Bible blog post Monday December 31st

A Prayer For The New Year: To Return To The Unchanging God (Malachi 3:6-7)

Lord we come to the end of another year.  This year held different things for each of us: joy, sorrow, fear, excitement, loss, new beginnings, grace, forgiveness, anger, disappointment, gratitude, love, loneliness, growth, understanding and a whole host of other things.  For us it was a year of uncertainty, of high's and lows, of ebbs and flows.  There is only one true constant in the sea of uncertain life that we can rest in, truly rest in, and that is in you.  Your word tells us in Malachi 3:6 "I the LORD do not change."  That statement Lord needs to be our anchor and hope. But the only way to find comfort in this is to know who you truly are, who does your word say you are?  I love that Malachi 3:7 instructs, "return to me, and I will return to you.", an instruction with a promise.  Lord we all need to make a commitment to ourselves to return to you every single day and you will be there, your unchanging self will be there.  Lord I know that returning to you is committing first and foremost to prayer and reading your word so that we know who you are, we know who we are seeking and what we will find.  We find an anchor to hold onto during the storm, we find the arms of compassion to hold us during the painful moments, we feel the pat on the back with a job well done, we find strength for the moments when we feel a bit weak, we find rest in your peace in the midst of a very busy life, we find a guide to help navigate us through the uncertainty.  Your word tells of who you are and what you will do and in that we can find direction, peace, comfort and hope for the uncertainty that lies in the year before us but only if we are returning to it every single day. Your word tells us that your mercies are new every morning which means there is something new that awaits me in the uncertainty of life every single day if I just take the time to return to you. Lord as we head into a time of resolutions and hope for the future may we resolve in our hearts and minds to return to you each day and encounter the unchanging God you are and in that find everything we need to face every moment that awaits us in 2019 and beyond.  I am so very thankful that we enter the uncertain new year with the comfort and confidence that You, our unchanging God, enters with us.

AMEN