What a Difference a Day Makes

"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

An old song popped into my head this morning, songs don’t normally do that so I realized there must be a reason. The song has the same title as this week’s devotion “What a Difference a Day Makes.” The first verse says: “What a difference a day makes. Twenty-four little hours brought the sun and the flowers where there used to be rain.” As I thought about that I realized that sometimes twenty-four hours can make a big difference in our lives.

Today as I write this I have completed the first day on a new, second part-time job - answer to prayer really. While I celebrate today - the past twenty-four hours haven’t been so pleasant for millions of people on the other side of the country. In the past twenty-four hours some of us have gained victory and others have literally been in the midst of a storm of historic magnitude. 

The book of Lamentations most likely written by the prophet Jeremiah is a heart wrenching poem that expresses the pain, suffering and incredible loss the prophet experienced. All things we can all relate to whether we are experiencing them now in this moment or have in the past. There is however a message of hope in the midst of Jeremiah’s pain. The tone of his poem changes really with the verses above. The LORD’s great love, unfailing compassion and faithfulness are not only constant they can be experienced new every day. Those truths allowed Jeremiah to have hope while he waited for the Lord’s healing and restoration. Those truths allow us to have hope as well. 

Storms come and go - whether they are literal storms or personal storms, they leave behind a mess. The mess can take time to clean up, sometimes we are forever changed by them. But one day you’ll wake up and realize that you were not consumed by it because His love, compassion and faithfulness did not fail. 

A Prayer
Father - Thank you that in the midst of the storm Jeremiah found himself in, he also found you. May we look for You in the midst of whatever we face - good or bad. Thank you for the hope we have because of Your love, compassion and faithfulness. In the name of Jesus, Amen.