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
Yes, probably the most well-known verses in the Book of Lamentations and some of the most beautiful verses in all of the Bible. Amidst this lament over sin and suffering as a result of sin the writer of Lamentations, likely Jeremiah, but we don’t know for sure, says, “But this I call to mind and therefore I have hope.” Just let that soak in.
Lamentations 3:21–23 reminds us that God’s steadfast love is our everlasting hope.
In a world of sin and suffering, you have hope. You always, always, always have hope. No matter how dark things seem, you have hope. And what is your hope? Verse 22, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.” His love for you, for all who trust in him, never, ever, ever runs out.
It never stops. It doesn’t cease. The picture is it’s active always. The steadfast love of the Lord is pursuing you today. Just like Psalm 23 says, “Surely goodness and mercy are following after you all the days of your life. His mercies,” verse 22 here says, “never come to an end.” There is no end to the mercies of God. He has more and more mercy for you every day, which leads to verse 23, “They are new every morning.” Every morning when you wake up, new mercy is waiting for you. In this hard, sinful, fallen world of trials and temptations, you have new mercy every morning. All day long, new mercy just being poured out. An infinite reservoir of mercy is available to you with new mercy every day, and you can know it will be there, because God is faithful.
Lamentations 3:21–23 teaches us God showers us with new mercies each
“Great is your faithfulness,” verse 23 says. God will be faithful to give you new mercy all day long today, and God will be faithful when you wake up tomorrow with whatever today or tomorrow holds, God will be faithful to give you sufficient mercy tomorrow for whatever you are facing. I remember specifically when Heather and I were in one of our adoption processes, and she looked at me one day and she said, “Are we sure that we can parent another child?”
And I remember looking at her and saying, “Well, no, not today,” because we were overwhelmed with what we had going on with the children in our home at that point. I said, “We don’t have enough mercy for an extra child today, but I’m confident that when God brings another child into our home, that he will also bring sufficient mercy to love, and care for that child well.” God doesn’t promise mercy for the needs of tomorrow today.
He says, “I’ll give you what you need for today, and trust me when you get to tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, whatever you’re facing at that moment, you will have a new and sufficient mercy for whatever you’re walking through.” Oh God, I just pray this over every single person listening to this right now, especially those who are walking through hard days, God, I pray that they would call this to mind and have hope that your steadfast love is unceasing toward them. God, may they feel that right now that you love them with a never-ending, all-encompassing, impossible-to-exhaust love, that nothing will separate them from your love, that your mercies for them will never, ever, ever come to an end.
This verse reminds us to trust in our self-sufficiency.
That they would feel even in this moment, new mercy flowing from your hand, new strength, new help, new wisdom, new power, new peace, new provision from your hand, new mercy now and all day long, today and tomorrow and the next day, and that they would trust in your faithfulness not in their abilities, not in their strength, not in their wisdom, but in your faithfulness to provide the strength and the wisdom and the help, the mercy they need at every point. God, we praise you for this reality in our lives. We pray you’d help us to live in light of it, and to spread this good news about your steadfast love, your never-ending mercy, and your faithfulness to people around us today who are walking through hard times.
God, use our lives as an instrument of your mercy to encourage them… To build them up, to be a picture of your steadfast love for others. God use us, we pray, as instruments in your hands toward that in today. Help us to point brothers and sisters in Christ to your mercy. Help us to point unbelieving friends or family members or coworkers to your mercy in Jesus.
Prayer for the Unreached
And God, we pray for thousands of people groups around the world, who’ve yet to hear about your mercy in Jesus. God please cause them to be reached with your steadfast love. And use our lives toward that end, however you desire. We pray all this according to your Word, which we love in Lamentations 3:21–23. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
