Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, (Mark 1:41, NKJV)
As believers, when we wish one another a ‘Happy New Year’, it’s not just about happiness, but confidence and trust in God. I want us to have a confidence and a hope for this new year. I want to share this word with you from Hebrews 10.35, “Cast not away your confidence which has great recompense of reward.”
In 2022 we are entering an unknown. I often quote at the start of a new year the Christmas message spoken by King George VI to the British people. At the suggestion of the then Princess Elizabeth, he quoted Minnie Louise Haskins, ‘I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light, and safer than a known way.”’ If the King could say that, facing the darkest days of the War, I want to say to you, if we want a light to walk safely into this new year, put you hand into the Hand of God, because that will be better than any light and safer than any known way!
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:105, NKJV)
As Hebrews 10:23 says, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, because God is faithful who promised! Our faith is based on the faithfulness of God. 2022 is ‘unknown’ and we need that confidence that God is in control. He is! God has foreseen the end from the beginning! When He created the world, He saw the end. Nothing takes Him by surprise. Politicians are all the time wavering and switching. But God is consistent, and faithful to His Promises. He always does what He says. That’s why Hebrews 10:35 says, cast not away your confidence!
But, as v36 says, you need patience, so that, after you have done the Will of God, you may receive the Promise. You see, we’re living a life ‘in faith’, according to the Will of God, which will end up in the Kingdom!
Don’t let fear destroy or disturb your life. Don’t cast away your confidence. Confidence is trust. Confidence is the knowledge that God will do what He said. I want you to move into 2022 with confidence that God is in control. I’m confident that this will be the best year of my life. I want you to see that your faith is in the Rock which is Christ, a solid foundation, not shifting sands. We move into 2022 with a positive, solid foundation.
Hebrews 11:8 says, ‘By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out to a place which he would later receive as an inheritance, obeyed, though he did not know where he was going!’ Do you understand the confidence that we need to have in God? Confidence in His Word, confidence that God is in control, that the Bible prophesies the future more accurately than any scientist or any politician can. God’s Word is true and the only Rock on which we can build our trust, our faith and our confidence.
This is my word to you for 2022. Forget the problems of the past, forget the glories. Forget the joys, the pain, and let’s press forward into the future with confidence in God.
I want to pray for you: Father, let us not look at the past, except to give You glory – we want to look at the future! I pray for those of us who are in trepidation, in fear of an unknown future. I pray that we will do even as King George VI said, and go out into the unknown and the darkness, and put our hand into the Hand of God - and this shall be better than a light and safer than a known way. What more can You give us, O God, than a Hand and a Light to take us into the unknown?! We commit ourselves into Your Hand and into the safety of Your Light, Your Blessing and Your Control. Amen.