January 1

So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom. — Ps 90:12 BSB

Looking back on the year that has passed, are there no mercies that call for thankful praise? It's sweet to see God's kind hand in providing for us, but even sweeter to recognize His outstretched hand of grace. Are we so unobservant or ungrateful for the Lord's gracious dealings with our soul that we see the past twelve months as a blank, with no sense of His presence, no hearing of His voice, no experience of His power? “Have I been a wilderness to Israel? A land of darkness?” (Jeremiah 2:31) the Lord gently asks. Has He been like that to us for these long twelve months?

What! No help along the way, no signs of His goodness, no lifting of the light of His countenance, no visits of His presence and power, no breaking through of His goodness over all that time—for it would indeed have been a dreary period for a living soul to be left without the Lord for so long! Even if we haven't experienced special revelations of Christ—those remarkable displays of His person, work, blood, and love, which are rare—haven’t we still found Him to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life? If we truly share a personal and spiritual union with the Son of God, our living Head, then we will receive from His fullness, have all our needs met, and experience the drawing forth of faith, hope, and love. We’ll find support in trials, deliverance from temptations, a deepening reverence for Him in our hearts, and a continuing work of grace that enables us to live by faith in the Son of God.