Since this is January 1, 2024, Happy New Year is appropriate! What about this New Year to come? What hopes and dreams do you hold for the next 365 days? My daughter posted recently that the 365 days seem very long until you get to the end and then it seem like it passed in the blink of an eye. Since I’ve spent the last 5 days in bed with a virus cold, the first hope I have during the days to come is for health. This is such a fragile gift and yet we so often take it for granted.
My favorite verses to begin any New Year come from Lamentations 3:19-24. The prophet Jeremiah, had seen and experienced great hardship both physically and spiritually. The people of Israel were rebelling against God and Jeremiah felt that deeply as he sought to speak to the people about God. I have given you 3 translations for this passage. Each one brings new things to light and causes us to begin this year anew for the Lord with great Hope.
Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
20 My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope: 22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.” (ESV)
The thought of my suffering and homelessness
is bitter beyond words.
20 I will never forget this awful time,
as I grieve over my loss.
21 Yet I still dare to hope
when I remember this: 22 The faithful love of the Lord never ends!
His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness;
his mercies begin afresh each morning.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my inheritance;
therefore, I will hope in him!” (NLT)
19-21 I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope: 22-24 God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left. (Message)
In spite of last years trials, will you like Jeremiah place your trust and hope in the Lord? He alone is faithful and will give us new mercies each and every morning. NO Place else can we get that assurance and hope. If you don’t feel His mercy in the midst of your turmoil, turn to Him and ask Him for insight to see where He is being merciful to you. Through Christ we have received God’s greatest mercy. 1 Peter 2:9-10 “9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.” Sending Jesus was God’s greatest gift of mercy towards us, begin this New Year with thanksgiving on your lips.
Happy New Year! Walk the next 365 with the Lord and experience HIs mercies each and every morning!
Linda
Fearless Living 