Lamentations 3:22-23 — The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
My oven quit the other day.
Now, I’m pretty sure this oven came over on the Mayflower, so I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised.
It had a good run.
But that meant I needed a new one.
And that’s when I discovered something nobody had bothered to tell me.
Apparently, 350 degrees on one oven doesn’t always bake quite the same way as 350 degrees on another.
Who knew?
Well, I certainly didn’t.
At least, not until I pulled my first batch of cookies out of the new oven.
And let me tell you.
Those cookies were harder than my dining room table.
I didn’t technically burn them, but I’m pretty sure you could’ve lost a tooth trying to eat one.
They were not good.
Not even a little bit.
So, into the trash they went.
And I was frustrated.
Now, was I devastated?
No.
Heartbroken?
Of course not.
They were cookies, for goodness’ sake.
But I was frustrated.
And you know how that goes.
Sometimes, it doesn’t take something big to put us in a bad mood.
A rude comment.
A flat tire.
An email you really didn’t want to receive.
Or a batch of cookies that could probably survive being dropped off the roof.
And suddenly, that one little disappointment starts coloring the way we see everything else.
The rest of the day feels harder.
Our patience gets shorter.
And before we know it, we’re allowing one frustrating moment to decide what kind of day we’re going to have.
Have you ever done that?
I know I have.
But that got me thinking about a passage in Lamentations.
Now, Lamentations wasn’t written about a bad batch of cookies.
Not even close.
It’s a book filled with deep sorrow over the destruction of Jerusalem and the suffering of God’s people.
The grief was real.
The loss was overwhelming.
And the circumstances weren’t going to be fixed by simply starting over.
But right there, in the middle of all that heartbreak, we find these beautiful words:
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Think about that.
Those words weren’t written because everything was going wonderfully.
They were spoken in the middle of sorrow.
And that’s what makes them so powerful.
God’s faithfulness doesn’t depend on how well our day is going.
His mercy isn’t reserved for the mornings when we wake up happy and everything goes according to plan.
It’s there when the day starts badly.
It’s there when we’re disappointed.
It’s there when we’re tired, overwhelmed, or wondering how we’re going to make it through something much bigger than a frustrating afternoon.
And His mercies are new every morning.
Every. Single. Morning.
That means yesterday’s disappointment doesn’t have to define today.
And today’s frustration doesn’t have to steal every bit of joy from what comes next.
Now, I’m not saying we should pretend that difficult things don’t hurt.
Some disappointments are much bigger than others.
Some take time to heal.
And some seasons of life are genuinely hard.
But even in those seasons, we can hold on to this truth:
Whatever changes around us, God’s love for us does not.
So maybe something didn’t go the way you hoped this week.
Maybe somebody hurt your feelings.
Maybe your plans fell apart.
Or maybe, like me, you just wanted a decent batch of cookies and ended up with something that could be used as a doorstop.
Whatever it is, don’t let that one moment convince you that everything else is ruined.
Take a breath.
Give yourself a little grace.
And remember that God’s mercy is still there.
Because even when the cookies are a complete loss, God’s faithfulness never is.
And tomorrow?
Well, tomorrow comes with brand-new mercies.
And maybe, just maybe, a better batch of cookies.
A MOMENT TO REFLECT
- Have you ever allowed one small frustration to affect your attitude toward the rest of your day?
- Why is it significant that the words about God’s new mercies appear in a book filled with grief and sorrow?
- How does remembering God’s faithfulness help you respond differently when things don’t go according to plan?
- Is there a disappointment you’ve been carrying that you need to bring to God?
- What’s one practical way you can recognize and appreciate God’s mercy in the middle of an imperfect day?
QUESTION TO CARRY WITH YOU TODAY
Am I allowing one disappointing moment to define my day, or am I making room to recognize God’s mercy in what comes next?
