From the Pulpit: A joyous New Year

How do you feel about the new year so far? A classic Peanuts comic strip shows Charlie Brown greeting the “fussbudget” Lucy with a cheery, “Happy New Year, Lucy!” She responds, “Does that make it so? Does your saying, ‘Happy New Year’ make it happy? Just because you say it, does that mean it will be? Is this a guarantee? Is this…” As she continues to harangue him, Charlie Brown looks like he regrets saying anything and responds with an, “Oh, good grief!”  

There is a truth behind Charles Schultz’s humor. No one can make the new year happy with a greeting. Another one panel comic strip shows a man opening a card and saying, “Honey, our lawyer wishes us, but in no way guarantees, a Happy New Year.” Even God can’t guarantee you a happy new year, in the human sense of the word. Instead He warns us in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” God can promise you something better than a trouble -ree year. In His Word He promises joy. 

Take Psalm 16:11, for instance, which says, “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” The beauty of that promise is that it doesn’t have anything to do with what we have to do to achieve happiness or joy. God simply promises it as a gift. In Isaiah 12:3 God promises, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” Joy is a gift. It comes from knowing that God promises to forgive all, not some of our sins in Christ. Psalm 30:5 says, “For His anger lasts only a moment, but His favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” 

Think about what the phrase, “joy comes in the morning” means. After a dark night comes the morning, every time. After the storm, comes the sunshine. After this difficult life comes the eternal light of God’s presence in heaven, where there is only the “eternal pleasures” at God’s right hand that Psalm 16 speaks of. If you expect to achieve your own happiness this new year, you not only may be disappointed, you will be disappointed. If you expect God’s gift of joy, which transcends our external circumstances, you will not be disappointed. Diets and human resolutions to do better fail. God’s promises to give us the gift of joy do not. Let this be your motto in the new year, from Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” And a joyous new year to you and yours!