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. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young.

–Parallel verses:
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭11‬:‭28‬-30
‭Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Have you ever been in a situation where there was nothing you could do to rescue yourself? You were in absolute need of help? One time, when my family was hiking across a bridge over a dried up area by the ocean, we came to a sitting area where there was a hole for crabbing. As my family was talking and looking around, I, as a young child, decided to lean over/climb on the railing. I fell and grabbed a pipe with my large hand, and was hanging there, sure to fall into the rocks. In my mind these rocks were hundreds of feet down (reality is, they were probably 10 feet). My dad answered my call for help and reached down and helped me up. I was completely in need of his rescue at that moment.

In the same way, but on a grander scale, sin has put us in a precarious place spiritually. Just like I fell and was separated from my family for a moment, unable to save myself, sin separates us from communion with a good and loving God.

But there is good news for us all, my friends …every morning God is merciful and compassionate to his children, though we sin. He loves us! Deeply, he loves us! And he wants us to grow and learn from Jesus. Without his compassion, his grace and mercy, we would justly be consumed for our sin and betrayal of him.

So today, we need to receive his yoke of salvation, and walk in his ways. Yes, there are temptations and hard-coded sin tracks we run to to cope with life, at times. But when we yoke with Christ, he pulls us back on track, the yoke steers us onward and upward to his glory! And then we build new spiritual ruts that reprogram our “fight and flight” instincts to run to Jesus and his church for our support, encouragement, and needs.

Lord, thank you for your love which never fails me. Your mercies are new every morning. And your yoke keeps me on the track to holiness! Help me to lean on you in the up and down times of this life — because joy is always found in your name!