New Year's Week 2020 - Monday

Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy! Psalm 126:3

When we are all together, my mom, sister, and I often share clothes. My mom is extremely generous, and sometimes she will let my sister and I keep one of her pieces of clothing we borrowed from her. On occasion, I will see my sister wearing a new shirt, and I will ask her where she got it. She will then tell me that it was our mom's, but she gave it to her. When that happens, something wells up in me, and I become jealous. Why did my mom gift my sister with that shirt and not me? "That's not fair!" I think to myself. However, I have to swallow my pride when, soon after, my sister notices I am wearing a shirt that she does not recognize. She will ask me where I got it, and I will say, "It was mom's, but she gave it to me." Suddenly, I remember, my mom has done the same thing for me that she did for my sister; I simply forgot. The same is true with God. We are prone to forget His goodness to us. You see, it is easy to look at the ways that God has blessed everyone around us, but when we take our focus off of what we do not have and put our focus on what we do have, we will remember everything that God has done for us.

We are entering the last few days of 2019. Perhaps you had a wonderful year, and you are sad to see it go. Maybe you had a really difficult year, and you find yourself this week disappointed with the year, doubting God's care and provision for you. My friends, sometimes we need to take our eyes off of the things we don't have and remember all of the things God has done for us.

Psalm 126 is a reminder to remember and celebrate what God has done for us in the past. Throughout this Psalm, the writer of Psalm 126 celebrates how God brought His people, the Israelites, out of exile in a foreign country and back to their homeland in Israel. He recounts how the Israelites celebrated when they returned to their land. His celebration comes to a climax when he writes in Psalm 126:3, "Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us! What joy!" Then he asks God to restore His people again, like streams of water can restore a desert. If God did it before, the Psalmist believes God can do it again.

Whether 2019 was your best year or your worst, as the year comes to a close, let's pause long enough to stop and recount God's faithfulness before we step into 2020. How has God been faithful to you this year? If God was faithful to you this year, you can rest assured that He will be faithful to you in 2020. Let's celebrate God's faithfulness to us today!

Moving Toward Action

Take a few moments and consider how God has been faithful to you in 2019. Even if 2019 was a difficult, painful year, I am certain that you can still find evidence of God's faithfulness to you. Did God give you peace during a hard time? Did He provide a friend you needed at just the right time? Did He comfort you while you experienced deep loss? Take a few moments to make a list of ways God was faithful to you throughout 2019. Then, spend time journaling, thanking Him for being faithful for you and expectantly asking Him to be faithful to you in 2020.

Going Deeper

Read Psalm 126:1-6 (NLT)