"...lead me in the way everlasting..."

It’s the last day of 2020! I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to believe. In some ways, I feel like this year flew by – in other ways I feel like it has drudged along. But all in all, I feel like it came too quick. The year kept on moving forward no matter what was going on. There were not pauses, no retakes and now here we are, getting ready to begin a new year and – many of us – are hoping for something better!  

That’s the interesting thing about time though – it keeps on moving forward – keeps on leaving and there is nothing that anybody can do about it. You can’t slow it down or speed it up or get any of it back. 

 

One of my favorite quotes comes from one of the Lord of the Rings books (and movies). 

 

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. (maybe you can relate to Frodo this year!) “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”

 

You don’t know what 2021 will bring. Will it be better or worse? Will and if so when will COVID 19 finally subside? What will happen in this new year? You don’t know and, for the most part, you can’t control it can you? All you can do is control how you live through it. 

 

I want to direct your attention to a passage written in Psalms 139:23-24 by King David the Giant killer, 

“Search me, O God, and know my heart!
    Try me and know my thoughts! 
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting!”

 

I love that last line! “lead me in the way everlasting!” This represents one of the miraculous promises that the Lord presents to us. No matter what is going on around us, no matter what sort of times come along, no matter how they affect our lives if we follow God, we can still live the way everlasting. 

 

The “way everlasting” does not depend on circumstances. You can be healthy and in a good job and everything is going well and live the way everlasting. You can be out of work, in poor health with only a short time to live and be walking in the way everlasting triumphantly. 

 

The mission in life is not to live as long as we can or gain our happiness here – but to walk in the way everlasting no matter what. To live the eternal life here and now even as we will there and then when we pass from this life. 

 

It all depends on your dependence on God. I love Psalms 139:23-24. It is so important. In order to be led by God in the way everlasting what does David do first?

 

“Search me, O God, and know my heart!
    Try me and know my thoughts! 
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me…”

 

David is not asking God to change his circumstances or other people but rather to search himself and cleans him of any “grievous way” or bad thoughts. 

 

I want to encourage you to begin the new year with this mindset. Begin the new year (and every day thereafter) with this call on God – to examine your heart and reveal what needs to change in you so that you might live in the way everlasting no matter what is going on around you! 

 

Happy new year! 

Love you church! 

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