It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.

Lamentations 3:22: KJV

Have you ever looked back on your past and wondered why you are still alive? Many situations in my life should have brought me to the grave. My life was kept from death in a car accident. A tumor suddenly appeared in my body and I was spared. I have traveled to countries where my life was in danger and God surrounded me with His protection. I am sure that you have faced similar situations and rejoice over the fact that God has kept you alive!

We have probably been spared from many calamities that were due to our own stupidity. We have no one to blame but ourselves and yet God has preserved us. Our ignorance and disobedience did not nullify God's mercy. It is because of God's mercy that you and I are alive today!

Jeremiah wrote Lamentations 3:22 while he and his people were in captivity. Torture and death surrounded the captive Israelites each day. Jeremiah reminded them of the grace and mercy of God that had kept them alive. The Israelites and their nation should have been destroyed. They were in captivity because of their own disobedience. Yet, their disobedience did not overthrow the mercy of God. Jeremiah reminded the Israelites that God's mercy would not fail and that it would continue into the future.

What did this mean to Jeremiah and his generation, and what does it mean to us today? It means that as surely as God has taken care of us in the past, He will not fail us tomorrow. Israel was not finished as a nation. God had promised them an inheritance, land, a kingdom and an eternal King. God's promise was given by His grace. The Israelites did not deserve to be blessed or given a future, yet God blessed them and gave them a future. This is the wonder of God's mercy!

As surely as Israel has a future, so we also have a future. The same standard which God has used in the past, His mercy, is the same standard by which we will survive calamities in the days to come. Our destiny as believers is not only on earth, but also in heaven with the Lord Jesus. The God who watched over the Israelites in slavery and persecution is the same God who watches over us.

Begin to recall your past deliverance. Rejoice in the testimonies that God has given to you and your family. Count your blessings and remember that God is not through! Your list of blessings has more pages yet to be written. It will not be complete until you die or until Jesus comes back for you. There may be more afflictions you will face in your life, but there are also more deliverance's. We can rejoice over the future by reflecting on God's past mercy in our lives.