"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23
This has always been my "go-to" verse for when my sin is right up in my face. For the times that I knew I had messed up; when the dirtiness and filth of my flesh was fully externalized. There are several seasons of my life where this verse continued to remind me that I WAS a child of God and that He WAS transforming me in His time. This morning, however, God made me aware of a deeper truth to these verses.
His compassions never fail. Dictionary.com defines compassion as: "A feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering." One of the antonyms they list for compassion is indifference.
First off, what does the Lord have deep sympathy and sorrow for each of us? What are our misfortunes? You tell me. For some of us, those might be things that we could have prevented. Sins that we committed knowingly. Moments that replay in our brains over and over again, praying and hoping that a re-do button would show up. For others, our current misfortunes take a different turn. Sickness within the family or ourselves. The diagnosis that keeps getting worse. The depression that just won't go away. The cries for a spouse or a baby that continue to go unanswered. All of these can be considered misfortunes. And Lamentations promises us that God has ACTIVE sympathy and sorrow for us in the midst.
The second half of the definition is the part that tugs at my heart strings the most. It says that this feeling is accompanied by "a strong desire to alleviate the suffering". This is where our trust comes in. Friends, not only does God see your misfortunes, He wants to make it better. He is fully aware of what you are going through, and He desires to relieve that suffering. In our sin, He continues to bring us His grace and forgiveness EACH morning. As the sun rises, it is a fresh reminder that He is for us and is giving us yet another chance to remember Him in all we do. In those misfortunes that keep us perpetually intuitive to the fact that the world we live in is a broken one full of suffering, let us not forget that He is NOT indifferent. He desires to relieve us of this suffering, whether in this life or the next. If He continues to allow you to feel the pain, He promises us that it is for a reason. And the hope of this verse is that we would begin each day with a new understanding of this compassion that the Lord has for us. Regardless of if your misfortunes are self-inflicted or simply a part of being a human being, He is right there with you in it. His compassions NEVER fail, and He will not let your suffering end in vain. Because He's for you. Because He is the Great Alleviator of all of our pain as we lay it at His feet. Because He is faithful.
This has always been my "go-to" verse for when my sin is right up in my face. For the times that I knew I had messed up; when the dirtiness and filth of my flesh was fully externalized. There are several seasons of my life where this verse continued to remind me that I WAS a child of God and that He WAS transforming me in His time. This morning, however, God made me aware of a deeper truth to these verses.
His compassions never fail. Dictionary.com defines compassion as: "A feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering." One of the antonyms they list for compassion is indifference.
First off, what does the Lord have deep sympathy and sorrow for each of us? What are our misfortunes? You tell me. For some of us, those might be things that we could have prevented. Sins that we committed knowingly. Moments that replay in our brains over and over again, praying and hoping that a re-do button would show up. For others, our current misfortunes take a different turn. Sickness within the family or ourselves. The diagnosis that keeps getting worse. The depression that just won't go away. The cries for a spouse or a baby that continue to go unanswered. All of these can be considered misfortunes. And Lamentations promises us that God has ACTIVE sympathy and sorrow for us in the midst.
The second half of the definition is the part that tugs at my heart strings the most. It says that this feeling is accompanied by "a strong desire to alleviate the suffering". This is where our trust comes in. Friends, not only does God see your misfortunes, He wants to make it better. He is fully aware of what you are going through, and He desires to relieve that suffering. In our sin, He continues to bring us His grace and forgiveness EACH morning. As the sun rises, it is a fresh reminder that He is for us and is giving us yet another chance to remember Him in all we do. In those misfortunes that keep us perpetually intuitive to the fact that the world we live in is a broken one full of suffering, let us not forget that He is NOT indifferent. He desires to relieve us of this suffering, whether in this life or the next. If He continues to allow you to feel the pain, He promises us that it is for a reason. And the hope of this verse is that we would begin each day with a new understanding of this compassion that the Lord has for us. Regardless of if your misfortunes are self-inflicted or simply a part of being a human being, He is right there with you in it. His compassions NEVER fail, and He will not let your suffering end in vain. Because He's for you. Because He is the Great Alleviator of all of our pain as we lay it at His feet. Because He is faithful.
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