First, my first 2022 thoughts, “A new year and I am still here!” Yea! My goal is to live to be 100 years old. So far – So good! As we face the New Year, I think of and compare it to the time when the children of Israel had the wilderness behind them (2021) and Jordan before them (2022). The Lord commanded Joshua to “Go forward and cross over Jordan into Canaan…that ye may know the way by which ye must go: for ye have not passed this way heretofore… And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day will I begin to magnify thee in the sight of all Israel” (Josh. 3:4-7). They closed behind doors then opened before doors (Phil. 3:13). We have closed the door to a Covid 2021. We now open the door of 2022 only to realize we have not passed this way heretofore.
We now face a new, unknown normal that is absolutely abnormal. Adjust is a must! As Joshua, we need to learn that the Lord was behind us in 2021 and the Lord is before us in 2022. He continues to direct both our steps and stops (Psa.37:23; Prov. 3:5-6). The song says, “Many things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand. But I know who holds tomorrow and I know who holds my hand.” He promises, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Heb. 13:5). Never means never ever!
Evangelist Fred Brown often said, “There are times in all our lives that we need a new beginning.” Is it time for you to have a new beginning? It’s time to close some past behind doors of remorse and regrets. It’s time to open new doors of reaping and rejoicing. As we cross over, don’t count the days, but make the days count. Don’t live a life full of days, but live days full of life. Make the days before you the best we have ever known. “This is the day (year) which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psa.118:24). This day, rejoice and shout, “A new year and I am still here! Yea!”
A favorite poem: Nevertheless – He Leads On – “He leads us on by paths we do not know, Upward He leads us, though our steps be slow. Though oft we faint and falter on the way, Though storms and darkness oft obscure the day. Yet when the clouds are gone, We know He leads us on. He leads us on through all the unquiet years, Past all hopes, doubts, and fears. He guides our steps, through all the tangled maze, Of losses, sorrows and o’er clouded days. We know His will is done. And still He leads us on” – N.L. Zinzendorf. 2021 is Gone – Nevertheless in 2022 He Leads On !
