Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the gall! My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. 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. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lam. 3:19-24 (NIV)
Dear heavenly Father, another day and another delightful deposit of your fresh mercies greet us. You are so grace-full and generous toward us, so we join Jeremiah in calling to mind your great love and your great faithfulness. In fact, we can “call to mind” much more of your love and faithfulness than Jeremiah. Our place in the history of redemption is to be much preferred over his.
Jeremiah lived looking forward to the coming of Jesus and the fulfillment of the promises of the new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34). But we live on this side of those blessed events. How much quicker should we be to praise you and how much greater should our hope be!
Lord Jesus, you are the reason we aren’t consumed with guilt and paralyzed with fear, stuck in our shame and drowning in doubt; for you took the judgment we deserved on the cross, and exhausted it. Because of you, God has forgiven all our wickedness and will never remember our sins against us (Jer. 31:34). You became sin for us, and in you, we have been declared presently and eternally righteous (2 Cor. 5:21).
Father, it’s because of this gospel, this good news, that we also join Jeremiah in lamenting our wanderings. With humility we still sing, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love.” We need the gospel every day and every hour. Don’t let us wander far. When we lose sight of Jesus, make the gall more galling; make the bitterness bitterer; make downcast feel even more downcast. We don’t want to ever get used to feeling disconnected from the gospel.
In view of your steadfast love and never-failing compassions, we proclaim, “The Lord is our portion” (Lam. 3:24 NIV). So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ beautiful and bountiful name.