The late Allegra McBirney—missionary, author, and speaker—said, “Well, Lord, here’s this whole new year ahead, and I know that prospect doesn’t shake You; but for me it’s question marks all the way. Family, health, finances, world peace—You know what a crisis in any of them would do to me. And yet, I’ve been thinking, Lord, that looking at the new year with question marks is really looking at You with them. Right? That’s not trusting. Forgive me Lord. I have this request: Please, this year turn my question marks into periods—into certainties…settled conviction. Faith with finality. On second thought, Lord, turn them into exclamation points! Into certainties with excitement! That’s it, Lord!”
And, so, with McBirney’s thought in mind, I offer the following counsel for all of us as we “ring in” a new year, Lord willing, in a couple of days:
(1) Remember the Permanent
• The top of my list of that which is permanent is the Word of God (Matt. 24:35). Jesus reminded His disciples in His Olivet Discourse that “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” It has been burned, banned, and blasphemed, but it still stands and always will.
• The everlasting gospel. It will be preached on the earth and in the heavens. It is indestructible and undeniable: “And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.” (Rev. 14:6)
• The Lord Jesus Christ—“the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” (Hebs. 13:8)
• He that doeth the will of God abideth forever. (I John 2:17)
“Today, dear friends, we stand upon the verge of the unknown. There lies before us the new year and we are going forth to possess it. Who can tell what we shall find? What new experiences, what changes shall come, what new needs shall arise? All our supply is to come from the Lord. Here are springs that shall never dry; here are fountains and streams that shall never be cut off. Here, anxious one, is the gracious pledge of the Heavenly Father. If He be the source of our mercies they can never fail us. No heat, no drought can parch that river, ‘the streams whereof make glad the city of God.’ We cannot tell that loss and sorrow and trial are doing. Trust only. The Father comes near to take our hand and lead us on our way today. It shall be a good, a blessed new year!” (Lettie Cowman, Streams in the Desert)
(2) Realize the Passing
“The world passeth away and the lusts thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” (I John 2:17) The judicial, cultural, religious, educational, social, and political orders of the age are passing and will fully pass away.
Time—with clocks, calendars, decades, and millennia—will one day be no more. (Rev. 10:5,6)
Death, sorrow, crying, pain will pass with the passing of the last age of “time.” (Rev. 21:4)
Heaven and earth (the first) will one day “perish…yea all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed.” (Ps. 102:25-27)
It is well, therefore, that we realize that each of us was put on this earth for a purpose—we were not ‘just born.’ If we can each find this purpose and work toward the fulfillment of it, then we have taken the first steps on the road to happiness and success (James 1:5; Eph. 5:17) (Capital Voice, Feb. 1983)
(3) Rejoice in the Prospect (it’s never been brighter!)—Rev. 21:5
The old covenant replaced by the new covenant, Jer.31:33
Once the first Adam—then the Last Adam, I Cor. 15:21-24
Now still the Old Nature and the New Nature; then only the New Nature, I John 3:2
Now the Old Jerusalem, then the New Jerusalem, Rev. 21:1
Now the old heaven and earth, then the new Heaven and new earth
Now the earthly house of this our tabernacle; then a building of God not made with hands, eternal in the heavens! (II Cor. 5:1; Phil.3:21)
We are, therefore, not looking back, but forward; not around, but up, not preparing for here but for there!
“I do not know, I cannot see what God’s kind hand prepares for me. Nor can my glance pierce through the haze which covers all my future ways. But yet I know that o’er it all rules He who notes the sparrow’s fall. Farewell, old year, with goodness crowned, a hand divine hath set my bound. Welcome the New Year, which shall bring fresh blessings from my God and King.” (unknown)
“Blessed be the God, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places…to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Eph. 1:3,6)
YOU and GOD 