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Idling on purpose


Yet there is one ray of hope: his compassion never ends. It is only the Lord’s mercies that have kept us from complete destruction. Great is his faithfulness; his loving-kindness begins afresh each day. My soul claims the Lord as my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him. The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him, to those who seek for him. It is good both to hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:21-26)

Everything around us may be collapsing, kind of going amiss in all kinds of different ways, but as Jeremiah declared: "Yet there is one ray of hope: his compassion never ends." Take heart - God hasn't abandoned you to the catastrophe of the day. He hasn't brought calamity upon you - but he stands at the ready to deliver you from that which has come!

One important thing I like within this passage is the part about his loving-kindness beginning afresh each day. That means his grace in our lives is as fresh as today - we don't have to rely upon 'old, stale grace' - we have new grace each breath we take. Grace is renewed moment-by-moment, but it also renews US moment-by-moment. What else can give us that kind of hope? I daresay nothing at all.

Wait upon God and you will never go away disappointed. That was the hardest lesson for me to learn because I am a 'doer'. I like to get things done NOW - waiting wasn't really in my vocabulary. I didn't do 'idleness' very well. I am learning that trusting God means I might just need to put things on 'idle' a bit in my life and take that required 'idle time' to just get alone with him. It is what brings clarity, refreshes my spirit, and renews my mind.

Does our deliverance always come the way we desired it to come? If your life is anything like mine, the answer to that one is that it seldom comes in the manner I predicted or desired it would come. In fact, God often surprises me with how 'fresh' his mercies are in my life. How about you? Has God surprised you with the freshness of his mercies this week? Revel in the newness of his grace - for his mercies are never stale or stagnant! Just sayin!
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