New Mercies for a New Year - The Crosswalk Devotional - January 6
New Mercies for a New Year
By: Sarah Frazer
Bible Reading:
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
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.”
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. - Lamentations 3:21-27 (ESV)
I reach up for my coffee cup in the cabinet. Silently, while my house is still quiet, I pour the steaming liquid. The morning hours are sacred, peaceful, and go by too fast.
My children, all five of them, will wake up early. The rooms will be filled with voices, doors opening, and then the noises of food being fixed in the kitchen. Although they are older now and can make their own breakfast, I walk in with my empty coffee cup. I’m ready to help them pack their lunches and pour the orange juice.
The morning hours will once again be quiet after getting them off to school, but facing my day means I face the truth that ordinary, mundane days are often harder than the busy ones. How do I spend my day? What is truly important? If I made a list, it would be a mile long. New days bring new to-do lists.
Jobs, careers, family, and ministry weave together as the years go by, but how do we decide what to do with our days? Each day is a gift from God, and we don’t want to waste our time, so how do we live better?
As the new year approaches, you and I want to make our lives better. We want our health to be better, our relationships to be better, and we want our faith to be better. Although New Year’s resolutions are great, maybe even beneficial, what we cannot resolve to do better is our relationship with God.
Our connection to God is something to grow, not a goal to reach.
I admit that many times over the years, I’ve spent time writing out my goals and aspirations for my life in December and January, including “spiritual things.” I would write down things like praying more, reading my Bible more, and doing more for God. Although we can make tangible goals like that, God is not asking us to reach a certain point, but to continue on in the journey with Him.
What if instead of looking for more, we looked for new? In the new year, maybe we can find hope, mercy, and peace not in our goals or resolutions, but in the daily mercies God is already giving us. What do we have that is something we’ve forgotten about God?
What if we stopped looking for more and looked to God for the daily? In the book of Lamentations, we see a powerful passage of hope. The author has spent two and a half chapters lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem. Sorrow, death, and fear surrounded the city. The author’s heart was completely overwhelmed.
If you are entering this new year with trepidation, fear, or sorrow, listen closely to the turning point that happens here in the following verses.
Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
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.”
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. - Lamentations 3:21-27 (ESV)
God’s love, compassion, and mercy are new every morning. Our lives are not built because we make New Year's resolutions or meet all our goals. In the daily choices we make, that’s what really counts.
How can we daily look to God for our hope?
We don’t know what will happen in the coming year, but we can know for sure God will be on his throne (Psalm 47:2), there is hope (Psalm 9:18), and Christ is with us. (Matthew 28:20)
As we enter the new year, don’t forget that God’s mercies are new today. Every year, every morning, and each moment we walk through life, God is with us and His mercy has no end! This gives us a place to start connecting with God right now.
Each day, there is enough mercy for that day. There will always be enough. God’s mercy and love are faithful to show up every day without fail. It never runs out. You won’t disappoint, sin, or make mistakes that keep you from God’s love and compassion. We can’t outrun God’s love for us.
Don’t get wrapped up in trying to prepare for the whole year in January. Just trust God, there will be enough for each day as it comes. He invites us to live this life one day at a time. Make one resolution or goal: to connect with God daily.
Psalm 68:19 says that God “daily bears us up” (ESV). Each day God lifts us, provides for us the hope and mercy we need. God will never fail us. In Romans 8:31-39, Paul tells us what can separate us from God’s love. Spoiler: Nothing can!
Intersecting Faith & Life:
A New Year can invite us to celebrate God’s new mercies, which show up every day. We access this through His Word. Do you have a regular Bible reading habit or study plan? If life feels overwhelming, I invite you to begin with the Psalms. Check out the podcast Psalms to Help You Sleep to jump-start a daily Bible routine. You can start experiencing God’s new mercies in this new year.
Further Reading:
Psalm 40:1-3
Isaiah 43:18-19
Romans 8:28-39
1 John 5:14-15
How did today’s devotional speak to you? Share your thoughts in the Crosswalk Devotional discussion.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/Kara Gebhardt
Check out fantastic resources on Faith, Family, and Fun at Crosswalk.com!
Related Resource: Contentment: The Hardest New Year’s Resolution No One Talks About
In this New Year edition of Talk About That, John and Jonnie explore Benjamin Franklin’s advice about vices, neighbors, and becoming better people—plus what it really means to pursue contentment. They also reflect on why private failure is a gift, how attention is the real currency of relationships, and why some of life’s biggest leaps require a little youthful naivety. If you laughed out loud listening to this episode, be sure to subscribe to Talk About That on Apple and Spotify!
