Always In His Heart

Because of the LORD’’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22–23 NIV)

When I got up this morning I looked out of my study window and saw the tree in my neighbour’s front garden.

Nothing unusual about that you might think. It was there yesterday and the week before; in fact it has been standing there for years.

But in a way it was brand new this morning, and every morning. I take it for granted because it was there yesterday and has been since way before I moved into my house. Yet in a certain sense, no matter how many years old, that tree was created again today.

Today God has renewed the work of creation. That tree is not just there today because it was there yesterday. It’s there because God decided that it was an integral, important, and necessary element in the world right now. If it wasn’t, it would cease to exist.

Now if that’s the case for this tree, what does that mean for you and me?

If we are alive today, it’s not just because we were born many decades ago.

If you woke up this morning it’s because God thinks that you are exactly where you should be at this very moment. What’s more, all our life circumstances that are present today were created for today.

Our blessings are given to us all over again, and for that, we should be grateful. At the same time, God also permitted all the challenges that we will face today because He believes that they are for our very best.

This means as you get up each day you are in God’s thoughts; you are in his heart.

As God keeps us in His heart we live, move and have our being (c.f. Acts 17:28).

If God forgot about us, even for a moment, we would cease to exist.

It’s tremendously encouraging for me to know that as I wake up in the morning I am in God’s heart; that I am always on God’s mind.

It’s easy, especially during the difficult periods of our lives, to think that God may have forgotten about me or maybe He is too busy running the universe to take care of my issues. Sometimes we might feel that God isn’t aware of our challenges or doesn’t know how we feel.

But the very fact we are here this morning means that God is present and involved in our lives. In fact He is entirely involved at every moment of our lives; which means He cares, even if sometimes that’s difficult to see.

Knowing this enables us say, along with the author of Lamentations,

“The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD… so great is his unfailing love. (V.24-25,32)

So great is God’s unfailing love for us, it’s new every morning.

Have a good day, every day knowing you are in the Lord’s heart.

Pastor Barry