“Better is the end of a thing than its beginning” Ecclesiastes 7:8. Why is this so? Maybe because we know what is already behind us and what is up ahead is still a mystery. Who knows whether good or evil awaits us? Stepping over an unknown threshold can be scary. Unless we allow faith to overcome our fear. “Perfect love casts out fear” 1 John 4:18. ‘Drives out fear’ the New International version tells us. What is perfect love but perfect faith, whole faith, faith that has weathered doubt and come through on top victorious. Faith has to be put on like shoe leather and walked in and proved for its sturdiness. So the only way we can walk into an unknown and uncertain future is with faith. Just put on our faith shoes and keep putting one foot in front of the other, not looking back. For when we look back that’s when fear tries to overtake us. The voice of fear comes in a subtle, snide internal whisper. “You don’t really know what’s up ahead. It could be all the things you most fear. After all, where is your God? Why has God allowed this to happen to you? If God promised to be there with you, where is God? Why does it feel that you have been abandoned. You have no one. You’re all alone. No one will help you.” The voice of fear is insidious and subtle. The voice of fear can be paralyzing. It can cause you to act impulsively, dangerously, or not at all. Fear can derail you from God’s plan and purpose. The only way to walk into an uncertain future is with faith. Walking in the assurance of a God who has proven over and over again that God is not like a human to lie to us (Numbers 23:19.) Scripture assures us that God is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8.) As one of my first Bible teachers told me, “When times get rough find a Bible verse with a promise, then climb into it like a little boat, and ride out the storm.” God will never fail you. That has been my experience. And since God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), what God has done for me, God will also do for you. The following words of comfort and encouragement are from one of my favorite devotionals “Streams in the Desert” by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman (January 1).
“We cannot tell what loss and sorrow and trial are doing. Trust only. The Father comes near to take our hand and lead us on our way today. It shall be a good, a blessed new year!”
Mrs. Cowman further quotes a verse by N. L. Zinzendorf, German Protestant bishop of 1700’s.
He leads us on by paths we did not know;
Upward He leads us, though our steps be slow,
Though oft we faint and falter on the way,
Though storms and darkness oft obscure the day;
Yet when the clouds are gone,
We know He leads us on.
It shall indeed be a good and blessed New Year, because we know Who goes with us all the way.
Rev. Yvonne Miloyevich