A New Day

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23, ESV).

We all have hard days. Busy schedules, painful recoveries, challenging relationships, rebellious children, aging parents, an unanswered prayer. The list is infinite, and sometimes we just wake up feeling like we want to roll over in bed and push the day away. 

One of my favorite things about beach trips are the daily sunrises. Watching the sun rise over the water, or really anywhere, is always a needed reminder of the sovereignty of God. Lamentations 3:22-23 is an often repeated Bible verse, but it’s one that can inspire on the hardest of days:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

On the hardest days, His mercies are new and his love for us never ceases.

On days of celebration, His mercies are new and his love for us never ceases.

On days the grief feels too heavy, His mercies are new and his love for us never ceases.

On days we begin a new journey, His mercies are new and his love for us never ceases.

I noticed something this morning I hadn’t before. There are three semicolons in those two verses, indicating a pause not an end. I will read that verse differently from now on, because those pauses remind me that we can’t just count on God for one of those things, but for all of them. 

His steadfast love never ceases. 

His mercies never end. 

They are new every morning. 

And finally, He is faithful. 

A combination of hormones, and processing thoughts, has led to less sleep than usual on several nights. There have been mornings when the alarm sounded that I wanted to roll over and sleep a bit longer. Admittedly, I’ve hit the snooze more times than usual the last week or so as a result, which has led to me missing some of my quiet time in the morning with the Lord. 

As I processed this with a friend recently, I was reminded that His mercies are new every morning. When I lean into that, it renews my resolve to make that quiet time a priority. It impacts how I live, how I serve, and how I love. And that’s more important than a little extra sleep. 

I am so thankful the mercy and love of the Lord is not dependent on our emotions. The Lord knows we wake daily with different thoughts, stressors, and emotions depending on the chaos of life. We have a choice to make, though. We can allow the previous day to linger into the next, or we can wake up reminded that, with Jesus, every day is a new day.