The Years Change, But God Remains The Same

The Years Change, but God Remains the Same

Text: Psalm 102:24-28, Malachi 3:6, Philippians 4:6

OPEN WITH PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING

Today is the first day of the new year. 2023 anno domini – The year of our Lord. And with the new year comes new things… for some, it brings excitement, new possibilities, new adventures, new challenges… For others it brings dread. In-fact; I read a poll the other day that said since 2020 there have been more and more people growing pessimistic every new year. People are less joyful, less hopeful, less optimistic. Everyone just kind of knows that something has changed, and it’s not for the better. People are anxious, and fearful, and worried about the future.

And let’s be honest, it’s not without reason.

I mean, think about it – this is how 2022 ended. The F.B.I. has been caught red-handed, manipulating social media in order to effect the outcome of Presidential Elections. The United States government has been caught purposefully trying to escalate the war in Ukraine and essentially start WWIII… Not to mention we couldn’t afford to pay the December salaries of the National Guard because of all the money sent to Ukraine. The W.E.F. has been caught red-handed essentially saying they want to get rid of 1/3 of the earths population… They want to do away with farming and make us all eat bugs, and eliminate the use of all fossil fuels (except for in China and the Middle East…). It has been proven that the W.H.O. and the US government were in-fact doing gain of function research in Wuhan China – and continues to do that. Serbia, Kosovo, and Bosnia are on the verge of a war. China and Taiwan are on the verge of war. India is massing troops on their border with China, and our military is worried about pronouns and is facing a 40% decline in recruiting because of that. We’ve got CRT in schools, and in the seminaries, and drag queen story time in the libraries. Inflation is slated to keep rising, meaning everything is going to get even more expensive. And according to some economists, due to the massive spending recently, our national debt has reached insolvability.

It used to be that if things were going bad we’d just vote out the corrupt, incompetent politicians.

But now days, with all the allegations of fraud, and cheating, and clear election manipulation by our own federal agencies… people don’t know if that can be done anymore. And what that results in is a sense of marginalization, disenfranchisement, and hopelessness in a lot of people. And if those people are not being constrained and restrained by the Holy Spirit – if they are not being transformed by the renewing of their minds… if the love of Jesus Christ isn’t in their heart… then things can get pretty bad, pretty quickly. So what should we do? Well… we do what Christians have always done… we go to the Lord. Let’s open our Bibles, and if you would, please follow along as I read three passages to you this morning.

(READ Psalm 102:24-28, Malachi 3:6, and Philippians 4:6).

So what do we see from those three passages that can steady us in this new year? We see that our God is immutable – He is unchanging! He is the same yesterday, today, and forever! And that should be a great source of comfort to us. Because not a single one of us knows what 2023 holds, or has in store for us. But God does. God is ALL-KNOWING – Omniscient! He knows what tomorrow holds, and next week holds, and next month. He knows all things. There is nothing that 2023 might throw at us that God doesn’t already know about, and doesn’t already have a plan for.

Now when we look at our first passage there – Psalm 102, it’s interesting… the author of this Psalm is afflicted. He’s in some kind of trouble, or at least he thinks he is. He’s distressed. He’s fearful. And I had us begin in verse 24 there because it shows us the state he’s in. He says, “… Take me not away in the midst of my days…” In other words, the author of this Psalm feels like he’s dying. He feels like he’s going to be taken from this world in the middle of his life… maybe even the prime of his life.

Now I don’t know about y’all, but there have been a couple of times in my life when I thought, “Yup, this is it. I’m about to meet the Lord.” Some of those were because of my own foolishness… and others were due to other circumstances, but God in His mercy has kept me here thus far.

So the author of this Psalm is in a state of affliction. He’s in some kind of trouble.