On New Year's Eve thousands from all around the world gathered in Times Square in eager anticipation of the ball dropping at the stroke of midnight. Apart from the celebration, there's seems to be some urgency to let the waning hours of 2011 quickly slip away in hopes of a new year, a new chapter. Perhaps this year might be better than 2011.
A year promising a stronger economy or peace where the world has known wars, healthier minds and bodies or personal success or anything but what 2011 failed to delivery.
Likewise, for the believer with each passing year, there's a deep longing for the promises spoken through God's Word to be realized in our lives. And with the promise comes a sense of newness, renewal and refreshment. For all those that gather around the clock watching for the stroke of midnight to signify another year, hopefully a better one, most only turn away feeling much the same as they did just minutes before. Had anything really changed?
Yet God who is outside of time makes all things possible and new...including a new year at His choosing for those who hope in His word.
Take Abraham for instance. In Genesis 18:10, God said, "I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son." It might not have been a new year by the ancient calendar of their day, but it was new year for both Abraham and Sarah. God's promise of a son was made possible and it meant a new year in the life for the couple who were about to be parents.
For those without Christ, Romans 5:6 offers a new year at anytime: "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly" (NIV). And for those in Christ, His mercies are new every day (Lamentations 3:23).
Happy New Year!
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