Looking Forward, Looking Back

Reflections on a New Year

At the turning over of a new year (and a new decade), it is hard not to think back on the previous year and look ahead with bright hopes for what the new year might bring.

People seem hard-wired to mark the passing of time. The fact that 2009 is history and 2010 has arrived is, for practical purposes, a technicality—the days are still short, it is still cold, there is still work to be done etc.—but we can’t help but view the turning of calendar pages with some measure of sentimentality.

At least part of the reason for that is simple: God made us this way. He instituted the cycle of “evening and morning” to govern nature at creation, and set a pattern for man in the seven-day week. After the flood, in promising not to destroy the earth again, the Lord describes His creation in terms of these cycles: “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Gen. 8:22).

This theme holds elsewhere in Scripture as well. Solomon saw the cycles of creation as a reminder of the shortness of life, stating that “A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; and hastening to its place it rises there again” (Ecc. 1:4-5). Asaph saw the pattern as a symbol of God’s might in ordering the universe: “Yours is the day, Yours also is the night; You have prepared the light and the sun. You have established all the boundaries of the earth; You have made summer and winter” (Ps. 74:16-17).

Jeremiah, however, gets closest to recognizing the purpose of God-ordained patterns in Lamentations 3:22-23, “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” He understood that God instituted times and seasons to remind us of His steadfastness and show us anew His glory with each passing day, week, month, year, etc.

The renewal that each year brings should remind us of God’s mercy and draw us to a fresh commitment to following Him. Often, however, we substitute vain hope in our own efforts to better ourselves for the revitalization God provides. The tradition of making “New Year’s resolutions” is a reflection of this, just as the equally widespread tradition of breaking those resolutions reflects our frailty and finitude.

20^th century American novelist and culture critic Walker Percy explored the theme of self-determination (and its futility) in many of his works, particularly the 1964 novel The Last Gentleman. In that book he describes the plight of his protagonist, Will Barrett: “For until this moment he had lived in a state of pure possibility, not knowing what sort of man he was or what he must do, and supposing therefore that he must be all men and do everything....Lucky is the man who does not secretly believe that every possibility is open to him.”

Like Will Barrett we have a strong tendency to view life (especially the ever-promising “future”) as something at our disposal, with an array of options available to us, and (also like Will) we tend to overestimate our abilities, failing to attune our hearts to what God’s plans may be,  and we end up recoiling from our choices and doing little more than following our familiar routines.

The misguided hope of living “in a state of pure possibility” often runs aground on reality, what another great 20^th century author, Robert Penn Warren, calls “the awful responsibility of time” (from All the King’s Men, 1946). In other words, the plans we make in the flesh have both limitations and consequences that affect others and ourselves. Like those James references, “who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there, and engage in business and make a profit,” we would do well to remember that we, “do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away” (James 4:13-14).

The point, however, is neither hopelessness nor fatalism but trust. James goes on, not to tell people to shun all action without a booming confirmation from heaven, but to tell them to say instead, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that” (James 4:15). Our aspirations should not be for our own glory, but for God’s—which is always the center of His will. When we resolve to pursue His glory first and foremost, He delights in blessing our endeavor—even if it doesn’t always come together as we envisioned.

All this is fresh on my heart because it is the story of Disciple Magazine. We started 2009 with big plans for Pulpit Helps (Disciple’s print predecessor). Our goal was to expand the reach of the publication, encouraging and equipping more and more teachers of the Word that God’s name would be magnified among His people. Our vision one year ago did not include Disciple at all—in fact, it wasn’t even on our radar until late summer.

By the time we realized that Pulpit Helps was going to be forced out of print by the recession, the situation seemed like anything but a blessing. We thought we had failed our goal and were witnessing the end of our opportunities for ministry. Looking back now, with Disciple up and running and reaching thousands around the world by e-mail every two weeks, I cannot believe that I couldn’t see what God was doing at the time. With each passing day, He makes it ever clearer that this was His plan all along, and in His grace He has drawn us into joyful cooperation.

As you pause to take stock of your life and ministry here at the beginning of 2010, remember who holds the times and seasons and purpose in your heart to honor Him this year. Plan for God’s glory, be flexible, and prepare to be amazed.

Justin Lonas is editor of Disciple Magazine