“And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:1-3 NKJV
The New Year holiday has always been a bit of a mystery to me. How the arbitrary change of the calendar can bring so much possibility, optimism… hope. The global pandemic that faces humanity cannot be denied. Recently someone I respect said, “With the new vaccine(s) finally we have hope that things will get back to normal”. Their sentiment is not unique to them.
If 2020 has taught us anything it should have been that we were never in control, that we have put our trust, our hope in things and institutions that would ultimately fail us. Should have been…
“An idol is something that we look to for things that only God can give.” Timothy J. Keller, Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, and Power, and the Only Hope that Matters
Then they said, “This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!” So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.” Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Exodus 32:4b-7 NKJV
The Children of Israel should have known better… The Church should know better. Christ Followers should know better. But they, we, cast in our lot with a cheap god that cannot deliver what we want: hope.
Where then have we placed our hope? Political change? Vaccines? The economy? A return to “normal”?
To be a Christ Follower is no guarantee of normal…
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 NKJV (emphasis added)
It is a guarantee of hope.
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 NKJV
Happy New Year, may it be full of the kind of unshakeable hope that lasts regardless of circumstance.
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