Hope for a New Year - Martin Wiles

Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:30-31 NLT

Although a goal-oriented type of guy, I stopped making New Year resolutions a long time ago.

Since I set goals throughout the year, I wondered what the point of relegating them to one day was. And then, too, the statistics of keeping them aren’t too good. Many are broken within a short period of time. Days. Weeks.

But failing to make goals on one day doesn’t mean everything has gone well throughout the year. Weak, tired, and exhausted are three adjectives that accurately describe most previous years for anyone. Weak from sicknesses or diseases for which there is no cure and that seem to go on and on. Weak and tired emotionally from working to meet financial responsibilities when there isn’t enough money to pay the bills—or buy groceries. Tired of studying for the degree, tired of writing papers, and tired of the late-night hours. Exhausted from having to care for loved ones who can’t fend for themselves. Tired of going to a job we’d rather not go to.

Isaiah gives hope … and the key for a fresh start to a new year. Trusting in the Lord probably won’t make all, or any, of the stressors disappear. Sometimes God takes them away … sometimes He doesn’t. But trusting in Him gives us strength beyond ourselves—fortitude we can’t manufacture on our own. The new strength comes from remembering He is in control. He has come through for us in the past, and He will again. Perhaps not in the way we want or imagine, but come through He will.

That trust will cause us to soar above the trials and tribulations like an eagle that flies high above the obstacles that would restrict her flight. God will enable us to soar when ordinarily we would crash and burn. We will run the race of life without being emotionally, physically, or spiritually exhausted. We will walk through every day, with all that it brings, without falling. Even with peace … and a smile.

God never promised an easy life, but He will give us hope for every year when we look to Him.

Put your hope in God this year, not things or people.

Prayer: Father, give us hope in this New Year.

Tweetable: Do you have hope for the New Year? 

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