.... Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22, 23). Lamentations is about lament, crying out in grief, wailing. The book's author is Jeremiah, and he is known as the weeping prophet. He cries out “The Lord was like an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel” (2:5). Jerusalem was burned with fire and her people sent into exile for her sins. But in the midst of it, Jeremiah does not loose sight of the Lord's compassions and mercies. He knows the Lord does not “cast off forever, nor afflict willingly” (3:31, 33). The Lord is “ready to pardon, is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in kindness” (Nehemiah 9:17).
In a culture where its all about me, about my rights, about not being willing to let anyone tell me what to do, it's hard to see the goodness of God in the midst of His severity (Romans 11:22). I mean what right does He have to discipline me, to punish me? Well let's ask if the law has the right to punish murderers? He has every right, He is God, He made us and whether we like it or not, we are accountable to Him. He is just, and being just He must punish sin. And it is in His mercy and His compassion that He disciplines us. He disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness (Hebrews 12:10). You might say that you have no desire to share in His holiness. Well, He gives you that right to reject Him and His offered holiness, but He does not give you the right to escape the consequences of that choice. We reap what we sow in the here and now, and if we persist, we will reap what we sow in eternity, yes in hell (Galatians 6:7)
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In the Romans reference Paul is inviting us to consider the goodness and severity of God. He tells us that on those who fell, severity; but goodness toward us, if we continue in His goodness. Otherwise we also will be cut off. He is using a metaphor for salvation which is about our being grafted in to the vine of the redeemed. So where does His faithfulness come into this? I was saying yesterday that in difficult conversation we need to state our position clearly. Well God does that, He makes it very clear. We can ignore it, deny it, disagree with it, but it does not change His mind. He wants us to know clearly where He stands, and He wants us to know that there are consequences of our rejecting Him and His standards. When I stand before Him on that day, I want to stand before Him in the holiness He gives (Philippians 3:9), not in the filthy rags of my own righteousness (Isaiah 64:6).
Father, my favourite hymn at the time of conversion was “Great is thy faithfulness,” a hymn prompted by this mornings verses. I recognized Lord that in reaping what I had sown, I had reaped the whirlwind. It was part of Your discipline, but it was also part of Your goodness, part of Your faithfulness. It was for our sake that You designed reality in this way, and what I had sown had lead to repentance. We don't like discipline Lord, but it shows us exactly where we stand. And I choose mercy this morning Lord, I choose obedience, I choose You in Jesus Name Amen
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