“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.” Lamentations 3:22
Dear Ones:
How can a person have hope, and by hope, I mean an expectation of that which is better, good, and truly beneficial to a small, or great degree? When Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations, he must have done so with much weeping. He saw, and knew the reality of, the “desolation,” destruction, and suffering that was coming, and had come in part, upon Jerusalem. A very keen and sensitive soul, Jeremiah would feel very acutely the “hopelessness” of the situation. And indeed, there would be no hope, nor expectation of any hope from heaven, except for his knowledge of the MERCY of God. Jeremiah would declare that the mercies of God never diminish in their newness and availability. God’s compassion, and every expression of it, WILL NOT FAIL. What does this mean to us?
In our consideration of HOPE, and the intervention of God in response to the cry of our hearts, we must always remember that God is NOT like us. He is totally other than we are by nature, by LIFE itself, for He is holy. Therefore, we dare not seek to understand “mercy” by looking at sinful man. Mercy is a term that means that God intervenes in our lives, NOT on the basis of a lack of merit before Him, but because there is every reason NOT to intervene, man being by nature the enemy of God. The ONLY reason for which God demonstrates His mercy towards us is because His compassion FAILS not. He has set His love upon us.
The question then must be asked: “In seeking God, do we appeal to His mercy, crying unto Him for His intervention, regardless of our desperate condition and need?” There are primarily two reasons we do not “obtain,” or actually receive, the mercy of God. The first is that we do not realize what it is, or we do not know about it. Secondly, man in his pride thinks that God will only accept hear and answer the call of his heart if there is something he can do, some form of merit, to justify God’s intervention. God answers the call of the destitute, and desperate heart, who has no other appeal but to the compassion and mercy of God.
Dear Father, blessed God of true hope, who defies the false, feeble, and failing hope of men, give us to appeal to Thy mercy…full, and free, and everlasting. As Your mercies are NEW every morning, let us be those who seek Thee with all of our hearts, knowing that we will find Thee because You are merciful. We praise and thank Thee. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad