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. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” (Lamentations 3:22-24)
The past few days
have been tough. It’s not just that work is demanding right now. It’s also that
I’ve been feeling challenged to consider how my patterns of behavior with other
people isn’t as it should be. That opens up old wounds and dredges up monsters.
And while that may be a good thing because God can deal with them best when
they’re out in the open, it hurts.
Today’s passage is
vital. The pain may seem more than we can bear, but we have a promise. It won’t
consume us. It is not the end. And many pictures come to mind, of parents with
new infants, caregivers and those for whom they care, of pet owners, farmers,
and even workers who get up every morning and go out and do all over again all
of the boring, messy, unpleasant things that they did the day before. And
somehow, they do it without losing their tempers or their minds – at least most
of the time.
This is the image of
God – the Caregiver who comes in each morning (or each moment) and faces the
same bring, messy, unpleasant things we should have overcome years ago. We may
throw temper tantrums, or even suffer from spiritual dementia that leads us to forget
who He is, but He comes and He does it all again without resentment.
This isn’t to say
that our repeating bad behaviors is OK. It’s not permission to be abusive. But
when we find ourselves coming back with the same old issues, problems, hurts, and
sins, and it seems like we’re never going to change, it may help to know that
God is also not going to change. He’s going to take care of us in the midst of
all of the boring, messy, unpleasant things that are our current experience.
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