His mercies are new every morning.
A cry of hope from the middle of total devastation.
The episode in a glance.
- 01Lamentations is a funeral song for a destroyed city.
- 02'Great is your faithfulness' is sung from the ashes.
- 03Mercies being 'new' means they don't run out.
- 04Hope is found not in circumstances, but in God's character.
Read along.
Lamentations 3:22-23 — 'The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.' This is one of the most hopeful verses in the Bible — and it's in the middle of a funeral song.
Jerusalem has been destroyed. The temple is rubble. The people are dead or enslaved. And Jeremiah — traditionally understood as the author — sits in the ashes and writes this. Not denial. Not optimism. Theological defiance.
'The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.' In Hebrew, that's hesed — covenant love, loyal love, love that keeps its promises. Even when the city is gone, the love remains. That's the anchor.
'His mercies never come to an end.' You might reach the end of your patience, your money, your strength, your hope. But you will not reach the end of God's mercies. They don't have a limit. They don't expire.
'They are new every morning.' That's the daily rhythm of grace. You don't wake up with yesterday's mercy. You get fresh mercy. Every single day. That's why the hymn says 'Great is thy faithfulness.' Not great was. Great is. Present tense. Even now.