Happy New Year to you all!  What an exciting prospect of being able to start all over again.  If this makes you excited, have I got a blog post for you!

So Pastor Carter thinks outside the box.  I love that about him.  You just never know what’s going to come up.  I mean, Oh Holy Night as a sermon series for Christmas?  That was really cool.  But now we get to New Years and he’s in Lamentations.  Really?  A book about lamenting – telling God all about why you’re unhappy?

But just wait!  We were in Lamentations 3:19-25.  The writer at this point is telling God how he’s feeling bitter about the captivity his people are in – again.  But he recalls what God has promised.  He recalled things to his mind about God’s love.  And therefore he has hope.  Carter’s point was two-fold in these first verses (19-21).  1) That hope is essential but it is not circumstantial.  It is vital that we have enduring hope.  That our hope and joy are set on the promises promised to us in the future.  That God gives us a future with hope (Jeremiah 29:11).  That our inheritance cannot tarnish or rust or be stolen.  And his second point was that Hope flows from what we believe.  It’s important to believe God keeps His promises.  To believe in it so assuredly that we can recall them to our minds when things seem so out of control.  I mean, look at Jeremiah;  he is now in captivity with his people and they are slaves. Remember this!  NO situation can compete with God’s love for me.  (Lamentations 3:22; Exodus 34:6-7)

And so now we get to the part about starting over.  “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. ²³ They are new every morning;”.  Her mercies and grace start over again every single day.  So basically this is saying that God is a big supporter of the one day at a time theory.

Let’s look at some verses that support this:

This is the day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it.  Psalm 118:34

Give us this day our daily bread. Matthew 6:11

If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. Luke 9:23

And there are many more to support this.  So here’s the great news.  If you messed up today, God’s mercies are new and fresh for you the next morning.   It’s just so important that we don’t give up.  That just because we messed up today, we don’t stop.  That’s my natural inclination.  I mean, I sometimes feel that I so wronged God that He can never forgive me and it’s all over – our relationship.  But that’s not true.  God forgives us.  East from west.  I will remember their sins no more… there’s tons of verses that assure us of this very thing.  So don’t give up.  Obviously these times are learning times. And we all need to learn so we can grow and become the person God wants us to be.

We are to take hold and press forward.  The problem with me, and I assume you, too, is that we look back.  We look at our sins again.  But God has already forgotten them, so shouldn’t we?  Easier said than done, right?!!

Anyway, so the point of this is:  Jesus is our inheritance.  He cannot be taken or stolen and He doesn’t corrupt of fade or rust.  And no matter what we think of ourselves, He loves us, He likes us, He delights in us.  And no matter what situation you are in, He is your portion, your inheritance, your savior.  And He will walk with you through whatever it is that is happening. And He allows us to begin again each and every day.

So Happy New Year, Happy New Day.  Let’s just take this year one day at a time.