Hope-Filled New Year

Read Isaiah 35

Isaiah 35 is God’s vindication to His people. Its tone is established by the verbs “glad,” “rejoice,” and “rejoice with joy and singing.” After being exiles to foreign lands, finally, Jews can come back to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple. During their exile, they had a spiritual separation from God and separation due to cultural pressures. Despite the suffering, they retained their national spirit and religious identity. God sent several prophets who kept alive the hope of one day returning home to their land.

This year, most of us felt separated from our families , friends, colleagues, and even from nature. We feel separated from the “life” we used to live by. The year 2020 has been challenging for most of us. But let us not allow unwanted changes to consume us. We can always persevere whatever life may bring us because of God’s faithfulness and commitment to us, His people, and the trustworthiness of His promises. We can always be glad and rejoice with joy and singing because we have a God bigger than any global pandemic. The Lord’s arm is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear (Isaiah 59:1). We can always have a hope-filled 2021 not because of the vaccines or the government but because we know that God’s will for us is good, pleasing, and perfect. God controls history and He is not bounded by time or any circumstances. And more than anything, God loves us!

Where does your hope come from?