His Mercies Are New Every Morning

This is another post from the “Trauma Speaks, God Answers” series.

Today is September 11th, and it’s a day our country usually remembers and mourns the loss of lives in 2001. It’s always a day filled with posts on social media and news, heavy hearts, poignant and thoughtful memories and tributes of the heroes of that day.

And in our family, September 11th brings another layer of hard because it’s also the anniversary of my brother Robert’s death. He died in 1993 in a car accident at the age of 19, almost 20. He was a brilliant, engaging, loving and kind guy, and his death was one of the biggest losses of my life.

Today is also the day after the tragic killing of Charlie Kirk in Utah, yet another school shooting in Colorado, and countless other tragic and horrifying events in our country and our world. There is a feeling of such heaviness today.

And finally from a very personal standpoint, I’m currently dealing with some pretty precarious health issues and life feels fragile.

I was awake a lot last night thinking about all of the above, and praying for my health, for our family and friends, for our country and those who are in deep mourning today. I smiled through tears when God reminded me about the verse I used in this week’s Weekly Action Plan that I send out by email to bloggers. Week after week, God meets me where I’m at with these verses. It’s always amazing to me how spot-on they are each week, as they are verses I picked out many weeks ago.

The scripture for this week was from Lamentations 3:22-23:

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.”

Lamentations feels 100% appropriate for a day like today. And while our current circumstances are different than those of the writer of Lamentations, there is nothing new under the sun (Ecc 1:9), and so many are feeling devastation. Devastation, loss, despair, grief and fear.

But… but, just as the devastation is the same, the hope of God’s mercy is the same as well. No matter the circumstances, God’s steadfast love and mercies never end. They are new EVERY MORNING. He is faithful, and we can hope in him.

When I was growing up, this verse was actually a song we would sing a lot around campfire at camp, or in devotionals as teenagers. We occasionally still sing it in worship services. It actually is kind of an “upbeat” song, depending on who leads it, but I think it could be sung as a thoughtful, contemplative praise as well.

I don’t think the dark, difficult days are going anywhere until Jesus comes back, so I’m thankful for this verse and the accompanying song. When it feels like all we have is the reminder that God’s love endures and his mercies are new every morning, that will get us through. It is a PROMISE that we can hold on to, even in darkest, heaviest, hardest of days.