CELEBRATE THE LORD WHO MAKES THINGS NEW

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In Christ, Mark

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Welcome to 2024! The past year, 2023, is in our rear view mirror and has entered into what is known as history. Things have happened globally, nationally, within the communities we live, and personally over the past 365 days but they are now behind us. No one or nothing can change what has been but that doesn’t mean that things can’t change in what is still to be.

I can say this with full confidence because we serve a Lord through which all things are possible, a Lord who can make the seemingly improbable probable, the Lord who makes things new and freely gives new mercies every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23).

As we enter this new year, unknowing of what lies ahead, we can do so with confidence, faith, and trust in understanding that the Lord is with us every step of the way. And in fact, He knows our futures before they even come to be. Such is the amazing power, wisdom, and character found in Him.

This truth should drive our attitudes today to a place of celebration, a celebration not grounded in worldly traditions based on a ball dropping or late night partying or shooting off fireworks to brilliantly illuminate the night sky but rather a genuine heartfelt admiration of the Lord we serve. And to remind is how He constantly makes things new in His creation, both now and in the future, we find wonderful passages within His Holy Word. Here’s one to ponder on this New Year’s Day:

This is what the Lord says—He who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.

See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:19

The Israelite people have endured a long, difficult, oppressive captivity in Egypt. They appeared to have no future beyond doing the will of the Pharaoh each and every day until they experienced the intervention of the God Most High who delivered them and made all things new.

As Moses led the people away from the pursuing army of the Egyptian leader, they came upon a sea that was impassable by mere human means. But then God, through His power, made a way through the mighty waters so the Israelites could pass through on dry land to safety. He then imposed His judgment on Pharaoh and his fighting men, releasing the suspended sea to crash down on the advancing chariots and horses, extinguishing the threat to the Israelite people as quickly as a wick is snuffed out.

With His people now safe, the Lord then made a way for the Israelites to journey across the wilderness as He led them to the Promised Land where He would make things new for them forever. Indeed, Israel still abides in the land God granted them well over 2,000 years ago.

What had happened to the Israelites in Egypt was in the past. All the difficulty and adversity they experienced was behind them, just as 2023 is behind us now along with any hardship or troubles we may have endured.

So let us receive the words of our Lord within the same context that they were delivered to the Israelites. Let us open our eyes to the possibilities that abound in our Lord doing new things in our world, in our nation, within our communities, and within our own lives.

For He will lead us through the wilderness of 2024. All we need to do is trust Him.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.