We are constantly striving to have enough. We hope our coffee is enough for the day before us. We finagle our money to be enough for the month. We hope our vacation will be restful enough. We need enough patience for our children. This desire for enough feels like a very subjective pursuit. Needs change at a moment’s notice, and it can be exhausting to stockpile for unexpected demands.

Yet, in God’s Word, we are promised everything we need — even when we’re unsure of exactly what it is we need! God’s new morning mercies are available every morning, and they are always sufficient for the day ahead.

 

The Power and Practice of God’s New Morning Mercies

 

New morning mercies are inexhaustible

 

Being all-knowing, God is fully aware of what we will face on any and every given day. Being all-powerful, He equips us with ample new morning mercies to endure and thrive in all circumstances. When the apostle Paul spoke his well-known statement in Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me,” he was referring to God’s provisions. Backing up two verses, we discover “all things” directly connects to Paul’s contentment in every circumstance, good or bad. We read, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” Paul offers this summation: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”

What we consider an unexpected turn of events does not faze God. It will not sap His mercy dry. Each dawn with the rising of the sun, He supplies us with His gifts — grace, power, wisdom, and patience — whatever we will need to flourish in what’s to come. While a day and its demands often fluctuate, God’s mercy does not. His portion is always enough.

 

God’s new morning mercy is established in Jesus’ finished work

 

While we work to muster up enough energy, patience, motivation, finances, or anything else we might need in life, the work of God’s new morning mercies is already established. There is nothing left to do — it is simply there for the taking! The theologian Watchman Nee once wrote, “Every new spiritual experience begins with an acceptance by faith of what God has done.”

When we trust God for salvation through His Son Jesus, it’s a simple act of faith and acceptance, as we read in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

In the same vein, we do not have to strive for all we need. Instead, abiding in God’s Spirit and becoming familiar with His promises throughout Scripture, we recognize and receive all we have in Christ. Ephesians 1:3 assures us God has “blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing.”

When Jesus hung dying on a cross to save our souls, He gave a definitive statement with His final breath. We find it in John 19:28-30, “After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), ‘I thirst.’ A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to His mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished,’ and He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.”

On the cross, Christ completed the work of our salvation. Further, He created the possibility for our life in Him — both in eternity and here on earth. Because He died and rose to new life, we too can die to our old, sinful life and rise to a new, abundant life in Christ! His work of salvation is complete, and God’s mercies are readily available to us through that sacrifice.

 

We can experience new morning mercies in a profound and powerful way

 

Our daily struggles become less daunting as we discover the unending, unlimited, and unrestrained components of God’s mercy. Watchman Nee said, “There is no limit to the grace God is willing to bestow on us.”

This is because God’s mercies are rooted in His character, which is timeless and unchanging. Lamentations 3:22-24 eloquently ties God’s new morning mercies to His nature:

 

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

    His mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

    great is Your faithfulness.

‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul,

    ‘therefore I will hope in Him.’”

 

God’s mercies are inexhaustible because He is our portion! “Mercies” in this passage allude to His goodness, kindness, favor, and faithfulness. This is our “portion” spoken of in verse 24, or as the Hebrew roots of the word imply, our “inheritance.” We do not earn it; we simply receive it through the finished work of Christ.

As the sun rises to illuminate and warm the earth, may we wake each day with complete confidence to face whatever it may bring. It’s not confidence born of our efforts and fortitude but rather of God’s sufficient mercy. We can rise and proclaim 2 Corinthians 3:5, “Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God.”