The Steadfast Love of the Lord

by: Michael Wilcock

If you are anything at all like me, then Jeremiah is somewhat unknown biblical territory for you. How can I have been a preacher of the Bible for fifty years and still not really have got to grips with one of its greatest books? Familiar verses here and there, yes, but never Jeremiah as a whole. It’s high time we rectified such a shameful neglect.

Look then at this and the next thirteen texts for this series of devotionals not as a random collection of the better-known bits, but as a trail of signposts guiding us through what may be unfamiliar and difficult country. The “Lamentations of Jeremiah,” the little companion volume to the prophet’s big book, is a good place to begin. If today’s verses are familiar, it’s because they form the basis of a much-loved hymn, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.” But what lies behind Jeremiah’s confession of faith?

We should picture the life and experiences of a man of a humble background and a somewhat shy character. He has grown up in a frightening world and was given responsibilities by God that he would rather not have had. During his public ministry he was misunderstood, disliked, and betrayed, finally ending his days in exile and obscurity. Yet through it all he found that “the steadfast love of the Lord” was “new every morning.” He had learned, as he himself puts it in another place, to put down deep roots by the river: the river of God’s unchanging grace.