“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)
Life is much a passage of seasons. In the temperate world seasons revolve from winter, spring summer, and autumn. In the tropics there are rainy and dry seasons. The beauty about this cycle of seasons is that as one season comes to an end there is ever an opportunity to look forward to a new brighter season. A harsh winter is greeted with the expectation of a beautiful spring. A long and dry season is forgotten as one welcomes in a rainy season.
After a year where one might have experienced all manner of challenges, there is one thing that could help, letting go of the past, and looking afresh to brighter seasons ahead. Indeed, one of the defining aspects of those that believe in the God of Abraham is that He is in the business of beginning afresh. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” - 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV). This was the case with one of the prisoners alongside Jesus who cried, “remember me when You come into Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:42-43).
The year could have had all sorts of setbacks, but, scriptures say, “Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning” ( Lamentations 3:23). As one looks forward to crossing in the new year, let the past only serve as a useful experience! But one should not become a prisoner of a harsh past. There are better seasons ahead. By trusting in God one should look forward to better days ahead. “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you.” —Joel 2:25 (ESV)
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, creator of heaven and earth, today I thank you for the encouragement of your word: forgetting the past and looking forward to better seasons ahead because of your promises of the new life that is in you!