The Knowns and Unknowns of 2023

As we turn the calendar and cross into 2023, even the most courageous and optimistic person has to concede that there are question marks about the new year.

The headlines always provide plenty of areas of concern: Our physical health. Home sales. The Job market. The war in Ukraine. Inflation. Government debt. Auto sales. Crime. Add to that, a sentiment among our fellow citizens that appears to be growing each of the last several decades that “America is on the wrong track.”

No wonder there is big business for astrologists, psychics, new fangled religions, and online offers of get-rich-quick schemes. Why do people fall for such things? They’re looking for hope and assurances for their future.

And then there is the one and only one true assurance for the sharp turns of time. That is courageous trust in the God of the Bible for all the unmarked paths. We need that same faith of Abraham, described as follows.

“Abraham obeyed and followed God, even though he did not know where he was going.” Hebrews 11:8

When the mysterious voice of God summoned Abraham to start his caravan of camels over a road he had never traversed, on a journey to an unknown destination, he must have set out with some of the same uncertainties that face us as we try to peak into 2023. Oh, we have done our share of planning and preparation. We have plans for financial security, home security, and social security and exercise at the gym. But the truth is, none of these can give us a guarantee of safe passage through the next 12 months.

We need a guiding star like the wise men. We need a compass, a chart . . .we need what led Abraham to the land of promise. We need that same faith.

There are always plenty of voices telling us “Have faith!” But generic self-trust and self-reliance is a lot like yelling “Have faith in yourself!” to a man who is sinking in a lake and drowning.

Add to that, the advice that says, “Have faith in other people! They’ll help you. Good friends won’t let you down.” And yet we know the fault of that reasoning. Sam Bankman-Fried gained the trust of lots of intelligent investors. They trusted Sam with their money that seems to have since disappeared. Numerous hurting families remind us that trust is often broken even among the closest kin. Faith in ourselves? Faith in others? Faith in any part of a world broken by sin? That is really no faith at all!

But thanks be to God, we can have the faith that led Abraham into his land of promise. We can have faith in the same God who led Abraham to a place “where he did not know where he was going.” The faith that guides us over unknown paths in 2023, must be the trust of Abraham.

It must be centered on a God who does not lie, and who has always been trustworthy down through history. It must be a faith that knows that God, ruling over the immeasurable vastness of this universe — in spite of His great power — He is concerned about us in our weakness. We are worth far more to the God of the Bible than the birds of the air and the grass of the fields. He knows each hair on our head.

We need not fight the battles of life on our own strength, trusting only our own resources. For we know that no struggle we face is too intricate or complicated for the God of all wisdom.

Here are just a few of God’s promises for 2023: “Lo, I am with you always to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:20 “Then you will call, and the Lord will answer. You will cry for help, and God will say, “Here am I.” Isaiah 58:9 “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can people do to me?’”Hebrews 13:6 “Jesus said, ‘I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” John 14:6

And then as the ultimate sign of God’s love and care for you, He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to be the payment for each and every sin we commit. Abraham was guided by the future promise of this Sacrifice for his own sin. Abraham lived and prayed and hoped for that Savior in whom, “all the nations of the earth would be blessed.”

Can there be any greater and more glorious assurance of strength and courage for the new year than the promise that God loves You, and that this Savior, hung on a cross to die, is unmistakable evidence of God’s care for you? Believe in this Christ! Trust this God who loves you, forgives you, and has kept every single promise He has ever made!

As you begin your journey into the unchartered highways of 2023, go with faith in Him who came into our world and was given the name “Emmanuel – God with us.” Your destiny, your blessing and the fulfillment of God’s promises to you are certain.

Come what may, His love will not fail you. Abraham suffered very dearly, at times on his journey. But Abraham’s God carried him through, to the land He had promised.

Yes, it’s clear we do not know what lies ahead. But this much we know! “Neither life nor death, nor angels, nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things future nor height nor depth nor anything in all creation will be able to separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus your Lord.” Romans 8:28.

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