New Every Morning
Scripture Reading: Psalm 121; Lamentations 3-5; Hebrews 10
I Lamentations 3:22-23 while standing outside a hotel in Hyderabad, India, about 30 years ago. Every morning for two weeks, a friend of mine, Richard Stephens, would lead a group of us in a devotional and then in singing:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end;
They are new every morning,
New every morning,
Great is Thy faithfulness, O Lord.
What I came to realize later was that the prophet wrote the words behind that gentle melody while standing in the ashes of a ruined nation. He wasn’t sitting at a café with a quiet morning and time to reflect. He was sitting among the ruins of Jerusalem. The temple was destroyed. The city walls were broken. Thousands were dead. Others were starving or being marched away in chains.
If there was ever a moment where it looked like God’s mercy had run out, this was it.
And yet Jeremiah says, right in the middle of the book of Lamentations:
“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)
It’s as if he walks through the smoke and rubble, stops halfway through his grief, and plants the flag of faith.
So how could he say that?
How can someone speak of mercy when everything around them looks like judgment?
Because Jeremiah wasn’t looking at circumstances. He was looking at God’s character. He remembered that God had made a covenant — a promise of steadfast love that human failure could not erase. God’s faithfulness didn’t depend on the moment they were living in. It rested on who God eternally is.
And that is where the gospel shines.
The mercy Jeremiah saw dimly, we now see clearly in Jesus Christ. At the cross, it looked again like God had abandoned His people. Darkness fell. Judgment came down. But hidden in that judgment was mercy. Jesus took the wrath we deserved so we could live every day under the mercy Jeremiah spoke of.
So every morning — whether the day looks bright or broken — if you are in Christ:
Your sins are forgiven.
You are a child of God.
Christ intercedes for you.
And nothing can separate you from His love.
Maybe today feels heavy. Maybe you’re walking through sadness, uncertainty, or loss. You don’t have to pretend it’s not real. Neither did Jeremiah.
But like him, you can plant a flag.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.
Not because life is easy.
But because God is faithful.
Because Christ has risen.
Because mercy meets you every morning.
