We did it! We turned the page on another year and 2022 is officially started. Maybe its just me, but nothing seems new. We’re still talking about COVID, boosters and masks. Should schools be opened or closed? Should vaccines be mandated? Will Russia invade Ukraine? Will Tom Brady win another super bowl?
It just seems like there is nothing new on the news. If we are not careful, we could be lulled into thinking there isn’t much hope for our world.
I wonder if this is how the prophet Jeremiah felt as he lamented over the destruction of Judah, Jerusalem and the temple? His remembrances prompted him to say,
“my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.”
Did you hear it? God’s compassion is new every morning. That means His thoughts are on us in a fresh way, every day. He is doing new things in our lives whether we know it or not.
We can have hope even when all the news is bad because our God is bigger and greater than we can even imagine. When we get down and feel overwhelmed by all the negative stuff in our lives, we have a choice. Are we going to magnify our problems or are we going to magnify God?
Do you remember when the 12 spies went into the promised land and came back with a report? “We are like grasshoppers compared to them”, they said. The inhabitants may have been giants, but do you know how big someone would have to be for a normal person to be the size of a grasshopper next to them? It sounds like they were magnifying their problem instead of magnifying God.
The bad news may not stop, but neither will God’s faithfulness. His compassions never fail.
