“And the Lord answered me, and said, ‘Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.'” Habakkuk 2:2
It was Jeremiah who, in the midst of his lamentations for Jerusalem, wrote a beautiful declaration of hope: “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.” (Lam. 3:22,23) These brief statements are only a reflection of the Lord’s love and compassion for Jerusalem, one which reflects, as in the days of the Lord Jesus, God’s love for Jerusalem. It was Jesus, who, looking over the city of Jerusalem in His day, said this: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not.” (Matt. 23:37) Jerusalem, the city of the great King, the place where God would have His name to dwell, would turn its back on Christ, her people crying, “crucify Him.” And yet, in the midst of such a travesty, when the love of God stretches out the hand of salvation and is rejected, the Lord’s compassions “fail not: they are NEW every morning.” Why does God give us such a glimpse of His love in this manner? One of the main reasons is to encourage us, every morning, to meet Him and to be met by Him. The Psalmist wrote, “…early will I seek Thee.” The appeal of Moses to God, in Psalm 90, was: “Satisfy us early with Thy mercy: that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” (v. 14) And then, we read the Lord’s words by the hand of Jeremiah: “…they (the Lord’s mercies) are new EVERY MORNING: great is Thy faithfulness.” What is the Lord saying to us?
In the gospel of Matthew, chapter six, we get a glimpse of one of the primary purposes of Christ dying on the cross. The Lord Jesus speaks of coming apart, to be alone with the Father, meeting Him, and being met, and blessed by Him: “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” (6:6) Here is a picture of our calling to Christ, to God the Father, by the Spirit. It is the practical application of Christ’s work, entering into the Holy of Holies, there to present His precious blood before the Father, to secure for us, not only an entrance into the presence of the Father, but to confirm that His perfect work has accomplished all that is necessary for the child of God to commune with God. This is why He speaks of the believer praying secretly, in aloneness, to the Father, with the promise that the Father sees, and will reward “openly” the seeking, communing heart. If we take the great truths concerning “early in the morning,” we come to see that every morning is like a blank page of an everlasting book, and story. It is the account of communion, the Father with His child. The instruction of the Father to the child is to “write it down,” write down the impressions, and convictions, that the Father gives. The reason for writing it down is twofold. First, it is in order that the content of what the Father says, will be clearly seen, known, and understood. And secondly, that it might be remembered, not forgotten, etched upon the mind and soul of the believer. Such fellowship, or communion with the father, is the great calling of the believer. The calling is to know God, and Jesus Christ.
How then is the believer to come every morning, with the expectation, and certainty, of meeting the Father? Jeremiah gives us the answer: “Great is Thy faithfulness.” The revelation of the perfect work of Christ, as revealed in HIs word, the power of Christ’s shed blood to cleanse from all sin, and the eternal Spirit to quicken faith, is the basis for meeting God.
Father, Lead us to Thyself, this morning. In Jesus’ name, Amen.