Morning by Morning

Morning sounds like birds chirping, alarm clocks buzzing, radio weather reports blaring, and school buses squeaking their brakes. Morning smells like coffee and toast, shaving cream and hairspray. It looks like a husband and wife kissing goodbye, and lines of cars crowding onto roadways under dark but brightening skies.

Are you one of those people who enjoys rolling out of bed at the crack of dawn? Or are you a night person who greets sunrise grudgingly and assumes that “A.M.” stands for “Already Morning?”

What Does God Do Every Morning?

• *As each new day begins God hears prayer. David cultivated the habit of talking with God at the beginning of each new day. He wrote, “In the morning, Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait expectantly” (Psalm 5:3). For some of us, it’s a little easier to hear God’s still, small voice early in the morning before the rest of the day bombards us with distractions. Believers differ on the best time of day for devotions, but no one denies the benefits of spending at least a few minutes with God every morning in prayer, Bible study, journaling, or listening to worshipful music.

Each morning* God hands out justice.* According to an ancient prophet, Jerusalem’s rulers were like “evening wolves, who leave nothing for the morning” (Zephaniah 3:3). Often we awake to discover that the wolves have been hard at work during the night. When discouraging news makes us feel sheep among wolves, the Good Shepherd still stands with his flock. “Morning by morning he dispenses his justice, and every new day he does not fail” (Zephaniah 3:5). As each new day begins, we can take comfort in the never-failing justice of God.

Day by day* the Lord provides new mercies.* Thomas Chisholm wrote a magnificent hymn that contains this refrain:

Great is Thy faithfulness,

Great is Thy faithfulness,

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

Chisholm’s lyrics came directly from Lamentations 3:22-23: “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.”

Ironically these uplifting verses are found in a book called Lamentations. Jeremiah penned these words soon after 586 B.C. to lament the misery of his people as they saw their homeland destroyed by Babylonian invaders. The book of Lamentations expresses intense loneliness and disappointment, but in the midst of the laments, Jeremiah’s reminder about God’s faithfulness shines like a candle in a dark room.

In his commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations (College Press, 1972, p. 885), Professor James Smith observes:

This great affirmation of faith came from the lips of a man who had recently suffered what few

others before or since have suffered. It was a time when men had only the most meager provisions.

Every morsel of bread, every cup of water, every tattered garment was regarded as an evidence of

the mercies of God. Even though the poet had nothing of this world’s goods to make him happy

and secure, still he was satisfied for the Lord was his portion.

When we open our eyes in the morning, do we recognize God’s new mercies? Are we grateful for air to breathe, food to eat, friends to love, and opportunities to serve?

Morning by morning, God grants good and perfect gifts. Every new day is cause for gratitude. Every “A.M.,” God gently whispers, “Appreciate Me.”

QUESTIONS: