Do you ever wonder what is so new about “New Year”?
Oh sure, we add another number to the counting of years. We will call it 2014 instead of 2013, but does that really make it new?
The world still has the same problems. Our flesh is still plagued with the same sins. A succession of broken resolutions reminds us that we haven’t really changed. We truly ought to have been consumed in God’s wrath long ago.
We remember that Achan was stoned to death because he coveted and took some of the plunder of Jericho for himself (Joshua 7). We think of the man who was stoned because he gathered sticks on the Sabbath Day to build a fire to cook the manna (Numbers 15). Remember how Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead because they lied to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5).
Are we any less sinful than they? Because of the many times we have sinned, shouldn’t we have been struck down with God’s righteous judgment? ABSOLUTELY!
We conclude with King Solomon, “That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which it may be said, ‘See, this is new’? It has already been in ancient times before us” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10).
It is by faith in Jesus that God’s mercies and compassions are new for us every morning. Every day when we wake up we have a clean slate, with all our sins wiped clean by the blood of Christ.
Ah, but wait! There is something wonderfully new. Jeremiah speaks of it with joy and relief. “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).
By the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed. His compassions do not fail. Take those glorious words to heart. All God’s wrath against our sins burned against Christ who by His innocent sufferings and death paid the penalty we deserve (see Romans chapter 5).
It is by faith in Jesus that God’s mercies and compassions are new for us every morning. Every day when we wake up we have a clean slate, with all our sins wiped clean by the blood of Christ. None of our past sins hangs over our head. God says that He will “remember no more”
(Jeremiah 31:34) our sins.
Not only that, but God’s mercy and compassion continue to take care of us and provide for all our needs day after day. He doesn’t have to consider if we deserve His provisions day by day, for His mercy and forgiveness are new every morning. He never tires of blessing us. Every day His heart is fresh and new with loving care for each of us as His dear children, bought by the blood of His Son.
With God’s mercy new every morning, we truly enter a new and wonderful year—another year bright with hope and confidence in our Savior-God. The sins and troubles of the past year are truly past, and we know the future is likewise in the loving hands of our eternal God.
So, dear reader, “Happy New Year!”—it’s another year made happy by God’s unfailing mercy.
Ev’ry morning mercies new
Fall as fresh as morning dew;
Ev’ry morning let us pay
Tribute with the early day;
For Thy mercies, Lord, are sure,
Thy compassion doth endure.
(TLH #537:1)