Every Morning
By Peggy Kleckner
“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 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
3:21-23 (NIV)
This verse is taken from the book of
Lamentations. To lament is to “feel or express deep sorrow (for); mourn;
mourning some loss or death” (Webster’s New World Dictionary). So a whole book
of mourning or wailing, crying out in grief over loss or death. If you read that
description on a book jacket cover, would you want to read it? Probably not, that is of course, unless that
was the place you found yourself. There are times in our lives that we go
looking for the words or the pictures that express where we are. Sometimes that
is a place of deep sorrow, or a place of deep grieving over our own sins or the
sins of others. We want to stay in our “happy place,” but life includes sadness
and joy, darkness and light. So too this book, in the
midst of deep grieving and real pain, this diamond of hope is nestled.
To pretend that life is “fine” and
that we experience no pain is to deny the necessity of a Savior. To tell one
another to try harder - - to get over it or to move on without mourning - - is
to deny the pain and to deny the true work of the cross: leading us to
repentance. I have spent a long time painting over my pain, coloring my hurt,
drawing pictures on top of my wounds, but eventually they still bleed through
and I find myself having to put all of my efforts into whitewashing and denying
again and again and again. I don’t believe that is the life of freedom and
abundance that Christ died for.
This verse lies after much wailing
of true pain and admission of sin. Amazing how difficult seasons bring the
truth to the surface. Pain seldom lets us hold in the truth that is looking to
be expressed. Pain and yes, actual anger, push truth to the surface like a volcano
hurls out both lava and rocks.
We cannot hide from God, but oh we
can hide truth from ourselves for quite some time. Let your pain and deep
anguish lead you to the truth. You are not God. You are not perfect, nor can
you be. You do need a Savior and God has given us only one, Jesus Christ.
We are not consumed and His
compassions never fail, because He sent Jesus.
Stop whitewashing; rather, repent
and be forgiven. Rest in the One who has willingly and compassionately paid the
price for you.
GOING DEEPER:
1.
What guilt are you trying to run from? Will you turn around and face the
only true judge?
2. What unanswered question nags at or continues
to threaten your faith? Will you take it to the throne room, bringing it out in
full view so that He can speak to you about it?
FURTHER
READING:
Peggy is a wife
and mother of four adult children - - two sons and two stepsons, and is an
active encourager at Oakwood Church in Delafield.
