Verse of the Day for April 4

This line appears in a hymn, which is where most people meet it, and it comes from a book of ruins. Jerusalem is destroyed and the writer has watched it happen.

They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

The verse before names what is new — his compassions fail not — and the verse before that explains why he is able to say it at all: this I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.

Recall to my mind is an act of will. He is not describing a feeling that arrived; he is describing a decision to remember something in the middle of a situation that argues against it.

New every morning is also a limit. Yesterday's supply is not available today, and today's is not stockpiled for next week.

Which is inconvenient for anyone who would rather be resourced in advance, and is the same arrangement as the manna.

The mercy is daily rather than delivered in bulk, which means the relationship stays daily too.

Written by a man looking at rubble, which is the only reason it carries any weight.