Year: 2021

As a child I often thought about how small I was compared to God in the perspective of a board game with tiny pieces moved around the board by the masters hand. The difference becoming more apparent the longer I live that more times than not we act and move as if we were the ones controlling our next move. We act in the moment without thought or regard to how that one action, that one move affects the entirety of our life or the lives of others. We act as if we are in control, dependent only upon what we deem to be the most appropriate next move.

The reality is that we are completely and totally dependent upon the mercies of our Heavenly Father. Even though life is not a board game and He has given us free will to move, it is in recognizing our “unceasing dependence” upon Him that the next move, the next course of action for our life becomes the one that moves us toward His ultimate goal for our lives.

“O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” Jeremiah 10:23

“The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:24-26

As I look back over the various choices I have made, the moves I have taken, the ones I made on my own versus the ones directed by God are very evident. The more time that passes I realize more and more just how “unceasingly dependent” I am upon my Heavenly Father. Every decision I make affects the direction in which I move, either closer to God or farther away; closer to His plan for my life or farther away.

“In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.” Proverbs 3:6-7

“O Lord, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.” Jeremiah 16:19

In a day when we see so many falling victim to the entrapment of this world full of lies and wickedness, we have a stronghold of hope. We have a place of refuge, an anchor when the storm is growing stronger all around us. We are able to stand firm, secured by the promise given to us by God in His Word that this world is not our home.

“Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast” Hebrews 6:19a

Our hope is anchored steadfast in the knowledge of what lies ahead, we have the promise of an eternal home in Heaven. We are not bound to the things of this life, our promise is above.

“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58

We have an anchor that will stand fast as we travel through the storm, our master has promised to see us safely to the other side.

I am uncertain of so many things, but there is one thing I know . . . God is my Certainty !!! He knows my tomorrow, He knows the way, and I’m trusting in Him today !!

Proverbs 20:24 “Man’s goings are of the Lord ; how can a man then understand his own way?”

Psalm 31:14 “But I trusted in thee, O Lord : I said, Thou art my God.”

Today I will trust God to direct me and to guide me toward the path I need to take tomorrow.

Psalm 143:8 “Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee.”

My Heavenly Father is my Certainty !!

When I reflect upon the new year ahead, I can not help but look back thinking of how I sat thus at the beginning of 2020 as did so many without any thought of what that year would hold. Having said that, I also can not help but think about the fact that although I do not know what my future holds in 2021 just as I did not in 2020, I do know the one who holds my future.

God brought me through 2020, taking care of each and every moment of every day. He guided my steps, protecting me along the way. So as I look toward 2021 and the uncertainties of what it will hold, I am at peace knowing God is in control. I need not try to figure it out or fret over what I need to do to prepare, He is already preparing the way before me, I just need to seek His face allowing Him to work in and through me.

“Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:26-31