God is always faithful!

Faithfulness is a rare thing and it can warm the heart. You might find it in a partner, a friend or a dog. When you see it, you appreciate it. But there is no faithfulness on earth which comes close to that of God’s faithfulness toward us.

Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!

20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.

21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;

23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. -Lamentations 3:19-27

Lamentations is not known as the most positive book in the bible, but this is a great encouragement. It was written at one of the worst times in Israel’s history. It was a time of huge distress and uncertainty. But there was mercy in the midst of despair.

We are in uncertain times and we need God’s mercy in the midst of our despair today.

We all need to be reminded that Gods steadfast, faithful love never ever ceases and His mercies will never come to an end.

God’s mercy is like manna in the wilderness, it’s new every morning. The supply of manna was more than just a feeding program, it was teaching the children of Israel to trust in God and to turn to him alone for their daily need.

In the same way, we need to seek the mercy of God daily. When we do, it shows not only our trust in His ability to supply, but our absolute reliance on God, without whom we cannot continue.

The writer of Ecclesiastes was not writing about what he saw around him each morning, he was writing about what he knew about God, when he wrote this portion. That’s how we need to approach our own issues too.

God is always good no matter what we see around us. He is always faithful to us, even when we struggle with being faithful to Him.

If we are faithless,

He remains faithful;

He cannot deny Himself.

– 2 Timothy 2:13

We also need to trust in God for the timing of our rescue. When God tells us to wait, it’s never fruitless and verse 25 reminds us of that.

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

When tough times come, it can be like walking around in thick fog. You know the path and destination are still there, but you can’t see them, so we lose all sense of time, distance and perspective. In those times, stick with the program, rely on God to guide you, take the steps He gives you to take because He still sees the path.

We often want to know that we have enough resource today for what we will face tomorrow. That leaves us using our time planning and imagining what we might have to deal with and worrying about how we might get through it all. But this mistake is addressed by Jesus.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. – Matthew 6:34

This doesn’t mean we don’t have to plan and prepare at all, but there is no need to be anxious because God will give mercy enough to deal with the amount of trouble each day holds.

We fall into a trap when we mentally take on tomorrow’s burden without having tomorrows mercy.

Our faith has to be engaged to trust that even if the worst thing happens tomorrow, God will know how much mercy we need to deal with whatever comes our way and will supply His fresh mercy at just the right time.

Learning to trust God for tomorrow comes from knowing He gave you what you needed to get through yesterday and will always give you just enough mercy to deal with each days challenges, because God is always faithful.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. 9 As it is written:

“He has dispersed abroad,

He has given to the poor;

His righteousness endures forever.”

10 Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, 11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. – 2 Corinthians 9:8-11