“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring – what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes. Instead, you should say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'”

James 4:13-15

I would venture to guess that most of us are thrilled to see 2020 disappearing in the rearview mirror. The last day of 2020 is a welcome sight, as we hope that with the changing of the calendar will come a changing of the tide of events. For many, this past year has been one of the most painful we have ever experienced. Multitudes have suffered the ravages of Covid-19. Countless individuals have tested positive for the virus, with symptoms ranging from the most mild to the most severe. Some have gotten through the virus with little to no suffering, while others have spent days and even weeks in hospitals fighting for their lives. And there are those who lost the fight, succumbing to the death tentacles of the disease.

We have witnessed our economy crumble from the most vibrant and successful to the most devastated. Jobs have been lost, businesses have closed their doors – some temporarily while others have been forced to close for good. Life as we had known no longer exists, with no semblance of being able to return to normal, whatever that might prove to be as the future unfolds.

The vast majority of us would love to see a miraculous change for the better take place magically at the midnight hour as 2020 morphs into 2021. We would all love to go to bed on December 31, 2020, and awaken on January 1, 2021 to witness a fresh new start with everything having been restored to its pre-pandemic state. We would love to see an eradication of the virus, with everyone healed of the disease. We would love to see a reopening of our economy, with jobs restored, and businesses given a fresh start. We would love to be able to have a massive bon-fire, with all the face masks and coverings burned as a testimony to the end of the virus. We would love to see social distancing as a thing of the past, enabling us once again to enjoy the embrace of loved ones whom we have not been able to ‘touch’ for the past months.

Yes, we would all love to see the troubles and trials of 2020 be swallowed up in a promising 2021, filled with days of health and prosperity. We may even be making plans to that end, with the hopes of somehow seeing a total reversal of fortunes. But the fact of the matter is, we can’t know. Life is filled with uncertainties. We would all do well to pay close attention to the words penned by James as quoted above: “You do not know what tomorrow will bring – what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes. Instead, you should say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ God is the only One who knows what the future holds.

Think about it: no one would have ever guessed that 2020 would be such a trying season for the entire world. But it did not catch God off-guard and unaware. As things began to unfold, and answers were sought as to where the virus originated, and how to best contain it, and how to manage the effects of it, it became increasingly clear that this was something that was unprecedented in all of human history.

And, it became clear that we were in desperate need of a divine intervention of God. It was obvious that we needed desperately to trust His will, to seek His favor, and to trust His purposes and plans to unfold as He sees fit.

If there is anything we should learn from this past year, it is that we are totally, absolutely, dependent upon the amazing grace of our Father in heaven. The new year may prove to be much better than the previous, or it may prove to be much worse. We should place our faith in God, trust that He always knows and does what is best, and strive to give Him thanks in all things and for all things, realizing that the best is yet to come for those who love Him and look forward to living with Him forever.

Let’s commit our 2021 to Him, and entrust the coming days to His glory. Happy New Year.