(All Scriptures in this article are quoted from the New International Version of the Holy Bible).
At the beginning, God created the great lights of heaven to illuminate the earth, separate the day and the night, and serve as signs to mark sacred times and days and years (Genesis 1:14-18). Because He established these lights, we can declare with confidence: God is shining light on this new year!
Throughout the days of this year, He will use the lights to bestow His blessings in several ways:
- The Renewal of Seasons: He sustains the cycle of the winter’s cold, summer’s heat, and the mild days and nights of spring and autumn each year. He ensures the return of seedtime and harvest, providing a season for every need. As Genesis 8:22 promises: “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will never cease.”
- The Celebration of Life: He hallows the birthdays He has given us, as well as the holidays and anniversaries we celebrate each year to commemorate special occasions and offer Him praise. As He declares in Isaiah 66: 22-23: “As the new heavens and the new earth that I will make will endure before Me,” declares the Lord, “so your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before Me,” says the Lord.
Our God is the “Father of the heavenly lights,” the source of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17). While the prophet Daniel reminds us that God changes times and seasons (Daniel 2:21), the psalmist David declares that God Himself remains the same, and His years will never end (Psalm 102:27).
As we enter this new year, we can rest in the light of His unchanging nature. May everybody have a Happy New Year!
—Kenneth Sullivan.