Fresh & New

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.  The Lord is my portion, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him.  Lamentations 3:22-24

Such comfort in these verses but it didn’t used to be that way. 

I find it amazing how we can take a straight forward scripture (like the one above), mix in a little fear and doubt and let it skew our whole life.  That’s what I did.

In all the years I spent trying to earn God’s love and mercies, I often thanked the Lord that His mercies were fresh and new every morning.  That sounds good but I was coming from a place of fear.  I knew I didn’t measure up.  I knew I couldn’t measure up; that nothing I did would ever be good enough.  I desperately needed those mercies for even the faintest chance of seeing His face.

Even today, it's true.  I don’t measure up.  I can’t measure up.  In myself, I will never be good enough.  But, I’m not supposed to measure myself by myself.  I accepted Jesus as my Savior 41 years ago.  I became a new creation that day (2 Corinthians 5:17).  Through Him, I became righteous (2 Corinthians 5:21).  He gave me the power to become a child of the living God (John 1:12).  In Him, I can do all things (Philippians 4:13).  Through Him, I conquer (Romans 8:37).  See the prevalent theme? Him.

Recently, I said Jesus is the blessing I often talk about.  That was true in the Old Testament and it is true today.  Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).  God counted it as done and He worked with mankind accordingly.

Yeah?  What about the God of WRATH in the Old Testament?  Let’s look at that.  The Bible says that Ahab (married Jezebel) did evil above all that were before him (1Kings 16:30) yet God dealt with him for 22 years before his reign came to an end (1 Kings 16:29).  Jeroboam sinned and made Israel sin (1Kings 14:16) and he reigned 22 years (1 Kings 14:20).  Manasseh did evil in the sight of the Lord (2 Kings 21:2) and he reigned 52 years (1 Kings 21:1).  Sounds like a God whose mercies were fresh and new every morning.

This is the time of year people talk about starting with a clean slate, that the possibilities are endless.  With God, it's true every day.