Prayer To Notice and Take Heart In God's Fresh Compassion Today

 Advent 1 Tuesday

I have some resources on my electronic devices that help me in my daily time of prayer and reflection before the Lord.  I have a couple of devotional booklets, a one-year Bible reading plan, a liturgical Morning Prayer app.

During the four weeks of Advent I continue to use my phone and iPad material but I change up the usual Apps for specific Advent resources.  My friend Evelyn and I continue to pray together on the phone at the end each evening but we’ve also switched from our usual Psalm to an Advent Biblical reading.  There is a certain kind of freshness that comes from seeing familiar scriptures in different settings.

God hasn’t changed, doesn’t change. He’s forever faithful and His mercies are new every morning.  Remember these familiar words?

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. Lamentations 3:22-23

I’m blessed to have this view out my window each morning.  Here’s what this looked like yesterday from just before the sun came up to about an hour after it was up.  There’s newness and freshness to the day and God’s love is like that, not only at the break of day, but all through the day; not just in good times but in the most challenging of seasons.

God is doing His part every day to provide love and care with great compassion – new and fresh.  In another place in Scripture we have our response laid out for us:

Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, you his servants;  praise the name of the Lord. Let the name of the Lord be praised, both now and forevermore. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,  the name of the Lord is to be praised.  Psalm 113:1-3

So, that’s what we are going to – welcome God’s love and give Him praise for this first day of this new month of December in the middle of so much we don’t know, but also in the middle of so much more that we do know that is steady and strong and will last forever.

The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; for he founded it on the seas and established it on the waters.  Psalm 24:1-2

Lord we are so glad today to know that the earth is Your’s and all that fills it.  You made it.  You established it according to Your plans.  You hold us and the whole earth firmly in Your loving hands.

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?  Who may stand in his holy place?  The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.  Psalm 24:3-4

We come again asking to be washed clean, because we need it.  We want clean hands and a pure heart and trust based in You, the one true God to steady us today.  But we fail to love and trust You with our whole heart and to love our neighbour as ourselves as You instructed us.  Forgive us and make us clean.  We want to come near You today.

We remember with thanks that you: 

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,  who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:2-5

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. Psalm 103:8, 10

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.  Psalm 103:13-14

We take heart in these wonderful truths that are ours today – new and fresh.  This is the compassion You are providing for us again today.  This is the life of peace and blessing that is ours today and for which from the rising of the sun to it’s going down we will praise You.  Amen

Maybe sunrise and sunset are good times to pause today and just take those brief moments to reflect on the beauty and the faithfulness of God’s love for us.  We don’t even have to get up early to see the sun come up during these short daylight days here in the Northern Hemisphere and it’s down and dark before supper.  Let’s be filled up with God’s compassion new and fresh today.