Based on a series of sermons preached in PCC Prayer Meetings in 2023-2024
It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness
Lamentations 3:22-23
The book of Lamentation, as its name suggests, is a lamentation. The prophet Jeremiah wrote it in the aftermath of the devastation of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 BC. It is a very sad book. If you can read it without feeling anything, you are probably not reading it with understanding. This is probably not a book that many of us will turn to when we feel discouraged. But in the midst of it is one of the most beautiful and comforting verses in the bible. I will not be surprised if you have already committed them to memory so that you have it readily available whenever life takes a sinister turn:
It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness
Lam 3:22-23
Notice how Jeremiah refers to the LORD’s mercies, compassions, and faithfulness in this short statement.
1. The Lord’s Mercies
The word ‘mercies’ is theologically loaded and may be translated as ‘covenant-lovingkindness.’ It speaks not just of mercy in the sense of withholding punishment. Instead, it expresses the LORD’s fatherly love and favour for His covenant people.
Like a father’s love towards His children, the LORD’s mercies towards His people are not dependent on their worthiness or obedience. Undoubtedly, God was angry with His people for their hardness of heart, ingratitude and rebellion against Him. But His fatherly covenant loyalty towards them does not change. For that reason, Judah was not utterly obliterated despite her apostasy and idolatry.
“It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed,” says Jeremiah.
What about you? Are you worried that your current problems may be because God is angry with you for some reason? Well, it may be so. But remember that there is forgiveness in the Lord. And as long as you are still clinging to Christ, your covenant head, you may know that God will not cast you away. Instead, He will be merciful to you because of what His Son has done for you as your covenant representative. “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed.”
But there is a related reason. “It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not, they are new every morning,” says Jeremiah.
2. The Lord’s Compassion
The word translated as ‘compassion’ (racham) occurs 44 times in the Old Testament and is translated as ‘mercy’ thirty times. But it is also translated as ‘womb’ four times, and ‘bowels’ twice. So, this word has to do with heartfelt pity and compassion. Judah was not consumed not only because of God’s covenant-lovingkindness but also because He had compassion and pity for His people.
Now, compassion can fail. A man who works in a war zone hospital may initially be significantly moved by all the pain and injuries he sees. He wants to help everyone and spend as much time with as many patients as possible. But week after week of treating the wounded in the hospital will dull his senses. Soon, he is so used to seeing the atrocities that he does not seem to be affected emotionally, even when a little child is brought in with life-threatening injuries.
But the compassion of the LORD, our heavenly Father, never fails. The people had incurred His wrath. The nation deserved to be obliterated from the map. But the LORD continued to show His pity and compassion for the sake of His elect, and the sake of Christ His Son. The Jews who remained knew that they were spared because of the compassion of the LORD. Each day, when they see the sunrise, they know that they are being sustained yet another day because the compassion of the Lord is new every morning.
What about you, dear one? Are your nights long and lonely? Remember that the compassion of the Lord fails not. It did not fail the faithful saints in Judah; it will not fail you today, for Christ, your compassionate Great High Priest, is upholding you in prayer.
Therefore, thank God for His mercies and compassion. Each morning, when you get up from your bed, and you see the sun rising, do not forget to thank the Lord for His mercies and compassion. And then resolve to walk gratefully before His face.
Indeed, notice how Jeremiah, when speaking of the mercies and compassion of the LORD, breaks into prayer to extol the LORD: “Great is thy faithfulness!”
3. The Lord’s Faithfulness
The faithfulness of the LORD refers to His steadfastness and His sincere keeping of His promises to His children. Balaam was referring to the LORD’s faithfulness when he said:
God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Num 23:19
The LORD does not only bless His children on the basis of His compassion and His covenant mercies towards them. He blesses them also because of His promise to do so. And “all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Cor 1:20).
God would faithfully keep all His promises to His people because He appointed them to His Son, and His Son suffered and died for them. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom 8:32).
Therefore, great is the faithfulness of the LORD. He will never leave His people nor forsake them. Those who know and love Him are enabled to know and love Him by His grace. They can be confident that the Lord will never abandon them or cease to hear their cries.
No matter how hard life may be or what knocks and bruises you suffer, remember: The LORD is faithful. Jeremiah remembered that at a time when Judah’s situation appeared hopeless. May you remember it— at all times, but especially when everything around you appears to be sinking sand.
Conclusion
It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.
When you are tempted to be discouraged, turn your eyes away from the things that sadden or frighten you. Look to the Lord Jesus. Remember God’s mercies, compassion and faithfulness towards you in Christ. Then, rejoice that all is well. Christ, your Saviour will see to it that your present suffering will come to an end, and you will be a better vessel of glory for it. Amen.
—JJ Lim