12/31/2020
This is the last day of the year, and we are looking back on our walk with God and asking ourselves what lies ahead. We are using this day to prepare ourselves, just as a traveler who readies himself for the journey before he actually embarks on it. To be certain, there have been many trials and tribulations in 2020, and some of them are ongoing, but God has made preparations for a new day, and the beginning of something fresh... have you made yourself ready for the pilgrimage?
“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
Isaiah 43:19 ESV
Sometimes we get so fixed on the present, or what has always been, that we become blind to the new and wonderful gifts that the Lord God surrounds us with. Jesus, the Messiah, came to the Jews after hundreds of years of waiting, and though they had prayed, waited, and longed for Him to come , they actually had become numb to Him... thinking that he was promised, and yet not anticipating His eminent arrival. He was like the idea of tomorrow, and their belief in His coming flirted with them, just as they were prepared to celebrate the arrival of tomorrow it became today... and so their waiting started all over again. Are we waiting on Jesus, and the newness that He brings to us like the Jews waited for Him? Are we praying and longing, but never seeing, or realizing? Is each New Year vanishing into the present without our grasping its hope? Have we missed the fact that our God is new, and refreshing us continuously?
“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV
Jesus didn’t come to restate the old, or strengthen us in a faith that could never grasp His arrival; no, He came to transform and fulfill. He was the New Year, and the new day dawning.
Yes He transforms us into the new...
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Romans 12:2 ESV
And He fulfills the old; every promise...
““Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”
Matthew 5:17 ESV
So here we are at the threshold of 2021, a New Year, and we have a choice to make. Are we going to continue living the old year into the new, with all its shortcomings, disappointments, and past blessings, or are we going to prepare ourselves for a bold new journey? Are we packing up our camp in this last day of an old year, and preparing to travel a new road into a New Year that our Father has prepared for us? Are we ready to drink a new wine; a living water, and be transformed... fulfilled?
“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.”
Isaiah 43:19-20 KJV
Jesus has come, and each day He desires to refresh us in our faith, just as we are meant to love and glorify God by our renewed worship and praise. Now, today, we stand on the cusp between what has been and what will be, but which will we choose? We can remain steadfast in what is, or step boldly into the promise of a new day, and year, that God has made for us. We can be satisfied in our faith as it is, or grow in righteousness as God strengthens us through new revelations of Himself. Tomorrow, like today, is the day that the Lord hath made.
“The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
Psalms 118:22-24 KJV
2020 has been a year of hardship, suffering, and challenge, but it has also increased our faith in many ways as we learned things like... the Church is not a building we meet in, but is comprised of you and me; together. That mercy we show others is not dependent on our own wellbeing, but our willingness to sacrifice ourselves for them. We also learned that God is with all of us simultaneously, regardless of where we are, and we can pray as one even when thousands of miles apart. And I think, most of all, we learned that the love of God is with us, and joins us with himself, and thus joins us together with those we love... even when our bodies are lying alone in a hospital room dying of COVID-19 we are together in God.
“But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.”
1 Corinthians 6:17 KJV
Prayer:
Father, we thank you for 2021, the New Year that you have prepared for us, and every blessing that awaits us there. We thank you for transforming us, and fulfilling every promise your Word makes to us. We ask you to strengthen our courage as we step forward into this new, amazing, and sometimes frightening year with you. Heal the wounds of the old year we are leaving behind, and engrain in us the wonderful lessons of faith you taught us as we rejoiced and suffered through it. Make straight our paths in the coming year Father, but if we encounter twists and bends, show us new wonders as we travel them, and allow us a new and glorious view of you in every switchback along the way. Holy, Holy, holy, are you our God who is with us, and joins us, at all times. Praised be your name for finding the good that can come from disaster, and showing us the power in love, and faith. Merciful are you who shows your unbridled grace by making every day new, and forgiving our sins through your Son Jesus. We worship you in the faith we know, and we pray that you reveal the new to us so that our worship can be increased. Continue to transform us Lord, and never let us become stagnant in our faith. Open our hearts to you, and as you judge us we pray that you will find the image of Christ has been growing more complete with every breath we have taken... even our last.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ESV
Rich Forbes