Finding Strength for the New Year
Where do you find strength in times of personal and national challenges? Where do you find strength when a member of your family has a pre-mature death? How do you make it through hurtful experiences that are not justified?
Last November I attended a church conference at the New Orleans Southern Baptist Seminary. Our group took a tour of the areas hit by the 160 miles an hour winds of hurricane Katrina. Over 1,800 people lost their lives in the hurricane Katrina in August 2005.
Over four years later we saw hundreds of house still vacant. Many of the churches in the area were also still vacant. We talked to one pastor in the 5th Ward whose church was built ten feet above the ground. His congregation was still meeting in the small church. There were still holes in the roof and the building was still in need of drastic repairs. He said he was called to serve the area and was not going to relocate. His hope was in the Lord. Their faith and hope in the Lord helped them find strength in a time of crisis and loss.
Psalm 22:1-5 NLT
The Psalmist faced a time of crisis and wondered where God was hiding and why God was not coming to offer help. The Psalmist cried out: “My God, my God? Why have you forsaken me? Why do you remain so distant? Why do you ignore my cries for help? Everyday I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night You hear my voice, but I find no relief.”
Have you ever felt like the Psalmist? Have you gone through challenging times and wondered why God didn’t come to you in a special divine moment?
To work through his valley of doubt the Psalmist reflected on past blessings and past answers to prayer and faced the future with hope. Psalm 22:3-5, “Yet you are Holy. The praises of Israel surround your throne. Our ancestors trusted in you, and you rescued them. You heard their cries of help and saved them. They put their trust in You and were never disappointed.”
Haven’t you found that true in your life? When you put your trust in the Lord you have never been disappointed.
In times of crisis and challenge we go to the Lord.
When the Apostle Paul wrote Philippians from a dark prison cell, he did not look at the prison bars or darkness of his cell. Paul sang out, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 4:6-7)
I want to suggest several things you can to do to find strength in times of challenge.
Anticipate Challenges in Your Life
The Apostle Peter encouraged Christ followers to expect times of adversity and crisis. “Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you.” I Peter 4:12, NLT
We need to be prepared for personal crisis by making adequate preparations. After we moved to California from Indianapolis, IN we learned that we needed to make special preparation for earthquakes. We bought supplies of food and water to last for a week or more. A member of the church a disaster specialist helped us attach all our cabinets to the walls of the house.
For our Christian School we started we purchased an emergency kit for every child in our school
During the twelve years in San Jose we experienced several earthquakes, the shaking kind and the rolling kind, but nothing major.
During times of challenge and crisis you have two choices. You can fret and worry about what has happened or you can become proactive. Worrying changes nothing. Jesus said, “Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? Of course not.” Matt. 6:”27
When was the last time you solved a problem by worrying about it? Nothing is accomplished by saying; “I got behind on my bills so I decided to worry my way out of debt; A few sleepless nights and a day of hand wringing. I yelled at the kids and took some pills, and, glory to worry, money appeared in my account.”
There’s a chorus that goes: “Why worry when you can pray. Trust Jesus every day, why worry, worry, worry when you can pray.”
When going through times of challenge look to God’s Word.
The prophet aIsaiah has the answer: “You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trust in you. (Isaiah 26:3) You work through times of challenge by hiding God’s Word in your heart and meditating on His Word. (Isaiah 40:47-31) “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.”
You have the promise from the Lord; He will renew your strength. You will mount up with wings as eagles. In the Lord you find strength for the New Year.
Eagles seem to sense when a storm is coming long before it breaks. The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, the eagle sets its wings so they wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it.
The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm. When the storms of life come upon you, you can rise above them by setting your mind toward the Lord. You can use His Word to lift you above the storms of life. The storms do not overcome you, but you allow God’s power to lift you above them.
Someone has written:
Christ is no security against storms,
But He is perfect security in storms.
He does not promise an easy passage,
But He does guarantee a safe landing.
With the Psalmist we can sing out as we approach the New Year: “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear, even if earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge.” Psalm 47:1-3
One verse in the Bible seems troubling at times – Romans 8:28- says: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” You might ask: “How can any good come out of personal and national crisis? How can all the terrible things that happen in the world, all the suffering, and heartache, work together for good.”
I like the commentary Dr. David Augsburger gives on Romans 8:28, “All things work together – in everything- whatever may come – whenever we may choose, however it may occur. God works for good with those who love Him and answer to His call to order their lives according to His purpose. That is not a guarantee that nothing will happen to us but what is going to produce good in the end. It is a promise that God can work good out of anything that happens to us if we ask, ‘How can this difficulty be turned into a new opportunity, how can this weakness become a strength, how can this tragedy turn to triumph?”
