Storm Warning: Eye on the Sky — Friday
Lamentations 3:22–23
The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. (NLT)
My favorite daily devotional is New Morning Mercies by Paul David Tripp. Each day, the book highlights one common and simple truth: that we have a merciful God, and His mercy is lavished on us every single moment of every single day. In the introduction to his book, Tripp writes this about mercy:
“God’s mercy is specific; each child receives the mercy that is designed for his or her particular moment of need… God’s mercy is ultimate comfort, but it is also a call to a brand new way of living.”
Some storms we face are ones we have no say in. Bad things happen to us, and we have to endure them. On the other hand, sometimes we get ourselves into bad situations and have to deal with the consequences of our actions. For me, when I make a mistake that puts me in a tough situation, it’s difficult to see the mercy and grace of God. I can often be hard on myself and think I deserve bad things to happen to me. I get embarrassed by my actions, and like a dog who has chewed up a pair of shoes, I try to hide from God.
But God doesn’t want us to hide from Him. He is the God of comfort, and because of His faithful love for us, His comfort extends to those of us suffering at the hands of others and ourselves. His mercies are fresh every morning and are available to all people. We just have to remember to take His mercy freely, and thank Him in the process.
Friday’s Reflection
I could offer you a piece of encouragement in my own words, but instead, I want to leave you with scripture. May these words be an encouragement to you as you finish out the week:
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-7, ESV)