Thursday, February 26, 2009

new, New, NEW!

Ecclesiastes 1:1-11

“The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:
‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher.
‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!’

‘What does a man gain from all his labor
 at which he toils under the sun?
Generations come and generations go, 
but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises and the sun sets, 
and hurries back to where it rises.
The wind blows to the south 
and turns to the north;
Round and round it goes, 
ever returning to its course.
All streams flow into the sea, 
yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from, 
there they return again.
All things are wearisome, 
more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing, 
nor the ear its fill of hearing.
What has been will be again, 
what has been done will be done again;
There is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which one can say, 
‘Look! This is something new’?
It was here already, long ago; 
it was here before our time.
There is no remembrance of men of old,
And even those who are yet to come 
will not be remembered by those who follow.’"


Wow! What a depressing passage of Scripture! Have you ever felt this way, though? Like everything in this world is without meaning. 

The book of Ecclesiastes was written from the perspective of a man later in his life, looking back. When we’re older, what are we going to look back and see that we were chasing? What are we chasing now that is meaningless? Our efforts and pursuits outside of God working IN us and THROUGH us is completely without meaning to Him. I’m asking the Lord today to show me what it is I am chasing or pursuing or striving toward that is outside of His working in my life…will you do the same thing?

One cool thing occurred to me as I was reading this verse, though: The Lord gave me an answer to one of the questions above. Solomon asked, “Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new’?”

The Bible uses the word “new” many times, but this one is a favorite of mine:
“Yet I call to mind and therefore I have hope
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 3:21-23

His mercies are new every morning……He shows us new things in a New way at a NEW time!

Let’s enjoy the brand new mercies He has for us today, making every opportunity count for Him and not for ourselves. In doing so, our hope will be re-new, New, NEWed!

Help us to do that today, Lord. Be our Source, be our Guide. 
Be what we long for, crave and chase after this day……
In Your Name of Hope we pray, Amen.



***This is a revised reprint of a devo I sent out to my website edevo recipients in 2006. If you would like to sign up for these, click here: Lovinthearts.com Edevo Subscribe Form


10 friends shared a comment:

Denise said...

Awesome my friend.

Yvonne Blake said...

Thanks, Lalee Dear, for a reminder of God's daily "showers of blessing"!

Vonnie

Runner Mom said...

This was so powerful. I've read that scripture from Ecc. before, and you're right, it can be depressing. But to know that He blesses us with new mercies each day...awesome!

Have a great one!
Hugs,
Susan

Laury said...

I love the promise of new and fresh every single day. It makes it so much easier to wake up.

Teresa Lee Rainey . . . said...

Isn't it wonderful that we are blessed with new Mercy each morning! and if we pay attention, we can learn from the mistakes of other's like the author of Ecclesiastes.

Thank you for bringing that truth to light this morning.

Joanne Sher said...

Oh so encouraging and reassuring! Reading Ecclesiastes used to give me a headache every time I tackled it, but I've grown to appreciate it. Thanks for the reminder of new mercies!

Laurie Ann said...

What a stirring and thought-provoking devotion, LauraLee. I loved it!

Peter Stone said...

Thanks for challenging us to throw off the things that are no value, that are meaningless pursuits. I love that verse about God's mercies being new everymorning too.

lori said...

I've been SO busy the last day...haven't even read this one yet...but had to TELL you that my HUSBAND is using your "storybook" devo for his Upward Basketball team devo today..of course he's modifying it for BOYS! I shared it with them the other day and it really stuck with him...
WELL DONE girlfriend...your message spreads through Georgia!!:)

just had to tell you!
love you!!
selah!

Sharlyn Guthrie said...

Yes! I love that encouraging verse. God doesn't just doctor up the mercies of the day before and serve them up as leftovers. He gives us new, fresh mercies each day. Amazing!