiah is taken from reciting about God to personal acknowledgement and prayer...)

He is our sustenance.  Have you fed upon His Word today?