The River

On January 24, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Lamentations 3: 22 – 23        NLV

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

This is the same verse as yesterday, but I sent you a different version. Today I am going to share with you my personal journaling which came out of this verse. Sometimes as I meditate on scripture, Father gives me something for the Word of the Day. Sometimes, it’s just for me. This was just a bit of imagery, nothing serious. None the less, I hope you enjoy it and see how pondering that scripture and the words in it blossomed into a fuller thought complete with visual aids.

“This makes me think of a river. Like the river, God’s love is a constant flow. I am ever amused at how the river keeps refilling. The water I look at right now is leaving, moving downstream for some other to enjoy and appreciate. Meanwhile, my vista is constantly restored. The transition and refilling is so continuous, so constant that the transition between the previous flow and the new is transparent, invisible. There is no segue, no seam, just one continual flow of water. It is almost as if old water is not being replaced by new. For all its dynamic power and movement, there is a perspective of the river which makes it feel like a snapshot.

What is new, is old again. There is no emptying even though there is constant refilling. Like God’s love, the river constantly replenishes itself so that what we experience is ceaseless flow.

God’s love is the perpetual renewing of His grace flowing in and through our lives.”

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Ruminations

On January 23, 2020   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Lamentations 3: 22 – 23       NRSV

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

I have a new journal, a gift from a friend. This morning I turned to the page with this verse and found myself pondering it. As I turned it over in my mind, I wondered if this might provide a good opportunity to show you what meditation can look like. Now I know some of you are old hands at meditating on scripture but bear with the rest of us for today.

Meditating on scriptures is where I receive a lot of revelation. Many Words of the Day come out of this process. In fact, tomorrow I will share with you what came out of my meditation on this scripture. Pondering scripture is where I connect with God and He shows me a deeper view of a scripture or a different aspect of it.

Reading this scripture, you might stop on the word “steadfast”. What does that word mean? What does it mean to you? What synonym could you replace it with. I didn’t stop there, but maybe someday I will. I was arrested by “never ceases.” I began to replace “never ceases” with other words: eternal, abundant, they overflow, unending . . . you get the idea. As I thought about those words an idea began to form about this bottomless well, the cup of coffee that has no bottom.

You might want to stop and think about “His mercies.” What is the author talking about here? What are God’s never ending mercies? Compassion is one of the synonyms you will find in other versions. What word or words would you use?

This never ending, renewable resource had me fascinated this morning. His mercies are inexhaustible. None the less, He gives us a fresh supply every morning. I guess, like the manna in the desert, God does not want us living on day old bread. He gives us a fresh, new stock of His compassion every morning.

All I did with this scripture, was to play the synonym game. That yielded a fuller understanding and developed into ideas and a visual image, which is what I will share tomorrow. There is nothing special about what I did. I just let the Holy Spirit lead my mind and spirit on a journey. It is quite fun, actually. Give it a try on this scripture. I would love for you to send me your impressions. Remember, there is no right or wrong. We all see from slightly different vantage points and that is a good thing.

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The Gold Star Standard

On March 13, 2018   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Lamentations 3: 22 – 23

The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.

I hear so much junk about God and I know you do too. Here is a true introduction to our God. He is faithful to forgive, to respond compassionately to our shortcomings, failures and misguided adventures and His love for us never ceases. This is our God and Father.

Our Father is a good God. He always causes good things to happen for us. It is beyond sound reasoning for people to have construed Yahweh as an angry God or one who heaps misfortune and challenge upon us for any reason. God is love. Period. Everything He does is motivated by love. God sent His son to earth to suffer and die for us. You know that, but what are the implications of this truth? Did he allow Jesus to be bruised for us; to carry our diseases and sicknesses just so He could turn around and give us cancer? That just does not make any sense. It is crazy thinking. If His compassions never fail, then why would He send (or allow) troubles and misfortune into our lives? If He sent His son to redeem all humanity so that none should perish, then why would He make it hard to get into heaven? He sent Jesus exactly so that we could get into heaven. God isn’t trying to keep us out, He is trying to get us in.

So, what is the point to this? You will see and hear, both in the world and in the church, comments which portray God as angry and vengeful. You will hear comments which deny God’s inherent goodness. People actually believe the things they say even though it is complete lunacy. The devil has done a good job in his characterization of God and, unfortunately, we have not done a very good job in our portrayal of God as a loving and compassionate being. The point of this is to put God’s lovingkindness in the forefront of your mind. When you hear things which fly in the face of this truth, you need to refute them, at least in your own mind. If you want to go for the gold star, refute them to those misled speakers. Keep this verse in your pocket and its kinfolk as well because there are many verses which proclaim God’s love and goodness towards His people. Most of all, don’t fall for this foolishness. Your Father loves you more than you can fathom and wants only good for you.

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