Around the year 586 BC, the crown jewel of the Jewish nation was ripped from their grasp as the Babylonians overtook and subsequently destroyed Jerusalem.

Jeremiah, known as “The Wheeping Prophet”, not only foretold of the coming destruction, he watched it happen.

A short time later, he would write what we now know as the book of Lamentations, a book of sorrow and remorse that is not incredibly fun to read, but also not completely outside of our own experiences.

It is inevitable that bad days are going to happen.
Our bad days may not have been as terrible as Jeremiah’s, but it’s not hard to imagine a portion of his pain. What we do with those bad days…
…now that is what is most important.

The fall of Jerusalem was not hard to imagine during the time of Jeremiah. Multiple prophets had called the Jews back to faithfully following God from their own pursuit of other gods.

Time and time again, their focus was taken off of the One that had given them life and God responded with a very, very bad day.
Not to hurt them…
Not to get even with them…
Not even to punish them.
God gave them a very bad day because He wanted them to return to Him.

That has always been God’s purpose behind the bad days of our lives, to get us to refocus on HIm! Even in the midst of Jeremiah’s lament, he had this to say in hope of God’s restoration.

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:22–24 (ESV)

“God’s mercies are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.” – I love this old hymn.

I have found that when bad days come, it is a gift, an invitation to look past the circumstances of your day and remember that the morning is coming and God’s mercies are never ending.

When things go bad in my own life (and they do), I typically respond with discouragement, dread, anxiety and sometimes anger. But the Holy Spirit doesn’t leave me there and He doesn’t want to leave you there, either.

As you dwell on the things that have gone wrong, let me suggest an alternate perspective.

You can look AT your circumstances or you can look TO the bigger purpose that God is working on in your life.

You can wallow in your disappointment or you can look through it to remember that the ultimate prize in your life is not what you just missed out on, but that the ultimate prize is still right there with you.

“The Lord is my portion,”
He is enough and walking with Him is greater than any bad day that you could possibly have.
You see, our bad days point us to our greatest gift, and that is the reason that your next bad day is truly a gift to you.

Be encouraged and look past your next bad day to find the One that makes all days beautiful.

Mark Love
Lead Pastor