In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Genesis 1:1
Some of us remember in the story of Alice in Wonderland of Alice trying to explain her situation to the caterpillar, but not knowing where to begin. The caterpillar’s instructions were for her to begin at the beginning. Good advice! That is what God does when He reveals Himself to us. When it comes to this world, there is nothing to point to earlier than the first verse in the Bible. There is no big bang, no evolutionary process, nothing but a God who spoke the worlds into being. We were not there to see it, we must accept the Record that God has given to us in His Word. And the Word gives us a starting point. We accept this starting point, and build a history of mankind on it. Do you realize that today is another starting point, on which we are to begin building the rest of our lives?
No, the first day of this year is nothing so spectacular as the first day for our world. But it is the first day of the year, the first opportunity to start this year on a good footing, the clean slate that we all crave as we try to escape from the mistakes and misdeeds of the past. We have no right or need to rummage through the past when God has given us a new year in which to chart our future.
What will this year be like? What great events will transpire? What tragedies and sorrows will cross our trail as we make our way through the weeks and months ahead? What happenings in our nation and our world will affect things around us? What advances in science, medicine, and technology will change the way we perform our daily activities? Oh, so much we don’t know about the year that lies ahead! But we can take courage as we face the unknown of 2014 because the same One who created this world also holds us in the hollow of His hand. And He knows all about the next 12 months. He will not be surprised by anything that occurs.
Are you trusting in the One Who holds tomorrow (and the entire year) or are you apprehensive about the prospect of the coming year? Commit the year to the Lord, and it will be indeed a Happy New Year. -Jim MacIntosh