Turning a calendar page hasn't changed much--and that's both a very bad and a very good thing.
As I write this, the U.S. is dealing with the fallout after our military carried out a strike that killed iran's leading general in Iraq, prompting promises of furious retaliation. This follows Iran's sending its Iraqi allies to storm the U.S. embassy the week before.2020 is already a year of war and bloodshed amid intractable conflicts.I also read of a Chinese pastor sentenced to nine years in prison on false charges, due to his public objections to government crackdowns on his congregation and on believers in China. His message to his people stirs my heart. Here is part of it:
“I hope God uses me, by means of first losing my personal freedom, to tell those who have deprived me of my personal freedom that there is an authority higher than their authority," the church quoted Wang, "and that there is a freedom that they cannot restrain, a freedom that fills the church of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.
“Jesus is the Christ, son of the eternal, living God. He died for sinners and rose to life for us. He is my king and the king of the whole earth yesterday, today, and forever," Wang said on Facebook. "I am his servant, and I am imprisoned because of this. I will resist in meekness those who resist God, and I will joyfully violate all laws that violate God’s laws.”2020 is already a year of persecution and the need to bear faithful witness to Jesus.Our political leaders and processes have filled the media with charges and counter-charges, shrill statements, and hyperbolic attack or support of the president and his adversaries. This has poisoned public discourse, even among Bible-believing Christians, and causes many of us to despair at the lack of both discernment and charity expressed by believers. I can't even write about it without knowing that some in our congregation will be offended no matter what I say, beyond a call to pray for our nation and its leaders that gives no indication what I think.2020 is already a year of political turmoil in need for biblical clarity.I could go on. January 1 has come and gone, but aside from restarting a calendar and our attempts to link that with making personal changes, we continue to live in a world filled with the evidences of sin's dominion and the advance of evil, in fulfillment of every "last days" warning passage we find in Scripture.But (and you knew there had to be a "but," right?) we woke up January 1st, and then the 2nd, and then today, in the Father's world. He made this universe, and is guiding it by his good providence to an incredible end.We begin each day in the Father's care. As the psalmist celebrated, the God who keeps his people "will neither slumber nor sleep" (Psalm 121:4). God is up all night and awake all day taking care of us.In the uncertainties of our world, its conflicts, and its politics, he still holds the hearts of kings in his hand and turns them as he will (Proverbs 21:1). He raises rulers (Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Augustus, and Herod for example) and nations (Egypt, Rome, the nations today) to accomplish his will, and then he takes them down, and their fates have no impact whatsoever on the continuing of his kingdom purposes, which will always stand firm.And in those circumstances you are facing that didn't end with the coming of 2020, as God's child you have his promise of wisdom when you ask (James 1:5), strength when you are weak (Isaiah 40:29-31), and rest when you are overburdened (Matthew 11:28-29). He still wants you to give your anxieties to him (1 Peter 5:7), and promises his provisions as you seek his kingdom first (Matthew 6:33).All of this is true today, just as it was in 2019, and as it will be tomorrow, and the next day, until he comes and makes things much, much better!
