Photo by Karen Mitchell Smith of TopShelfPhotos
Good-bye, 2016!
The New Year’s Eve parties are over, the last of the New Year’s Day football has been watched, the black-eyed peas (if you’re southern, like I am) have been eaten, and the holiday guests have gone home. It’s January 2, 2017, and 364 more brand-new, unsullied days stretch out before us. Social media is filled with people lamenting how terrible 2016 was. And really, it wasn’t great. We lost too many favorite celebrities and watched the worst mud-slogging political race most Americans have ever seen, to mention just a couple of rotten apples 2016 gave us.
But that was then; this is now. This is the moment the new year really begins. The day people return to their jobs. The day the Christmas tree is put away, holiday leftovers are thrown out, checkbooks are balanced, and the first tentative steps toward keeping the new year’s resolutions are taken. This is the day that always reminds me of the first day of school, when my crayons stood in bright, fresh soldier rows, my little cigar box held my newly sharpened pencils, and my Red Chief writing tablet lay empty and open on my desk, just waiting to be filled with carefully crafted cursive letters and a good bit of side-doodling. Nothing yet was dirty, crumpled, torn, or marked on. Possibility and imagination sprawled before me, inviting me to write something wonderful. Today is that day. Today is the day to pack away any leftover bitterness, resentment, depression, or hopelessness that 2016 hung around your neck. Today, this day, is full of promise and hope.
Hello, 2017!
As I turn my face away from 2016 and look to the new year, I am reminded of God’s word in Isaiah 43:19, “Behold, I am doing a new thing; even now it springs up. Do you not perceive it?” The word perceive is defined as “to become aware of or conscious of something; to come to realize or understand.” So, perceiving, then is the key to understanding this verse. The word of God teaches us that we must walk by faith, not by sight. That is, we must see with the eyes of our heart, where our faith resides, because our physical eyes may not actually see what God is doing. We have to perceive, become aware of, become conscious of, the areas in which He is already working in our lives.
How does that happen?
To do this, we must look expectantly at our future with our faith-eyes wide open. Anything is possible. Miracles of forgiveness, healing, financial blessing, restoration of broken relationships, and redemption. What do you need this year? God says to ask and you will receive. He goes on to say, “Which of you, if your child asks for bread, would give him or her a stone?” Our Father tells us to approach his throne boldly, with confidence, as you would expect your own little ones to approach you, knowing that He wants to hear from you. He wants to provide. We are to ask, expecting to receive because “if you, then, though you are sinful, know how to give good gifts to your own children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7: 7-11)
Make it personal
I am in no way proclaiming that God is the great Santa Clause in the sky, just waiting to fulfill your total wishlist and drop that luxury car in your driveway, but I am saying He desires good things for you, and He sees your every need, both spiritual and physical. And the Father is even now doing a new thing for you, do you not perceive it? If you don’t, if you can’t see past the fog of 2016’s disappointments and hurts, ask God to open your faith-eyes. Try it out! Tell him your needs and wait expectantly for Him to act. Keep believing that He will act. Stand in faith while you wait. And if you don’t get around to doing all that today, remember His mercies are new every day (Lamentations 3:22-23). Every day with God is a blank page. Consider carefully how you will fill those pages, whether with faith or with doubt and despair. But if you want to choose joy and faith, let the eyes of your heart perceive what the Father is saying to you even now.
The Word In Me 