“’The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in him.’” (Lamentations 3:25)

Sometimes it’s a good idea to remember the essentials – to go back and take in truths we knew once but our thoughts have not lingered on lately, to savor the rich taste of his goodness and inhale the sweetness that has somehow escaped us for a while.

For a change, we should bring to mind that the Lord’s love for us is described as steadfast, a forevermore love that is constant, reliable, unwavering. His brand of love bears the mark of a continuousness that can always be depended on. Christ’s capacity to love us is undeviating in its constancy. It is as firmly fixed in place as mountains that never move a muscle no matter what. God’s love for us will never cease, will never come to an end, will never run out the way the ocean never runs dry, will always be full to the brim, will always be more than enough on every conceivable level.

In equal measure, God’s mercies are ours in boundless quantities. His acts of kindness, compassion, and favor are blessings from his good hands and gracious heart. Every single morning before the sun comes up and our eyelids pop open to face the day, God has an armload of mercies available for us again. No matter what the previous day held, or how often we desperately needed his presence and his power in our lives, no account of his mercies ever reaches a zero balance. Today, again, a fresh supply is available and sufficient. Tomorrow we get to repeat the cycle and draw on his faithfulness once more.

Our mind must cling to these truths, making them front and center and ordering our lives around this secure hope. God calls us to play a part, to have a role here as well. The Scriptures challenge us that, “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” (Lamentations 3:25-26). In waiting, we look for him expectantly like children on tiptoes, faces pressed into the window pane waiting for our loving father’s return. We wait expecting him to show up, to provide all that we need, to wrap us in protective arms of love. As we wait for him with confident expectation and seek him passionately, we will experience his mercy and love in ways that far outstrip our comprehension.  

“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 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 3:21-23).

Elizabeth A Mitchell

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