Tuesday, October 25, 2016
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Our son-in-law is pretty much a natural when it comes to sports. And if there's something he hasn't done before, he's anxious to give it a try. I was there for the first time he tried to jet-ski. You've probably seen those little water machines that look like a baby snowmobile. They're a lot of fun, but it takes some skill to keep it balanced. He handled it pretty well for a while, but it was probably inevitable that he would eventually fall off on his first ride. Of course, the jet-ski kept going-and I expected it to take off without him. But instead, that jet-ski is designed to start going in a circle near you-and it circles for you until you can get back on. It's nice to know it will be there when you fall off.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "There For You When You Fall."
Jeremiah, one of the great prophets of God, also knew about failure. You can tell from our word for today from the Word of God. It begins with Lamentations 3:19. "I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet I call this to mind and therefore I have hope. Because of the Lord's love, we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." Familiar words maybe-sometimes survival words.
Jeremiah is thinking about the times he fell off and how those times have made him feel. Discouraged, depressed, like "What's the use?" He calls it a soul that is downcast by his failures. But every new day there is the Lord circling near him to pick him up.
When I saw how that jet-ski operated, I couldn't help but think of how our Lord has dealt with me; deals with all of us. It could be that even now you're feeling crushed by a feeling of failure. You've let the Lord down, you've let people you love down, you've let yourself down. Maybe you've done some things you never thought you would do. Maybe you've broken some promises you thought you would keep. In some way, you've fallen-and you may feel like you're just going to stay down. In fact, at times like this, your feelings say, "Look, you fell off-and the Lord's gone on without you."
Wrong! "His compassions never fail." That's what it says, "His compassions never fail." They don't fail even when you do. No matter how badly or how often you have failed, "They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness." No failure needs to last more than a day. God does not want you to carry the wreckage from yesterday into your today. He has new mercies for this new day, and His great love is unconditional. What will sink you won't be that God won't forgive you. It's that you won't bring it to the cross and get up and accept a new beginning from your Savior.
It's Satan that keeps pointing to your past. The Bible calls him "the accuser". Jesus is pointing to your future. It's the devil's lies that God has left you; that He doesn't love you when you're like this; that it's over.
Today, your Lord's right there. He is circling faithfully. He stopped when you fell off and He's been lovingly waiting to pick you up and get you off to a fresh new start.