The Hope of a Blank Page!
I love New things! A New blank page to write on. A New book with no thumbed edged pages. A New Phone/ Computer/ Ipad etc... I actually, like opening the packaging for the first time. I love Monday’s... (strange I know!) but it marks the start of a New Week, no mistakes made, no disappointments faced, a clean page... New Opportunities for change, development, love, service and the unknown.
New Days, New Weeks and New Years give us the ‘blank page’ opportunities to do something different, something fresh, something clean and something with New Hope! We find this same idea of New Hope as a theme in the Bible...
Lamentations 3 v22:26
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.
The book of Lamentations highlights the ‘Great Love’, the Lord has for his people which is not burnt up, eaten up or consumed by those who rely upon it. The thought being that His love has a bigger supply than the demand put upon it by a broken fallen people. What a securing thought... we can never put too much drain on the Love and compassion of our God!
There is a second thought in these verses that God’s love and compassion is available to us all on a daily bases (“new every morning”) because he is faithful in his relationship with us. I see this as the blank page opportunity from heaven for us to live the promised ‘life of abundance’ that Jesus talks about in John 10 v10 on a daily basis.
Often in my life I am reluctant to try new things incase they don’t work out and God or people see me as a failure because I could not fulfill His plan. I recently bumped into someone while grocery shopping and felt I should ask them out for a coffee. However, I did not act on this prompting as I was frightened they might feel pressured or awkward
and I could not think of any reason why they would want to chat with me. Later that day I discovered that person was actually going through a tough time and probably would have loved a chance to chat. God had actually brought me to the right place at the right time and I had heard his gentle prompting, yet I still got it wrong. I Failed to obey! I missed the chance to make a difference!
It is at moments like this that I am thankful that His love and compassion does not run out and is new every morning. Tomorrow I can step out in faith and listen for his gentle prompting knowing he does not hold the failures of today against me. It is another blank sheet of opportunity to be used by God!
Finally, we are encouraged to wait on God, to Hope in God and to Seek for God as he is good to all do so. I pray that we will face each day with a blank page mindset, not living in the regret or condemnation of yesterdays mistakes but in the wonderful opportunities of love and service given to us by God’s great Love and Compassion.
“for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”