You may wake up burdened by the pain, regrets, fears, and crushed hopes of yesterday. When adversity strikes, each morning feels like a battlefield before the day even begins. In this world, you will have trouble, Jesus warned us. Then in the next breath, he added, but take heart. I have overcome the world.
John 16:33 Take heart. Here is translated in many translations as Take courage. This isn't just comfort. This is a declaration of victory. New hope, new strength, new courage for today, new mercy. Every morning. Every morning, God offers us something extraordinary. New mercies, a fresh start, a clean slate. Yesterday's struggles don't have to define today, because God's love and faithfulness Never fail.
Lamentations 3, verses 22 to 23 the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They're new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. Jeremiah wrote these words during one of the darkest times in Israel's history. The Babylonians had conquered them. Their homes had been destroyed.
Their businesses and flocks were gone. Most of the people were impoverished refugees. The walls of Jerusalem were torn down. The Temple, the center of their culture and their faith had been pillaged and lay in rubble. Their nation was no more. They were captives. As a conquered nation, they were forced to move over 500 miles away to Babylon, where they were scattered throughout the Babylonian empire, which is in modern day Iraq.
Jeremiah the prophet had warned the nation that if they continued to sin, God will let them be taken captive. For 70 years, the people and their kings continued to sin, and the prophecy came true. Jeremiah wrote a letter assuring the people that even in the midst of great despair and fear for their future, God was still with them.
And God's mercies never come to an end. In fact, they're new every day. That whole generation lived and died in Iraq before God touched the heart of King Cyrus of Persia, who had conquered the Babylonians, to let the people return to rebuild Jerusalem. Jeremiah instructed the people to build houses and settle down, plant gardens and
Increase in number while they're there
See Jeremiah 29:4,7. In other words, God was not going to set them free from these circumstances until the prophecy was fulfilled, until 70 years had gone by, they were to make the most of these circumstances, to rise above them, and God promised new mercies every day to enable them to do that.
That promise is for us today, no matter what our circumstances.