Unending Mercy

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. (ESV)

Have you ever wished that you could go back and undo what you said or did to someone?  I have.  Very frequently.  Unfortunately, the hard reality is that once something is done it can’t be undone.  And once something is spoken, it can’t be unspoken.  And when those things happen, I tend to spend the next couple of weeks beating myself up, letting Satan convince me that I’m unforgivable and hopeless.  And it’s true, we can’t change our past.  But the piece that Satan leaves out is that we can certainly change our future.  That’s why God’s promise that his mercies are new every morning is so significant.  Every. Single. Day. God gives us the chance to start anew.  Every day we have the opportunity to make a change, and if we mess up again, his mercy is STILL new tomorrow.

Now, as Paul put it “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?  By no means!  How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2).  Just because God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” does not mean that we should or can take advantage of that (Psalm 86:15).  His mercy is new, but our heart must be sincere.

Don’t let Satan’s voice in your head tell you that you need to give up and that you’ll never be able to make it right.  Say the apologies that you need to say, and accept God’s grace and mercy to start fresh in the morning.  Trust that he is faithful even when you fail.