The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
– Lamentations 3:22–26
We could obviously pray not just according to each one of these verses individually, but phrases in these verses individually. But the reason I wanted to read them all together is that the first few verses that I read are the most well-known in Lamentations. They’re the heart of the book. In the middle of this book of lament, of crying out to God, the writer says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They’re new every morning”.
Lamentations 3:22–26 teaches us to trust God’s mercy in every moment.
This promise that every single morning when you wake up, there are new mercies of God waiting for you, which is why I wanted to read all the way to verses 25 and 26. Because those verses say the Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It’s good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Waiting is not a strong suit of mine. I’m guessing it’s probably not a strong suit of yours.
We all need help to be patient, to wait, and I just think about different circumstances in my own life. Also, I’m sure in your life, where you would love some resolution right now, you would love for answers. You would love for an end to suffering or heartache, or just the challenges you’re facing. And in these verses, God is saying to you and to me right now, I have new mercies waiting for you, not just every morning, every moment, so you can wait on me.
“I will show myself good”, verse 25, “to all who wait for me”. It is good to wait quietly for the Lord, knowing he will provide the mercy you need. At every single moment. He will be faithful, and he will prove worthy of all of your hope. The Lord is my portion, says my soul. Therefore, I will. I can hope in him. Oh God, we praise you for the fountain of mercy that flows from your hands at every moment, every morning.
Lamentations 3:22–26 shows the beauty of waiting quietly for the Lord.
God, we praise you for new mercy that woke us up this morning, new mercy that greeted us, new mercy that sustains us even now for all your promises, that you are faithful to your promises to give us wisdom today, that we need strength today, that we need hope, peace, joy in every moment that we need it. God, we need all of these things from you, and we praise you as our portion, as the One who provides all these things for us.
And so we say together in our hearts right now, based on Lamentations 3:25–26, we wait for you. We seek you. God, we pray for your mercies. We pray for your help in so many different ways in our lives right now. We pray for your help on behalf of others, for the sake of others’ lives. God, we seek you and we wait for you. We wait quietly for you to show your provision, for you to show your salvation, that you promise to show. Oh God, you are our portion.
You are our hope, and we praise you that your steadfast love for us never ever, ever ceases. And God, we pray that you would help us to encourage others with these words today. Help us to speak good news of your steadfast love and your new mercies and the hope and the peace and the joy that are found in you and your faithfulness.
God, help us to bear others’ burdens and hold them up today and to lead people to your steadfast love in this hurting, fallen world.
Prayer for the Bazigar People
God, we pray specifically today for people who’ve never heard the good news of your mercy. In Jesus, we pray specifically today for the Bazigar people of Northern India, this Eastern Punjabi speaking people group doesn’t know your grace, your mercy, your love in Jesus.
Oh God, we can’t imagine waking up this morning without your new mercies greeting us. So we pray for your mercy, your steadfast love in Jesus, to spread to the Bazigar people and thousands of other people groups like them. We pray that you’d use our lives, our resources to make your steadfast love, mercy, faithfulness, hope known, your salvation known among them. We pray all this according to your Word in Lamentations 3:22–26, which we love. In Jesus’ name, amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
