Lamentation 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)
“It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” (KJV)
“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.” (NIV)
The verse above is Jeremiah’ “favourite song”. Many of us today would most probably has known to a great hymn song called “Great is Thy Faithfulness” or probably some would still know another song with title “The Steadfast love of the Lord”. Here are the 2 songs from youtube, for you to listen while also reading this devotion. I Hope you could get the “nuances” of what Jeremiah spoke long time ago as he weeps for Judah’ sin towards God.
Israel was once a great nation, and Jerusalem was a city full of people. She was like a princess among the provinces. The Great Holy Temple was once built in Jerusalem by King Solomon, and It was once a nation where other nations are afraid of because God was with them. The Holy Temple signifies YAHWEH is the God of Israel, and He is the one that protects Israel, Her Strength. This is what Jeremiah recalled himself. The book of lamentation starts with the word “How” or “Ah!” or “Alas” as an irony towards God’s people in Judah.
Jeremiah lamenting the circumstances of Judah, and the city of Jerusalem, because the situation was very alarming: They are now being conquered by babylonians, She (Jerusalem) weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks, and no one to comfort her. Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude. Their temple was utterly destroyed, and their king (King Zedekiah - last king of Judah) was faced with a tragic ends - In the eleventh year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar succeeded in capturing Jerusalem. Zedekiah and his followers attempted to escape, making their way out of the city, but were captured on the plains of Jericho, and were taken to Riblah.
There, after seeing his sons put to death, his own eyes were put out, and, being loaded with chains, he was carried captive to Babylon, where he remained a prisoner until he died. There were nothing to boast for Jerusalem, they were without strength. What they can do now is only to remember the old days. It is a tragic story, isn’t it?
Interestingly, Jeremiah never said that it was Babylonians that cause Jerusalem to live in such despair. Jeremiah realise that it is the hand of God that causes the affliction towards Judah. Lamentation 1:5 says that “Her foes have become the head; her enemies prosper, because the LORD has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions; her children has gone away, captives before the foe.” All of this happen towards Judah because of their disobedience to God. Jeremiah confess that God is right, and that they have rebelled against his word, that’s why all these calamity occurred. She was helpless before His anger for He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; The Lord has become like an enemy towards Israel as He has swallowed up Israel - all its palaces, laid in ruins its strongholds, and multiplied mourning and lamentation towards the daughter of Judah. Israel has been so corrupt and following their own idol instead of worshipping God. They have not pleased God, but please their own self, they betrayed God, and thus now they faced this. It is such a dark nuances, isn’t it?
In this time of affliction, Jeremiah the man who himself has seen such affliction under the rod of God’s wrath confessed to the LORD and says “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the LORD”. Then he asked the LORD to remember him, to remember Israel, God’s people in this time of bitterness. As Jeremiah wept for the sin of Judah towards God, he calls to his mind and hope that God will give His mercy towards Israel. He then says this wonderful poetic word that we now often sing in the church - Lamentation 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.” Please listen to the song once again, and feel the nuances as Jeremiah says these words in times of despair.
The word “mercies” there comes from a hebrew word #2617 “Chesed” which means “goodness, lovingkindness, loyal love”. It has a sense of a faithful love - a strong love - or a covenant love. The word “Chesed” in Indonesia pronounced similar to the word “keset” which means “doormat” or “carpet”. Although “chesed” is not “keset” in terms of meaning, it does however gives us a good analogy of God’s loving kindness towards His people in a way. Please note: People might say that i’m reducing God’s dignity and holiness if i use this analogy, but i would say that there is no intention at all to reduce His holiness and Greatness here, and that’s why i said “in a way”. I would like us to see how faithful our God is towards His people. How God shows His covenant love towards Israel, towards people like us that has betrayed him. Back to the analogy - “doormat or carpet”: that is God’s loving kindess towards His people. Although we tread on the carpet, and even though we wiped our feet on the dirt in the carpet, but the carpet stays there. The carpet doesn’t smack us and leave us. It stays there. This is what Jeremiah says that His mercies never come to an end. The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases. Do you know what does it looks like? Jeremiah then said, it is like morning. Morning will always there, and never ceases. They are fresh, and new - there will always a morning each day, and so if you wake up from your night, if you have woken up from a dreaded, long and tiring night, and you meet with the morning, you should remember that as there is morning, there is also God’s mercy and love towards you oh Israel: Repent to Him, and obey His word, come back to His love, and God who is faithful is like a morning, they are new - Great is Thy Faithfulness.
This verses strengthen me, and i hope it strengthen all of us to have our eyes on Him, God whose name is Faithful. Believe in Him when we are in distress, as His mercies never comes to an end. Let we say that God is my portion, that God is our inheritance, not our fames, not our money, not anything but God alone. He is our hope. Amen.
~ Paul Hartono
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