Maybe like me you are pondering and wondering just what will be in store for this New Year. Not just for me, but also for our country and world. Will this be the year our Lord returns to take us home? Will we be able to continue to freely worship, unlike our brothers and sisters of the persecuted church? There are a lot of situations out there that are on the precipice of change today, and some are rather scary while others are welcomed. But naturally I am wondering how the year will unfold for my family’s lives.
As I look at the year ahead, I see an opportunity to correct things in my life that are out of alignment and in need of adjustment. This year I can set a determined course to walk in a different direction than I have previously. I have too many areas in my life that are screaming to be altered. I don’t like resolution thing mostly because I am tired of making and breaking them. I want to grow and be transformed, which will take some purposeful living on my part.
Isaiah 43 tells of God’s redemption of Israel and the housecleaning of its enemies as He prepared to wipe out Babylon. Through the prophet Isaiah, God declared that Israel should not look back but be ready for what He has in store for it. Verses 18 and 19 (from The Message translation) say, “‘Forget about what’s happened; don’t keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new. It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it? There it is! I’m making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands.”
Looking back and dwelling on the could’a, would’a, should’as is a waste of time. It is also used by the enemy of our souls to keep us from embracing the new — which comes through a willingness to change and alter our way of thinking and doing. Getting out of the familiar and into the unknown. Is that hard for you? Well, it sure can be for me, but I am going to give it a try. If I am so busy looking backward, I can’t see what is right in front of me–the new road through the hard places and the refreshing pools that God gives us for our renewal.
Sounds all fine and good, doesn’t it? But seriously, it is time to rise, put aside the old and move into the new. Are you willing? Will you lay yourself on the altar (so to speak) and allow the Lord to cut away the diseased areas in your life? If there is bitterness, can He remove it as He breaks your hard heart and gives you a new heart that is soft toward those you have held in contempt for too long? Will you allow Him to fill the void in your heart that you continue to stuff with excess food, unhealthy relationships, excessive spending or busyness with other people’s lives and judgmental attitudes about others?
Let’s journey together and make this the year that we respond lovingly to the unlovely ones we all know. These are old patterns that God would love to expose in us so that we can move forward, instead of standing still as we grind ourselves deeper and deeper into a rut that seems too deep to get out of. Our God is able!
I can’t wait to see the outcome those responses will bring to those difficult situations. Let’s seek Him with all of our hearts so that His gentle hand of correction will turn us in the direction He desires for us to walk in. I say it all too often–this life is not about me and what I can get out of it. It is about serving Him so that others may know Him and the power of His Resurrection.
May you walk in His blessings and happy New Year!
