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Bible story · Lamentations 3:1–26
New Every Morning
Read it yourself in the King James Bible: Lamentations 3:1–26 ↗
“They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:23 (KJV)The Story
Jerusalem had fallen. The Babylonian army had broken through the walls, burned the temple, and carried the people away. The prophet Jeremiah had warned them for forty years. Now he walked through the ruins.
The book of Lamentations is his song of grief. It is one of the saddest books in the Bible.
In chapter 3, Jeremiah describes his own suffering. He feels as if God has walled him in, as if his prayers are shut out, as if he has forgotten what happiness is. “Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me.”
And then, right in the middle of the book, his tone suddenly changes.
“This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.”
“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.”
“The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.”
Reflection
Nothing outside had changed. Jerusalem was still in ruins. But Jeremiah chose what to “recall to my mind.” And when he remembered God’s mercy, hope came back.
More Bible stories from Lamentations. More about: Trusting God in Hard Times
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Day 14 of Book 8
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