What if 2021 Isn't Better Than 2020?

Episode 21

I think everyone is ready for 2020 to end. But we shouldn’t assume 2021 will be better. Can we trust God with this new year if it turns out worse than the last one? How can we be women who hope and trust in Him?

Show Notes

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This New Year feels different.

After SUCH a year, I’m ready to be done with 2020. It’s brought more than its fair share of difficulty.

I love planning for a new year. I love getting away and evaluating last year. Making new goals. Setting up a new planner. The possibilities seem endless.

It feels like a little shiny promise: Maybe THIS is the year I’ll finally _____________. (Just fill in the blank with that thing you hope to finally do.)

But here we sit with Covid numbers rising and hospitals filling and the sense that we’re going to turn a corner is fleeing.

So, I’ve started contemplating, what if 2021 isn’t any better? Let me be even more honest. That question makes me tired and mad and despondent. If it isn’t getting any better, I’d like to quit trying please. Stop the train. Let me off. I don’t want to do this any more.

I miss working in coffee shops and visiting my parents without worrying if I’m carrying THE Virus. 

I miss seeing people smile as I pass them in the grocery store.

I miss the bottom half of people’s faces.

I miss hugging every person in church.

What if all that continues through 2021?

I want to live victoriously in 2021 even if that means I wear a mask through another 12 months. That’s why I’m addressing this now. I need a battle plan for NOTHING changing. Or maybe even getting worse.

I’m getting some marching orders from Jeremiah. He wrote lamentations as a song of sorrow. His Lament. Sounds useful about now.

Lamentation 3:18-26

Let’s draw some wisdom from Lamentations 3.

18- so I say, "My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD."

19- Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!

20- My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. 

Jeremiah was sad too. His endurance was gone. He’d been trying to live for the Lord and call others to holiness. But society hated his message. Now the city was under siege, and people hated him and persecuted him. When things are bad, people look for someone to blame.

Look at vs 20- remembering his difficulties bows his soul down. Anyone’s soul feel bowed down? Mine has struggled. And as we face another wave, it feels more so. But let’s listen to Jeremiah, whose situation was MUCH worse than ours.

21- But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 

  • What we think about will change our attitude

22- The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; 

  • Even if nothing situationally changes, the Lord’s love never ends! His mercy is endless!

23- they (God’s mercies) are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 

  • Each day holds MORE mercy and love. 

  • 2021 holds enough mercy and love for the whole year!

  • The Lord’s FAITHFULNESS is immeasurable. Day by day portion

24- "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." 

  • We don’t hope in anything but the Lord.

  • If that’s true then our circumstances can be THE WORST and we can still hope.

  • To say He is my portion means, He is my best possession. He is my enough. He is my everything. We have enough mercy and love for today.

25- The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. 

26- It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

  • Oh waiting. I hate waiting. Whether it’s at a red light or in line at the grocery store where I always manage to pick the very slowest line.

  • But here: it is GOOD to wait on the Lord.

  • In our microwave society, where immediacy is prized, waiting is a bad word. But twice this says: it is GOOD to wait for His salvation.

  • Why? Because- It practices our faith.

  • It displays our faith.

  • It proclaims we believe He is coming

  • He is good.

  • He IS and that is enough.

 - Lamentations 3:18-26 ESV

Our patient waiting in difficult times displays the truth of Jesus to the world! I’m asking the Lord to help me wait on Him. To give me the faith to believe and live what I say.

I’m also asking the Lord for a new song for 2021. I take that from Psalm 40:3.

  • He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD. - Psalm 40:3 ESV

Want to join me? Because here’s another Word.

  • The Lord gives the word; the women who announce the news are a great host: - Psalm 68:11 ESV

2021 might not be any better, but we can be a GREAT HOST OF WOMEN announcing the good news.

Let’s ask the Lord for a new song for 2021, no matter what it holds, that proclaims the Lord’s mercies and love. And let's join together and sing it loudly about Him, for Him, and to Him.

Susan MaciasComment