Lamentations 3:22-23
Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22-23 NIV
Read the Context: Lamentations 3 NIV
[a]I am the man who has seen affliction
by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.
2 He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness rather than light;
3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long.
4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old
and has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has made me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.
7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape;
he has weighed me down with chains.
8 Even when I call out or cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.
10 Like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion in hiding,
11 he dragged me from the path and mangled me
and left me without help.
12 He drew his bow
and made me the target for his arrows.
13 He pierced my heart
with arrows from his quiver.
14 I became the laughingstock of all my people;
they mock me in song all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitter herbs
and given me gall to drink.
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;
he has trampled me in the dust.
17 I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 So I say, “My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
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.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.
31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.
34 To crush underfoot
all prisoners in the land,
35 to deny people their rights
before the Most High,
36 to deprive them of justice—
would not the Lord see such things?
37 Who can speak and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?
39 Why should the living complain
when punished for their sins?
40 Let us examine our ways and test them,
and let us return to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven, and say:
42 “We have sinned and rebelled
and you have not forgiven.
43 “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us;
you have slain without pity.
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can get through.
45 You have made us scum and refuse
among the nations.
46 “All our enemies have opened their mouths
wide against us.
47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls,
ruin and destruction.”
48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes
because my people are destroyed.
49 My eyes will flow unceasingly,
without relief,
50 until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.
51 What I see brings grief to my soul
because of all the women of my city.
52 Those who were my enemies without cause
hunted me like a bird.
53 They tried to end my life in a pit
and threw stones at me;
54 the waters closed over my head,
and I thought I was about to perish.
55 I called on your name, Lord,
from the depths of the pit.
56 You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief.”
57 You came near when I called you,
and you said, “Do not fear.”
58 You, Lord, took up my case;
you redeemed my life.
59 Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me.
Uphold my cause!
60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance,
all their plots against me.
61 Lord, you have heard their insults,
all their plots against me—
62 what my enemies whisper and mutter
against me all day long.
63 Look at them! Sitting or standing,
they mock me in their songs.
64 Pay them back what they deserve, Lord,
for what their hands have done.
65 Put a veil over their hearts,
and may your curse be on them!
66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them
from under the heavens of the Lord.
Footnotes:
Lamentations 3:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem; the verses of each stanza begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the verses within each stanza begin with the same letter.
Devotional
Ruth chapter one begins with a famine. But it ends with the beginning of a harvest. Don’t overlook that detail. Naomi returns to Bethlehem carrying the pain of everything she has lost. Her husband is still gone. Her sons are still gone. Her questions haven’t all been answered. And yet, something is happening that Naomi cannot fully see. The barley harvest is beginning. The famine that drove her family away is no longer defining the future of Bethlehem. God is providing food for His people again. And through Ruth, God is already preparing to provide for Naomi in ways she doesn’t yet understand. Here’s what makes this so powerful: Naomi’s circumstances had not completely changed, but God’s faithfulness had not changed at all. Sometimes we think God’s faithfulness means He will immediately remove everything that causes us pain. But Ruth reminds us that God can be at work even while we’re still grieving. He may be providing strength for today. He may be placing someone beside us. He may be opening a door we haven’t noticed. Or He may simply be reminding us that His mercy is new every morning. Lamentations 3:22–23 tells us that God’s compassions do not fail and that His mercies are new every morning. Naomi didn’t know what the rest of her life would hold. She didn’t know that Ruth would meet Boaz. She didn’t know how God would provide for their future. And she certainly didn’t know how her family’s story would eventually become part of the family line leading to Jesus Christ. But God was already at work. The same God who was faithful to Naomi is faithful today. Your story may not unfold the way you planned. You may not receive every answer you want. But you can trust the One who walks with you through every season. You may still be living through chapter one, but chapter one is not the whole story.
Reflect
Where can you recognize God’s faithfulness in your life, even though some of your circumstances haven’t changed?
Today’s Challenge
Write down three ways God has demonstrated His care for you during a difficult season. Thank Him for those reminders, even if you’re still waiting for answers.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You that Your faithfulness does not disappear when life becomes difficult. Thank You that even when I cannot see the whole picture, You are still at work. Help me recognize Your provision, trust Your promises, and walk faithfully through the season I’m in. Remind me that my story is still being written and that my hope is ultimately found in Jesus Christ. In His name, Amen.
Weekly Memory Verse
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him. Lamentations 3:25 NIV
Weekly Challenge: This week, look for one opportunity each day to demonstrate God’s faithfulness to someone else through encouragement, prayer, generosity, or simply being present
[a]I am the man who has seen affliction
by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.
2 He has driven me away and made me walk
in darkness rather than light;
3 indeed, he has turned his hand against me
again and again, all day long.
4 He has made my skin and my flesh grow old
and has broken my bones.
5 He has besieged me and surrounded me
with bitterness and hardship.
6 He has made me dwell in darkness
like those long dead.
