You and I are sitting on the brink of a new year. 2021 is in the rear-view mirror and 2022 remains yet behind the curtain. We’re not gifted with foresight that will tell us what is to come in the months ahead. After the last couple of years, we wonder, “What’s next? What’s around the bend in 2022?” Uncertainty can be pretty unnerving!
One thing that is certain is that nothing stays the same. We get comfortable with things as they are, and then we blink, and they’ve changed! Our health changes and our lives take a new turn. Unforeseen expenses throw our financial security into doubt. A virus makes its way around the world and everything is thrown into confusion. Sometimes we’re left wondering, “Is there nothing in this life that we can depend on?”
For the Christian, the answer is a resounding Yes! We can depend on God’s Word. We can depend on His love for us. We can depend on His forgiveness. Why is that? How do we know that all of this is true?
If you were to walk by the church property at 4949 E. Eastman Ave. today, you’d find a flurry of activity as workers frame the foundation walls in preparation for another cement pour. These footers reveal a mass of rebar to strengthen the foundation at specific points.
It is on these footers that the weight of the building will rest. They must be strong and stable. Any movement in the footers would translate to movement in the structure of the building itself.
----------
One of our beloved hymns answers the question, “How do we know that God’s love for us is true?”
How firm a foundation,
O saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith
in His excellent Word!
What more can He say
than to you He has said
Who unto the Savior
for refuge have fled?
God has preserved for us His holy Word. 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” Peter writes that “No prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). Jesus himself testifies to the truth of the Old Testament saying, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39). He also speaks to the truth of the New Testament, saying to His disciples, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” John 14:25-26. An Isaiah 40:8 says, “The Word of our God will stand forever.”
The Scriptures are true. They are sure. They are strong and stable. They are God’s holy Word. They are God’s revelation to the world of His saving work in Jesus. The Scriptures reveal to us that Jesus was born as the sinless Lamb of God to bear our sins on the cross, die, and rise from the dead on the third day. It is on the shed blood of the Son of God that your salvation stands. God loved you so that He gave His one and only Son to die in your place. That’s what your salvation rests on. There is no better foundation.
When through fiery trials
your pathway will lie,
My grace, all sufficient,
will be your supply.
The flames will not hurt you
I only design
Your dross to consume
and your gold to refine.
It’s true that we don’t know what lies ahead for us in the new year. We can certainly expect that there will be challenges – some may be significant, others will be small. But through it all, God’s love and care and the surety of His promises remain. The cross and the empty tomb are the sure foundation of your faith. The trials and troubles of this world are temporary. Your heavenly Father’s love and the salvation that is yours through Jesus Christ are eternal.
Throughout all their lifetime
My people will prove
My sov’reign, eternal,
unchangeable love;
And then, when gray hairs
will their temples adorn,
Like lambs they will still
in My bosom be borne.
(LSB 728)
God bless you as He has in the past and give you peace in the coming year as you stand on the firm foundation of his love. In the name of Jesus,
- Pastor