What Compassions are New Every Morning?
Lamentations 3:21-23 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
This Morning
I got up refreshed after a good night’s sleep this morning. That doesn’t always happen. Some times I have trouble falling asleep and sometimes I have trouble staying asleep. But last night was a good night and when I got up refreshed, I thanked God for his compassions that fail not, that are new every morning.
Now I suppose that there are a lot of compassions that fail not and that are new every morning for which we should be thanking God. But I think that the act of waking up is a miracle in itself. I have often asked myself, “What really causes me to sleep? And what really sustains me through the night and wakes me up in the morning?” I seldom wake up with an alarm clock even when I know I have to get up earlier than usual. My internal alarm clock seems to be set somehow and I usually wake up several minutes before the alarm goes off. What causes that? I know that there is likely a scientific explanation for all of this. But since the God I worship is the creator God, I am convinced that God has programmed me in ways that I don’t fully understand.
Miracles for which we Should be Thankful
I don’t understand what keeps my heart beating, what causes me to take the next breath, what consciousness is and what allows me to think, Again, science tries to explain these things but these principles were working in the lives of humans and animals long before science had anything to say about them. We are living miracles. The earth and all of its inhabitants and ecosystems are living miracles. Surely we need to thank God for allowing us to be part of this miraculous creation, and we need to thank Him for allowing us us to personally experience His sustaining grace every morning,
Of course not everyone believes as I do that there is a Creator God who has a personal interest in every one of us. I believe that every name of every person born into this world is known to God and He has written those names in His book long before we were ever born. He knew what our parents would name us. He does, however, blot the names of those who reject Him out of that book; but not until He has tried repeatedly to obtain their love and trust. One way He does that is by getting us up every morning. The patience and love of God is beyond understanding because he sustains the lives of those who do not believe in Him just as He sustains the lives of those who do. He does not lose patience as I would but He provides rain for the “just and for the unjust.” See Matthew 5:45.
I Marvel at the Grace of God
Why didn’t the Lord Jesus call those twelve legions of angels and destroy the world when He was being betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane by one who claimed to be a disciple and friend? Because the Lord had come to save and not to destroy. John 3:17 says, “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” Why does the Lord get us up every morning? Because He wants us to understand that He is good and the sustainer of life. He wants us all to trust Him and to worship Him. Why hasn’t He come again? It is because there is still someone, perhaps someone reading this meditation, that He still wants to save. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise (to come again), as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
The Objections
It is popular today to say that there is no god. I personally think that is a self-centered foolish position and my only response to that is the answer of King David who said in Psalms 14:1, “The fool has said in his heart,’There is no God.’" Logically there is nothing to gain and everything to lose when we take that position. However I do understand why there are people who take the position that there has to be a creator God who sustains us and gets us up every morning, but that they really don’t know how to know who that Living and True God is.
When that objection is raised, I just suggest reading the Bible, particularly the New Testament and particularly the Gospel of John or the book of Romans. There is just something about the Bible that is different from reading other books. If one reads and asks the Lord to answer any honest objections that we have, I believe that there is a real Holy Spirit Who will guide us into all truth. I suppose I could spend a lot of time explaining why I trust the Bible and the Lord Jesus but I will never convince anyone that the Lord Jesus was God made known in the flesh and that He is trustworthy. I will never be able to convince anyone that He is the only God and that other gods are man-made and cannot save. But one of the reasons I am glad that I have been convinced that the Lord Jesus is my creator God and my sustainer of life is that I like a God who will die for me rather than requiring me to doe for Him in order to be saved.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of April 3, 2016