Pastor’s Perspective: Daily Mercies for Daily Trouble

By Guest Columnist Spencer Sullivan, Pastor, Pelahatchie Baptist

When I was a teenager and into my 20’s, I loved going to the Mississippi State Fair. I couldn’t wait for those weeks in October each year. While I still enjoy going, the inspiration for going has changed dramatically. In my younger years, I loved all the exciting rides.  To be certain, in my mid-40’s I’m much more interested in the free biscuit or checking out the newest deep fried whatever. But 25-30 years ago, it was the Pirate Ship, the Kamikaze, the Gravitron, and my personal favorite, The Super Himalaya. However, one day, I remember Melanie and I taking our 4 kids (all under the age of 10 at the time) to a park with just a simple playground. My oldest son, Caleb, wanted to ride the merry-go-round, and so of course, I spun him around as fast as I could. After he had some fun, he wanted to spin me. I thought, sure, that’ll be fun!  After all, the Super Himalaya is my favorite ride at the fair!  He spun me for a few seconds and then I begged to get off. As I exited the merry-go-round, I stumbled this way and that and may have even hit the ground before eventually making it to a park bench, where I laid down until my body and head somewhat recalibrated. It really wasn’t until the next day that I felt “normal” again.  It was that moment that I realized my body had entered a new season of life and wasn’t prepared to spin that quickly anymore!

While I don’t enjoy spinning at high velocity anymore, sometimes life spins me around quicker than I’d like. Perhaps for you, the better metaphor is a roller coaster with high peaks and deep valleys. Regardless, as much as we’d like for it to, life doesn’t always keep us on a smooth and straightforward path. Life can be bumpy. It can spin us into dizziness. It can even knock us down.  

Lamentations is a fascinating book in the Bible.  As the title projects, the book includes the laments of the prophet Jeremiah as the people of God began to experience the long-warned punishment from God for their consistent disobedience. It is not a chipper read. However, right in the middle of Jeremiah’s gloomy laments is this shocking burst of light: “But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” There’s much to unpack from these verses, but one thing I’d like to communicate to you is that God is not surprised when life throws you and I into the spin cycle. He is all-knowing and sovereign. Therefore, when He promises to provide daily mercies for us that are new each morning, the promise here is that those daily mercies are sufficient for each day’s specific trouble or challenge. We can depend on them to be enough for us because He knows exactly what we’re going through. But also notice this: Jeremiah called this promise to his mind intentionally as he was in the middle of the trouble. It was an intentional decision for him to believe God for the mercies he needed each day.

Therefore, my challenge for me and you today is to be mindful of the faithfulness of God. That He is all-knowing and all-sufficient and supremely generous in that He provides exactly what we need to walk through whatever we encounter, even when we’re in the spin cycle. When the darkness is overbearing and the challenges seemingly unbearable, call to mind God’s steadfast love and believe Him for the mercies you need to carry you through.