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marbella3 70F
2483 posts
1/1/2021 6:40 am

Last Read:
1/1/2021 12:44 pm

Uncharted Waters

Bible in a Year:
Genesis 1–3

Matthew 1
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.

Isaiah 43:2

Today's Scripture & Insight:

Isaiah 43:1–7
The ball drops in New York’s Times Square. The crowd counts down to Big Ben chiming. Sydney Harbor erupts in fireworks. However your city marks it, there’s something exciting about welcoming in a new year and the fresh start it brings. On New Year’s Day we push out into new waters. What friendships and opportunities might we find?

For all its excitement, though, a new year can be unsettling. None of us knows the future or what storms it may hold. Many New Year’s traditions reflect this: Fireworks were invented in China to supposedly ward off evil spirits and make a new season prosperous. And New Year’s resolutions date back to the Babylonians who made vows to appease their gods. Such acts were an attempt to make an unknown future secure.

When they weren’t making vows, the Babylonians were busy conquering people—including Israel. In time, God sent the enslaved Jews this message: “Do not fear . . . . When you pass through the waters, I will be with you” (Isaiah 43:1–2). Later, Jesus said something similar when He and the disciples were caught sailing in a violent storm. “Why are you so afraid?” He told them before commanding the waters to be still (Matthew 8:23–27).

Today we push out from the shore into new, uncharted waters. Whatever we face, He’s with us—and He has the power to calm the waves.

Reflect & Pray
What possibilities excite you as you look forward to a new year? What worries can you place in God’s hands?

God, thank You that whatever this new year brings, You will be with me in it.


MrsJoe 76F
17501 posts
1/1/2021 8:37 am

I was talking to the Lord about time last night. We are the ones who divided time into sections, to the Lord, it is always the present. I am trying more and more to live in the present: not agonizing about yesterdays, not stressing about the tomorrows. I don't always succeed.
Dividing time into sections is necessary to our society because of work schedules, appointments, etc, but we do only live in one day period at a time, so I will try to focus on that.


Be a prism, spreading God's light and love, not a mirror reflecting the world's hatred.


Robyn363 83F
3475 posts
1/2/2021 4:49 am

Keep it simple, and dont stress about yesterday, or tomorrow as Mrsjoe shared. If I dont live in the day, I get agitated and worry about things that might never happen.