The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
These words come from Jeremiah, in his book of Lamentations. They have been used as the basis for at least one great hymn and a couple of contemporary worship choruses. They are wonderful, uplifting, reassuring words, and on the surface would seem to come from someone at the apex of his experiences, when everything is working well – new job, great victory, you get the picture. Not so in this case.
Jeremiah is in the process of documenting the destruction of the city he loved and the general state of his situation (hence the name of the book – Lamentations). The opening phrase of the book is this: “How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave.”
In virtually every sentence leading up to his great declaration of faith, Jeremiah is detailing either a personal or corporate problem. In chapter 3 specifically, he deals with what has happened to him. Yet right in the middle of all this (he continues the tale of woe and destruction in chapters 4 and 5) he says “My soul continually remembers it (his affliction and wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!) and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:” and continues with his affirmation:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
What’s up with you today? Worried about a business failing, a marriage or relationship in shambles, oil spills on the coastal shoreline, a job/career teetering on the precipice? Wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord, and hope in Him. Then you can say, as Jeremiah said, “great is Your faithfulness“!
