New Year, God has New things In Store for You
One January first morning of a new year I was having breakfast with a good friend. We sat behind our coffee cups and talked for a short while, discussing the New Year that was upon us.
Not long into my second serving of coffee my friend made a common statement to me; he said, “I cannot wait for this year…it’s going to be so great, and everything is going to be better!” I sat there for a brief pause, contemplating my response, and then I spoke.
“How’s that,” I responded, feeling as perplexed and deliberate as my few words suggested. He then began to tell me of how he was going to accomplish all of the tasks that he failed at the year before; how he was going to be more responsible, more effective, healthier, in shape, attentive, and successful.
I listened to him for a while and began to understand what was driving this misguided hope that was spewing out of him like a garden hose with a new hole.
“All that just because the last two numbers in the date changed?” I asked him. The smile left his face quite quickly.
My intention was not to be rude or disinterested in my friend’s excitement for the New Year; I neither wanted to hurt him or to nor to chop his dreams down at the knees if you will. I wanted to help him, and I only knew one way. So I continued, albeit very carefully, to explain my position.
You see, we sat there, both behind our coffee cups, both looking forward to the New Year, but for two completely different reasons. I was intent on embracing the new day, eager to see what life would bring my way, excited to try new challenges and glorify God with my efforts; and my dear friend was intent on re-living the past, and trying to put forth better efforts in yesterday’s tasks during his hopeful future. I smelled disaster.
Many of us do this. We face the end of a year and contemplate all of the areas of our lives that seemed to miss the mark during the past 12 months. We resolve to do better in the New Year, to join a gym, quit smoking, lose weight, go to church, spend more time with our families, and maybe even plant a garden; you know…all those things we said we would do last year…but didn’t.
What troubles me, is the degree to which we are intent on living in the past. So many of our attempts at resolutions are just re-tries at old projects, and failure is what drives our efforts.
I believe that resolutions can be counterproductive in life; and living in the past is most definitely unhealthy. I believe that God has so much more in store for us in living, and scripture would seem to suggest the same.
Consider for a moment the book of Isaiah, chapter 43: verses 18-19; it reads as follows: 18 “Do not remember the former things, Nor consider the things of old. 19 Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness And rivers in the desert.
God is completely focused on where He is leading us to, and very uninterested in our past. This text is so very exciting because God declares that He is planning on doing something new and exciting in our lives; something that overcomes the impossible and presents unforeseen opportunities.
The question is whether or not we will know it when this new move of God in our lives takes place. In order to perceive of what God is doing in our future, we have got to get our eyes off of our past!
This leads me back to my friend in the restaurant and our coffee. I tried to explain to him that the greatest thing that would happen to him in the next year was something that he hadn’t thought of yet; that it would be a great gift of opportunity from God, and that it would be better than any resolution. I challenged him to keep his heart on God, and to get his eyes off the past…I think he got it. I hope we all will.
Let us all, in this next year, forget about all that lies behind us. Let us live today…with a hope for today, and because of the love of God and his plans for us. Let us look to the future eagerly anticipating what new thing God will do in our lives, and let us not miss it!