Today’s Scripture Reading

²² Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

LAM.3.22-23

Today’s Devotional Reading

The Mercy of God

It is striking that Jeremiah consoles himself with God’s mercy, even as he gazes on the rubble of a nation under divine judgment (2Ch 36:15-21). There is stark irony here, when he says God’s great love and compassion are new every morning.

The word for “love” may be the most essential word in the Old Testament, describing God’s character to us.

It incorporates:

(1) His covenant of compassion, expressed in

(2) his consuming commitment, to bring us into

(3) everlasting communion with himself.

In this text, “love” describes the Father’s acute emotional yearning for a wayward people. In noting how God’s compassion and great love are new every morning, this text suggests we need this more often than we may think, whether we feel weak or strong.

God’s great love is his compassion toward us even when we deserve punishment, his commitment to restore us even though we deserve to endure the consequences of our sin, and his covenant of love expressed at the point of our greatest foolishness. The apostle Paul exclaims that God, who is the “Father of compassion” (2Co 1:3), is “rich in mercy” (Eph 2:4). Where grace emphasizes the freeness of God’s love toward us, mercy stresses the freeing of our lives from the misery of our disobedience.

Today’s devotional reading is pulled from: NIV New Spirit-Filled Life Bible