Our lives are relentless, it’s one thing after another, after another. The thing about life is, there’s no space to pause, there’s no room for a break, it’s not like we’re whirling around on a ride, and we manage to gasp out that we want to get off for a moment to catch our breath, and possibly be sick somewhere, life goes on, and it goes on relentlessly throwing things at us. Whether it be work, or our family life, or our school, or just the daily grind of getting up and facing each day.
Even when we take holidays it doesn’t stop, often the very act of going on holiday can be
incredibly stressful and difficulty, and merely adds to the relentless nature of life, rather than taking away from it.
Something being relentless means that it’s happening constantly, usually with negative, or how the dictionary puts it, oppressive overtones, and it’s pretty easy in our lives, in our world to focus on that negative aspect of the word. “My Boss never gives me a moments peace, she’s relentless.”, “This illness, just doesn’t give me a break, it’s relentless.” “I can’t seem to catch a break, life is just so relentless.”
The book of Lamentations in the Bible is a book of mourning, it’s a song of despair, and deals, at least in part, with the relentless nature of life. But in the midst of the book, in the midst of the suffering, homelessness, shame, defeat, and despair, there are these words from chapter 3 and verse 21 onwards: “Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the LORD never ends. His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”
The faithful love of the Lord never ends, his mercies are new each morning. If we think our lives are relentless, if we think our problems, our sufferings, our despair is relentless, then I invite you to think on these words: The love of God is never-ending, his love, and his compassion for you, whether you know him or not, begins anew each and every morning. Each and every morning it’s just as passionate, just as heartfelt, and just as powerful to change your situation as it ever was, and ever will be…
…It’s relentless.
Kieran Woodward – Assistant Leader, King’s Lynn Baptist Church