7 He has walled me in so I cannot escape;
he has weighed me down with chains.
8 Even when I call out or cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer.
9 He has barred my way with blocks of stone;
he has made my paths crooked.
10 Like a bear lying in wait,
like a lion in hiding,
11 he dragged me from the path and mangled me
and left me without help.
12 He drew his bow
and made me the target for his arrows.
13 He pierced my heart
with arrows from his quiver.
14 I became the laughingstock of all my people;
they mock me in song all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitter herbs
and given me gall to drink.
16 He has broken my teeth with gravel;
he has trampled me in the dust.
17 I have been deprived of peace;
I have forgotten what prosperity is.
18 So I say, “My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the Lord.”
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
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.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”
25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.
28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.
31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.
34 To crush underfoot
all prisoners in the land,
35 to deny people their rights
before the Most High,
36 to deprive them of justice—
would not the Lord see such things?
37 Who can speak and have it happen
if the Lord has not decreed it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that both calamities and good things come?
39 Why should the living complain
when punished for their sins?
40 Let us examine our ways and test them,
and let us return to the Lord.
41 Let us lift up our hearts and our hands
to God in heaven, and say:
42 “We have sinned and rebelled
and you have not forgiven.
43 “You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us;
you have slain without pity.
44 You have covered yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can get through.
45 You have made us scum and refuse
among the nations.
46 “All our enemies have opened their mouths
wide against us.
47 We have suffered terror and pitfalls,
ruin and destruction.”
48 Streams of tears flow from my eyes
because my people are destroyed.
49 My eyes will flow unceasingly,
without relief,
50 until the Lord looks down
from heaven and sees.
51 What I see brings grief to my soul
because of all the women of my city.
52 Those who were my enemies without cause
hunted me like a bird.
53 They tried to end my life in a pit
and threw stones at me;
54 the waters closed over my head,
and I thought I was about to perish.
55 I called on your name, Lord,
from the depths of the pit.
56 You heard my plea: “Do not close your ears
to my cry for relief.”
57 You came near when I called you,
and you said, “Do not fear.”
58 You, Lord, took up my case;
you redeemed my life.
59 Lord, you have seen the wrong done to me.
Uphold my cause!
60 You have seen the depth of their vengeance,
all their plots against me.
61 Lord, you have heard their insults,
all their plots against me—
62 what my enemies whisper and mutter
against me all day long.
63 Look at them! Sitting or standing,
they mock me in their songs.
64 Pay them back what they deserve, Lord,
for what their hands have done.
65 Put a veil over their hearts,
and may your curse be on them!
66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them
from under the heavens of the Lord.
Footnotes:
Lamentations 3:1 This chapter is an acrostic poem; the verses of each stanza begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and the verses within each stanza begin with the same letter.
Devotional
Ruth chapter one begins with a famine. But it ends with the beginning of a harvest. Don’t overlook that detail. Naomi returns to Bethlehem carrying the pain of everything she has lost. Her husband is still gone. Her sons are still gone. Her questions haven’t all been answered. And yet, something is happening that Naomi cannot fully see. The barley harvest is beginning. The famine that drove her family away is no longer defining the future of Bethlehem. God is providing food for His people again. And through Ruth, God is already preparing to provide for Naomi in ways she doesn’t yet understand. Here’s what makes this so powerful: Naomi’s circumstances had not completely changed, but God’s faithfulness had not changed at all. Sometimes we think God’s faithfulness means He will immediately remove everything that causes us pain. But Ruth reminds us that God can be at work even while we’re still grieving. He may be providing strength for today. He may be placing someone beside us. He may be opening a door we haven’t noticed. Or He may simply be reminding us that His mercy is new every morning. Lamentations 3:22–23 tells us that God’s compassions do not fail and that His mercies are new every morning. Naomi didn’t know what the rest of her life would hold. She didn’t know that Ruth would meet Boaz. She didn’t know how God would provide for their future. And she certainly didn’t know how her family’s story would eventually become part of the family line leading to Jesus Christ. But God was already at work. The same God who was faithful to Naomi is faithful today. Your story may not unfold the way you planned. You may not receive every answer you want. But you can trust the One who walks with you through every season. You may still be living through chapter one, but chapter one is not the whole story.
Reflect
Where can you recognize God’s faithfulness in your life, even though some of your circumstances haven’t changed?
Today’s Challenge
Write down three ways God has demonstrated His care for you during a difficult season. Thank Him for those reminders, even if you’re still waiting for answers.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You that Your faithfulness does not disappear when life becomes difficult. Thank You that even when I cannot see the whole picture, You are still at work. Help me recognize Your provision, trust Your promises, and walk faithfully through the season I’m in. Remind me that my story is still being written and that my hope is ultimately found in Jesus Christ. In His name, Amen.
Weekly Memory Verse
The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him. Lamentations 3:25 NIV
Weekly Challenge: This week, look for one opportunity each day to demonstrate God’s faithfulness to someone else through encouragement, prayer, generosity, or simply being present
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