Job had the kind of commitment Paul was talking about. In the midst of his suffering and pain could say, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” With Job can you say, “Whatever happens to me I will continue to trust in the Lord?”
An adequate view of God helps us prepare for the New Year.
People, who have no vital faith in God, have a hard time finding strength in times of crisis.
An adequate view of God helps us face times of crisis. God is our creator and not limited to time and space. God is love and in Him is a complete absence of evil. God in love gave humankind the gift of free will. Every person has the ability to choose his or her eternal destiny. Free will means that God will not force you to go against your will or force you to follow Him.
As residents living in a fallen world we have to adapt to a world in rebellion against God. Human suffering is the result of living in a sinful world. As long as we are living in our human body we will be under the attacks of Satan. (We need to remember that Satan is our common enemy as believers. We are called to help each other as we make our journey in this life. Our first calling is to encourage every member of our family.)
We all experience pain and suffering, but a day is coming when God will give us a new spiritual body that will be like the resurrected body of Jesus and we will suffer no more. There will be no more pain or sorrow or heartache.
When you go through times of crisis and find comfort from the Lord you have a gift to pass on to others. The Apostle Paul says you experience times of crisis so you can in turn help bring comfort to others. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.” II Corinthians 1:3-5
You find strength for the New Year by preparing you heart by turning to Jesus and His Word.
Receive the comfort and compassion of Jesus as His gifts and pass those gifts on to others. Why not bring comfort to your family and allow the love of Jesus to overflow to all in your sphere of influence.
When going through times of challenge we often fail to see the big picture or think clearly.
I read the story of two men that daily rented a boat and fished in a lake. Finally one day they caught their limit – 30 fish. One said to the other, “Mark this spot so we can come back here again tomorrow.” The next day, when they were driving to rent the boat, he asked his friend, “Did you mark the spot like I asked?” His friend replied, “Yes, I put a big X on the bottom of the boat.” The first one said, “You dummy! How could you be so stupid! What were you thinking? Now what happens if we don’t get the same boat today?”
When relying on their own strength people drift without any direction.
When we look to Jesus, faith believing, Jesus turns hopeless situations into hope. You may think you have a hopeless situation. Turn to Jesus, He will give you hope.
As Christ followers we know that Jesus is Lord over all. He is in control. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
Robert Fulghum, in his book, It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It, tells how he found purpose in life. Fulghum, a former Episcopal priest, took a course on Greek culture at an Orthodox retreat center on the Island of Crete. A man named Alexander Papaderos built the center. After World War II Papaderos became disturbed by the hatred his people still had for the Germans. So he built a meeting place where people could come to make peace, to talk, and try to understand one another. He built the center on the site where Nazi soldiers had brutally murdered thousands of Cretan civilians. For years, people had come from all over the world to share in the love and grace of Dr. Papaderos and to learn a better way.
At the end of this particular seminar, Dr. Papaderos always made his closing comment: “Are there any questions?”
Fulghum raised his hand and asked, “Dr. Papaderos, what’s the meaning of life?”
The class chucked, but when Alexander could see that this American writer was serious, he said, “I will answer your question.”
Taking his billfold out of his pocket, he brought out a small round mirror, about the size of a quarter. He told about growing up poor in a small village on Crete. One day during the war, a German motorcycle wrecked near his home, and Alexander picked up a piece of the broken mirror from the motorcycle. He scratched it on a stone to round off the edges, and then began to play with the mirror as a toy. He became fascinated that he could use the mirror to reflect sunlight into places where light would never shine. It became a game to get the light into dark places.
As he grew into a man, Papaderos began to realize that this was more than a child’s game. It was a metaphor for what he wanted to do with his life. He wasn’t the source of the light, but the light was there—the light of truth, understanding, knowledge—and it would only shine in the dark places if he reflected it.
Papaderos said, “I am a fragment of a mirror whose whole design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places of this world – into the black places in the hearts of men – and change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what I am about. This is the meaning of my life.”
We know who is our source of light. Our goal is “To shine in dark places.” We find strength for the New Year from Jesus, the Light of the World. Our goal is to reflect the Light of Christ to everyone in our sphere of influence. When surrounded with challenges you can put your trust in the Lord and you will never be disappointed.
