Off to a good start

Hi, this is Cynthia Dowling, and you may have been wondering, “Am I prepared to start this new year?” Starting anything new always involves preparation and choices. What will we choose? How will we prepare? Who will control our year? Will we just “take it as it comes”? Will we try to maneuver ourselves into a good position? Will we try to direct our actions and activities to produce the best results? Or will we choose by faith to follow God’s direction and walk in His way?

Beginnings are very important to God. Throughout Scripture, God gives us His perspective on beginnings by specifically including many starting points. Let's look at the way God starts the Jewish calendar! In the book of Exodus, God takes Jacob’s small family to Egypt, and they multiply for 400 years. Then, it's God's chosen time to bring them out of Egypt and make them into a nation. After God sends spectacular judgments on the land and people of Egypt, Pharaoh forces the Jews to leave the country. God names this amazing deliverance with its meal and preparation for departure, the ordinance of the Passover. Listen to the details of this amazing beginning in Exodus 12, “And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.... In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.”

Did you hear what God said? In the first month--God started the Jewish calendar with the celebration of Passover, and they were to commemorate it every year forever. So even now, every year when the Jewish calendar starts over, the Jews celebrate Passover. Why? God tells us in that same chapter: “And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.

Did you hear the word “delivered”? Yes! Their whole celebration reenacts the night they left Egypt to remember how God delivered them from slavery by His mercy and how He made them His people. What a beginning! So, what does that mean to me, and to you? This account isn’t just a history lesson or a great story; God is teaching us multiple truths here. Not only do we understand that the start of each new year is a beginning that is very important to God, but also that it’s an appropriate time for His people to remember His past deliverance through praise and anticipate more mercy to come. God is giving us direction for our new year!

Next, let’s move forward to the time when David the king is dying, God directs King David to place his son Solomon on the throne. At the outset of his reign, Solomon is totally overcome with his own inadequacy, finiteness, and lack of experience; he is overwhelmed. How could he possibly build the temple and shepherd this great nation of Israel as God wants it done? In answer to his cry for help, our wonderful God did something amazing. Listen to 2 Chronicles 1, “In that night did God appear unto Solomon, and said unto him, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said unto God, Thou hast shewed great mercy unto David my father, and hast made me to reign in his stead. Now, O LORD God, let thy promise unto David my father be established: for thou hast made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude. Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people: for who can judge this thy people, that is so great?”

And God gave Solomon just what he asked for, wisdom. And God’s wisdom is not just for Solomon! Did you know that God has promised to give us wisdom, too? In James 1:5 God says, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith....” Our all-knowing God generously gives His wisdom without getting angry to those who ask Him in faith, eager to use the wisdom they receive. What could be better than starting a new year with God’s wisdom?

Last of all, Jesus Himself shows us that beginnings are very important. Immediately, after Jesus has been baptized by John the Baptist and before He starts His earthly preaching ministry, the Holy Spirit sends Him into the wilderness. There, Jesus fasts for forty days and nights, preparing His heart, His mind, and His body for the work He came to earth to do. And do you know what the Bible says happened right after the phrase “the spirit drove Him into the wilderness?...to be tempted by the devil.” Preparing by fasting and praying for forty days and nights alone was difficult, but now His adversary has come to take advantage of His weakness. Jesus’ whole focus is on God's will for the future, and what does Satan try to do? Get Him off track and shift His focus to material things: to His hunger, a spectacular start, taking a shortcut to gain the kingdom. What did Jesus choose to do? With each temptation, He chose to answer Satan with a verse from God's word, never being shaken from His eternal focus. The result? The devil left him. Isn’t that what we need for this new year? Yes, we need divine power to drive away the enemy. God's powerful Word will not only help us maintain our eternal focus, but God's mighty Word will also overcome our adversary.

Three great truths—reflection and praise, gaining godly wisdom, and maintaining an eternal focus can apply to any verse, psalm, or passage of Scripture we prayerfully select to start the new year. This year the Lord has impressed me to change my fear. Yes, I admit, I am a fearful person, and I want to stop being controlled by my sinful fears. So as a catalyst to effect that change, the Lord has directed me to memorize two companion psalms, Psalm 111, which overflows with praise and ends with my key verse, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.” Psalm 112 follows up by giving the characteristics of one who truly fears the Lord. Listen to this: “Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments....He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. His heart is established, he shall not be afraid.” Wow! Just the mindset I need to navigate this year! So, my prayer for this year is that the Lord changes what I fear, from the fear of the unknown to the fear of the Lord, freeing me to walk by faith without altering my God-given focus.

Join me in starting this year by remembering His mercy, asking Him for wisdom, prayerfully choosing a verse, a psalm, or a passage to memorize. That way we will keep our eternal focus, defeat the enemy, and let God accomplish His great and good work in our lives this year. This little Scottish hymn chorus says it exactly right:

How good is the God we adore,
Our faithful unchangeable friend;
His love is as great as His power,
And knows neither measure nor end.

’Tis Jesus the first and the last,
Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home,
We’ll praise Him for all that is past,
And trust Him for all that’s to come.