The Night Before
They are new every morning. Lamentations 3:23
New – Don’t you love this verse? Of course, you have to read the last part of the previous verse to know that it refers to God’s mercies. His lovingkindnesses are new (hadash) every morning. The Hebrew might also mean “refreshed.” When you woke up today, did you say to yourself, “God is good. Today His compassion has been renewed for me?”
What we don’t often consider is the context of this verse. We dwell on the idea that God’s mercies arise with the sun, but we forget that the author of this wonderful thought has just described a terrible night before the dawn. Take a look again at Lamentations 3:1-20. It is filled with affliction, wrath, darkness, rejection, bitterness and emotional imprisonment. Notice that the One Who carries out this sentence of personal despair is God. “He shuts out my prayers.” “He makes my path crooked.” “He makes me desolate.” Fate and bad luck have nothing to do with the nightmare of life yesterday. God’s hand presses against me and I am crushed.
Before I can see new mercies in the morning, I often must experience the dark night of the soul. Before I can know the God of infinite lovingkindness, I often must encounter the God of constraint and affliction. In fact, if I don’t know the terror of the night, I may not be able to experience the lovingkindness of the morning.
You see, the Bible is not a “happy” book. It is not a book about silver linings on every cloud. It is a book about the twisted terror of life in a world that is in rebellion against the Creator. The Bible never sugarcoats the real evil of this world. In fact, it even suggests that God Himself uses nightmares (both conscious and unconscious) to bring about His purposes. The Bible does not preach a gospel of good times. It preaches the good news of hoped-for redemption. Don’t get confused about this. There are plenty of real nightmares out there. They don’t disappear just because you become a believer. In fact, they might even get worse (because now you see them for what they are). But, God is gracious. The Christian knows that the world is a fallen, terrible place. But, God is gracious. The Christian knows that life in the service of an absent King is a time of dangerous waiting. But, God is gracious. The Christian knows that the darkest night of the soul is passing away because – God’s gracious mercies are new every morning.
The night is over. Today, you are alive. That in itself is a sign of God’s gracious mercy. There are now hundreds of opportunities in the next hours to discover the goodness of God sliced in between a world of rebellious despair. Of course, you will have to keep your eyes open and your ears attuned. But, God is gracious. Even the blind and the deaf will find Him in the morning.
