January 2017

Dear Friends - 

Standing at the beginning of truly new experience is an awesome thing. I remember my parents leaving me in my dorm room, and there I was starting college. I remember the organ swell, and seeing Melanie on her father’s arm stepping into the church. I was getting married. I remember the nurse place a tiny bundle in my arms. I was a father.

Every one of these events was entirely new to me. In every case it was a new start.

A new beginning often requires new resources. Lamentations 3:22, 23 says “His (God’s) compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” The idea is not that God’s faithfulness is something we’ve never experienced before. Rather, the idea is that God is always RENEWING his grace - it is never in short supply, or used up.

The image is borrowed from the Exodus. The Israelites cried out to God in the desert for food. In the morning a substance completely new to them was found on the ground. It was called Manna. A little like bread is was God’s provision of food.

The provision of Manna was not a one time experience. The Israelites did not gather it up and make it last. Instead, Manna was provided fresh and new every morning.

What did Lamentations say, “His compassions are new every morning.”

It’s like the flow of a river. If you watch a river flow past, there is always new water flowing in to take the place of the water that just flowed passed. That is how God provides compassion. There is always a new supply coming to us.

Someone has said, “A thirsty man does not measurably diminish the flow of a river, even though he drinks his fill.” Instead of exhausting the supply, the river keeps coming. You can drink and satisfy your thirst, and when you are thirsty again, drink again. The river provides a new supply.

“His compassions never fail. They are new every morning: great is your faithfulness.”

As a new year dawns I want to encourage you to think about that image. You may or may not be thinking about New Year’s Resolutions. You may or may not be facing a new experience. But whatever your situation, God’s compassions ARE new every morning. They never fail, never run out. He’s always adding a new supply.

Why not think on this image of God’s faithfulness and let his unfailing faithfulness be the starting point of your new year? 

Pastor Byron

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