New Years Eve
WATCHWORD:
17 Now Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. 18 Take along these ten cheeses to the commander of their unit. See how your brothers are and bring back some assurance from them. 19 They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.” 29 “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” 30 He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. 31 What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.32 David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.” […] 40 Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine. 48 As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line. 49 Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face-down on the ground, dead. 1 Samuel 17:17-19, 29-32,40,48-49
Meditation:
Better than Best
Are there times when we consider what is best and turn our noses up on something that might be even better? Think about that and apply it to your life.
We pause on this day, just hours from a New Year, a fresh start, a canvas that stands ready to record our unfolding life. Over the past year we have acted as if God may have a better plan for us, whatever it may be and now we’re about to change our calendar one more time and there’s probably not a New Year’s resolution in our minds where the hope is that things will be just a little better than they have been in the year about to end. Putting behind us bad decisions made, and vowing to be more loving, less critical etc. etc. down a list of do-overs.
But would God have something even better for us, certainly something better than our past best. So we stand on this side of 2025 looking across the ‘Jordan river’ at the promised land of 2026 that we wish to make so much better because we are going to lose the weight, we are going to forgive that person, we are going to be more loving, and in doing so, it will make the coming year grand and beautiful and, yes, God blessed.
Well, God bless our human hearts. Maybe all that will be true. Maybe we’ll lose those pounds, maybe we will forgive that person, maybe we will be more loving, and sure enough the year will be better. But we’re humans and we slip and we slide, and we compromise.
What’s on your resolution list? Have you made one? Better yet did you ask the Lord to transform your best into God’s better? What will it look like? Will you stop ‘passing by on the other side’ and start ‘doing likewise’ as Jesus told in the Good Samaritan? Will you ask God to draw you closer to him, to love him with all your heart and soul and mind? Will you ask him to help you to love others as he loves you, including the foreigner in your midst, the immigrant in your neighborhood, the person of a different color or language right there down the block?
Now you may ask why or how or by what power will I have if I’m going to overcome all those imagined distractions that takes us away from our God-given goal? Think of David at the brook of Elah selecting 5 common ordinary stones that had virtually no purpose other than to be there. And yet one of them changed an entire nation in the defeat of Goliath.
So what’s your stone that would defeat our old habits, our evil behaviors, our eating disorders? Could it be as simple as a decision you make. But more than that, a decision you make and keep no matter what, with the help of the Lord? What would be your first stone? Is taking the first step toward a healing relationship? Could it be that your stone is something that God will reveal in his time and you will take it and run with it into that better life?
I pray it will be so. Amen.
A Prayer for the Year Ahead:
May God make your year a happy one! Not by shielding us from all sorrow and pain, but by strengthening us to bear it as it comes. Not by making our path easy, but by making us sturdy to travel any path. Not by taking hardships from us, but by taking fear from our heart. Not by granting us unbroken sunshine, but by making our face bright even in the shadows. Not by making our life always pleasant, but by showing us when people and their causes need us most, and by making us anxious to be there to help. God’s love, peace, hope and joy to us for the year ahead. In Jesus name, Amen.
