Those who trust in the unchanging God may begin our journey with durable comfort, confidence and hope.
On the first Sunday of this year, I stood at the back of the church greeting cherished friends. The stories of their lives and the events of the last year, and our wonderings about the new year ahead, filled our conversations.
Perhaps the most arresting was the moment I saw a longtime friend with her husband (both of them much younger than me). She recounted his near-death just over twelve months before, and how the Lord had spared him, and sustained her through it. There were tears of gratitude. We savored that kind providence so as not to take it for granted.
Just behind her, the very next person I spoke to, was another friend who had lost her husband in the previous year, quite unexpectedly. Indeed, his death at a relatively young age had shocked us all: compounded even more by the fruitfulness and faithfulness of his life. Yet she too bore testimony to God’s upholding hand.
It was sobering. Two loving families. Two entirely different circumstances. Same faith. Same God.
These exchanges prompted a survey of my own last year. So many joys and sorrows. Some foreseen and anticipated. Others not. My son graduated from university. Our beloved family dogs died. My mother-in-law (who has always been so good to me) turned 100. My daughter completed a Master’s degree. My own beloved mother, the matriarch of the family, passed away.
We never know what’s coming. And sometimes we’re glad we don’t. So, what comforts us amidst life’s uncertainties and trials as we walk into an unknown new year?
Well, one thing is the unchangeability of God. In Malachi 3:6, God himself declares “I, the LORD, do not change.” And he says that as a comfort to his people, and as a basis of their hope and hopefulness. That’s why the Psalmist says to God that even though heaven and earth will perish “You are the same, and Your years will not come to an end” (Psalm 102:27). It’s even why the author of Hebrews declares: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
This is what theologians call God’s immutability. The Lord doesn’t change, and that’s a tremendous comfort. As J.I. Packer once said: “amid all the changes and uncertainties of life, God and his Christ remain the same—almighty to save.” And that’s why we sing: “Change and decay in all around I see, O Thou who changest not, abide with me” (a line from Henry Lyte’s wonderful hymn, “Abide with me, fast falls the eventide”). Whatever the changes are that we face, we can count on the love, care and compassion of our unchanging God.
We also reflect on and proclaim this truth when we sing “Great is Thy Faithfulness.” Remember the line? “Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.” The hymn is reflecting on the truth of Lamentations 3:22-23. Because the Lord does not change, his compassion for us never fails.
So, even though none of us knows what this new year will hold for us, those who trust in the unchanging God may begin our journey with durable comfort, confidence and hope.
Some of you may know the poem of Minnie Haskins, quoted by King George VI (the late Queen Elizabeth’s father) in his Royal Christmas broadcast to the Empire, in December of 1939. The mighty conflagration now known as World War II had begun. The future of Britain and the world was uncertain. His Majesty recited:
I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied, “Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be better than light, and safer than a known way.”
Whatever new storms we may meet in this new year, remember we have the same, gracious, unchanging, God. That’s why George Neumark could write: “Who trusts in God’s unchanging love builds on the rock that naught can move.”
A Prayer for the New Year
Be with us, Lord, as we step out on the untrodden way of this new year. We do not know what it may bring of joy or sorrow, of temptation or service; but we humbly commit ourselves and our way to you, knowing that you are our loving, faithful, powerful, unchanging God. Bless and keep us, and use of for your glory and our neighbors’ good. (~ inspired by F.B. Meyer’s Daily Prayers, January 1, Christian Focus Publications)
Ligon Duncan
