It’s hard to believe! We are closing in on the end of 2020!
This year has been long, unprecedented and difficult on so many levels.
A few years back, I remember hearing about “2020 Vision” and “2020 Strategic Plans.” Vision is essential, and planning is so important. But sometimes the best laid plans don’t unfold as we expect or hope.
Vision is essential, and planning is so important. But sometimes the best laid plans don’t unfold as we expect or hope. Click To TweetI think James 4:13–15 has taken on fresh meaning this year. This passage reads:
Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and say do this or that.’
2020 has been a reminder that we are not in charge. Ultimately, the Lord is in charge. He is sovereign and we are utterly dependent on him.
2020 has been a reminder that we are not in charge. Ultimately, the Lord is in charge. He is sovereign and we are utterly dependent on him. Click To TweetGrowing up I remember a framed needlepoint picture in my grandparents’ home. The words in the picture were from a poem called “God Knows” by Minnie Haskins. I learned later that a young Princess Elizabeth is said to have shared this very poem with her father King George IV back in 1939. At the time, England was facing the early days of World War II and an uncertain future. So when the king addressed his subjects around the world in his annual Christmas message, he encouraged his people with these words from the poem:
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’
And he replied:
‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God
That shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way.’
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
We don’t know what today, tomorrow or next year might bring. But we do know the good news of Christmas, Immanuel, God with us. We can put our hand into the hand of God each day. This is the ultimate game changer, whatever comes.
“For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you” (Isaiah 41:13).
Merry Christmas and cheering you on in 2021,
Dr. Steve A. Brown
President, Arrow Leadership
