by Dorette Saunders
Armed with new resolutions and clean slates, we welcome 2025, perhaps as a year filled with endless possibilities, or tremendous challenges. Depending on how you wrapped up the old year, you may hope you never see the likes of a year like that again, or you may reach out to God, asking him to be a refuge for the next 365 days and beyond.
When we are confronted with difficult or overwhelming circumstances, the writer tells us boldly in Psalm 46:
God is our mighty fortress,
always ready to help
in times of trouble.
(Psalm 46:1, CEV)
So we have a place of refuge from the storms of life. We also have a God who stands ready to help, even before we call. And because we are assured of God’s promise, we can turn off the panic button and declare “…we won’t be afraid” (v.2).
If you have lived long enough, you know that no disease cripples us more than fear. Over and over, the Bible comforts us with the words, “Fear not!”
None of us know what this year holds. Yet, we can adopt an attitude that is willing to watch God work in our world. Political parties and their policies can’t thwart the plans of our God. And principalities and powers must eventually bend to the will of the Creator of the universe.
God brings wars to an end
all over the world.
He breaks the arrows,
shatters the spears,
and burns the shields.
(v.9)
But God’s concern is not just the chaos in our world, but the upheavals in our lives. He desires that we know him more intimately. And for those pundits who would bring rhetoric, and philosophy, and try to reason out the things of the Spirit:
Our God says, “Calm down,
and learn that I am God!
All nations on earth
will honor me.”
(v.10)
We would do well to learn the lessons that God is teaching us in this New Year: Trust God, honor and obey him. Our salvation is found in God alone and nothing and no one will ever take God’s place. God has promised to be our refuge and he has never gone back on his word.
Yes, in this new season we can declare with the psalmist:
The Lord All-Powerful
is with us.
The God of Jacob
is our fortress.
(v.11)
PRAYER: God, in this New Year, be our guide. Help us to depend on you. Let us rest in your love and know that your righteous right arm is there to help us in whatever situation we find ourselves. Be our refuge, be our strength, be our Comforter, our healer, our friend. But most of all, be our God, and let us be your people. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
©M©dytations 2025