I don’t know about you, but I like the idea of a reset button. Sometimes the mess I make of things…sometimes the messes others make of things. Well, suffice it to say that a reset button would solve a lot of problems.
I LOVE that God has a reset button. Specifically as it pertains to mercy and a new day. God resets our mercy quota every day. Every. Single. Day. Thank God!
We first see this idea of “new every morning” in the Old Testament in Exodus. Moses had just brought the Israelites out of Egypt and was leading them to the Promised Land. The Bible records that about 600,000 Hebrew men left Egypt, “besides children” (Exodus 12:37). That’s a lot of people. On top of that, they took very little with them “because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves” (Exodus 12:39). So that’s a lot of hungry people! And “the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light” (Exodus 13:21). I love this whole story, how God brought them out, led the way, provided a light for them….and then hardened Pharaoh’s heart so he would chase after them. Yeah, not so much that last part. But what a glorious redemption the Lord works for His people! You know the story. As the Egyptians drew nearer to the Israelites, “the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other” (Exodus 14: 19-20). And then God parted the Red Sea so the Israelites could go through on dry ground, but the sea wiped out Pharaoh and his army.
So much about that deliverance speaks to me. God brought them out; He went before them to lead their way; He followed behind them and gave them light. He literally was before and behind them. He was in their future and in their past. And then, when Pharaoh’s army drew near, God actually positioned Himself between His people and their enemy. And He is still doing all of those things for us today! I love that about Him! I love how He is surrounding me, with His light and His presence. I love that He is in my future before I ever get there. He is in my past, and He led me to today. He is standing between me and my enemies. And if I need a sea to dry so that I can cross over? Well, He’s got that too.
But back to new every morning….After the Israelites’ amazing deliverance from their oppressors, they notice that they are hungry. Really hungry. To the point that they accuse Moses (and God) of leading them out of Egypt just to starve in the wilderness. At this point, the Lord says to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you” (Exodus 16:4). The Lord also tells them, “At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. And you shall know that I am the Lord your God” (Exodus 16:12). I can imagine both of these scenes. I can picture myself standing around the camp in the evening, super hungry. Suddenly, holy quails! Quails everywhere! I grew up around chickens and guineas, which can be pretty noisy birds. While I am not familiar with a quail call, I am fairly certain that whatever number of quails it would take to cover a camp of roughly 1 million people…well I imagine they would be quite noisy. So I can hear all of those quails well before I ever taste them. And I can definitely see them. Again, enough quails to cover a camp of 1 million people. That would be a sight to see! And then in the morning, BREAD! I personally love bread! So waking up to the ground being covered with bread would be a bit of a dream come true for me. To be clear, this wasn’t any old store-bought, plain bread either…..this bread was fresh and had a hint of sweetness in it. It was “as fine as the frost on the ground” (Exodus 16:14). Can you imagine? And the people had exactly as much bread each morning as they needed: “he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack” (Exodus 16:18). One additional note: the Bible records that the Israelites gathered their bread (manna) every morning, but could keep no leftovers. Leftover manna turned into that container of leftovers in the back of my fridge, the one I keep forgetting to throw away, the one that stinks (theirs had worms as well). So here’s the part I love most: the manna was NEW EVERY MORNING! No leftover manna from God!
God’s mercy is like that too. Lamentations tells me, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. THEY ARE NEW EVERY MORNING…Therefore I hope in Him!” (Lamentations 3: 22-24). How inexpressibly beautiful is that?? Every morning when I wake up, God has fresh mercy for me. You know how when you buy fresh bread at the store (or make it yourself), how it’s all soft and warm and SOOOO delicious! That is God’s mercy. God’s mercy is not some leftover that gets lost in the refrigerator and forgotten. It never stinks, never grows worms. It is NEW EVERY MORNING! And just like with the manna that the Israelites gathered in the wilderness, there is always the exact amount we need to get us to the next morning. There are no leftovers, and there is no lack. I love that about God. He knows! He knows exactly how much mercy we need, exactly how much mercy I need to get through this day. And He will be right there tomorrow morning, before I even open my eyes!