Saturday, January 1, 2022


 

God's Prescription for a New Year


What a year 2021 has been !  We have had a continuing plague/epidemic, fires, floods, extreme heat, extreme cold, restrictions, isolation, fear and all the other emotions and responses that go with an unstable environment. 

2022 is standing on the threshold and once again it is the time the age old question arises...  … “What about New Year Resolutions?” 
I doubt anyone is thinking about New Year Resolutions this year.  We can hardly predict what tomorrow will bring, let alone make long range plans or set future goals. 
The only hope we have for the new year is to hold onto God's hand and trust that He will guide us through the coming days.  If we keep our eyes on Him we know we will be safe. 
When it comes to the bottom line I think we will all acknowledge that if something feels secure, if something has the settled feeling of truth, we can easily trace it back to God as the source of it. 
So why don't we start the year with putting God's directives first and strive to hold onto that no matter what the new year is destined to bring. 
 I did a search  and found some interesting scripture references about the first day of a new year, and I want to share the important truths these verses hold for us today.  
 I will quote the verses in the order of occurrence in the bible. I invite you to walk with me through “God’s Prescription for a Happy New Year!” 

Trust His Promises 
The very first reference to the first day of a new year is in Gen. 8:14 where it says……”And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from the earth; and Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and indeed the surface of the ground was dry.” Here we have the first reference to a New Year’s Day .. and isn’t it exactly how we see a new year - as a new beginning, a clean slate, a reason for renewed hope and excitement of what the new year will bring? Here we see Noah standing with the promises of God over him , symbolized by the rainbow ! How thankful we can be for God’s promises that are new again on the first day of a new year! What promises of God are important to you as you  stand to begin 2022? 

Pay attention to His Commandments 
In Ex. 12:2 we read…”This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.” Then God gives His instructions to Aaron and Moses regarding the Passover. If they would follow His instructions God promised the destroyer would not have power to strike them ! 
The first month of a new year - take time to review God’s commandments. Are we obeying God’s laws so that He can bless our coming in and going out in 2022?   Do we hold His Word  high as our shield to protect us from the fiery darts of the enemy ?

 Prepare a Place of Worship 
In Exodus 40:2 God commanded the Israelites ….. “On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.” What a perfect time...the first day of the first month… to set up a time and a place for us to fellowship with God - to prepare our heart as a tabernacle in our busy, and oft, confusing lives. A  spiritual  'tabernacle'  where we can retreat to meet with God face to face  -- a habit that keeps us faithful throughout the year. 

Make Necessary Repairs 
In II Chron. 29:3 we read about Hezekiah , the king. “In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them.“ Perhaps your ‘tent of meeting’ needs some repair. Has something crept into your life that has broken it down or made it a place cluttered with things that should not be there?  How easy it has been over the last year to allow negative thoughts, attitudes, habits to find a seat in our hearts and minds.  Maybe it's time to do some 'house cleaning'.  To bring it all to the Lord, and commit ourselves afresh to make Him Lord of our life - the One who sits on the throne of our heart. 

Sanctify Yourself 
In II Chronicles 29:17 we read, "Now they began to sanctify on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the LORD. So they sanctified the house of the LORD in eight days, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished." 
Sometimes we are overwhelmed with thinking about how often we fail before the Lord, or how far we are from 'perfect'.  But notice the word 'began' in the above verse.  Though the sanctification began on New Year’s Day .. it took some time. As it should for us as well. It takes time to examine the things in our life and put them in order. To prioritize, to downsize, to sort and discard, to clean. We belong to the Lord, we are His tabernacle. Is everything in our life ‘sanctified’ -- set apart ‘ for His use? Or are there things that we keep just for ourselves, our own selfish pleasure or profit? 
Let us  examine the things in our life - and begin the work needed in our personal inner life as well as the outer things seen by others.  Let us desire to be in the best place we can be to offer ourselves as a 'temple of service'  to honor and glorify our Lord?

Prepare for a Journey
 It is interesting that Ezra, having received permission from the king to travel to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of his beloved city, began his journey on the first day of the first month. "On the first day of the first month ...". (Ezra 7:9)
I love that he began his journey …. “according to the good hand of his God upon him.” (Ezra 7:9) 
What a journey 2021 has taken us on.  And now we are about to embark on a new journey.  It too is of a year's duration!  We have no idea where the journey will take us …or even if we will complete the journey. Though the journey is one into uncharted territory, how comforting to know it has already been planned  ‘according to the good hand of God upon us’ !! He has already gone before  to prepare the way for us! 

Repent
In Ezra 10:17 we read “By the first day of the first month they finished questioning all the men who had taken pagan wives.” Is there sin in our life that is displeasing to God? Are we willing to rid ourselves of it, repent and then wholeheartedly follow after God and His righteousness? We know that if we repent, He is 'faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us ... " (I John 1:9) 

Listen for God's Voice 
There are several verses I found where it speaks of hearing God’s voice as in Ezra 29:17 “And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying…”   Do we hear God’s voice this New Year’s Day ? Are we listening, eager to hear what He is saying to us ? We are so quick to make our own plans, but if 2021 taught us anything, it taught us that plans can change in a moment. How important it is to listen first to what God has to say and then our choices, our decisions will be good ones and our steps will fall in solid places! 

Prepare a Sacrifice
 In Ezra 45:18 God called for a special sacrifice on New Year’s Day…. “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish and cleanse the sanctuary’ .” A sacrifice… something special you offer to God that is of value to Him because of what it accomplishes. I offer you a challenge. This new year give something to God that is just between you and Him…perhaps something He has already been speaking to you about… perhaps something you have never done before… perhaps something no one else will ever know about!

I wish YOU, my dear friends, a very blessed New Year ! and pray that it might be a special journey that leads you into an ever closer walk with God. ***