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Here we all are—again.
Wondering, hoping, and questioning. Remembering, reflecting, perhaps regretting. Planning and expecting; perhaps fearing.
We’re peering together down that long and winding corridor called time. Much of it will be sunlit by success, joy, and goodness; other places along the road may be shrouded by the shadows of heartbreak, sickness, or loss. Still others will be shattered by confusion and crisis.
We’re going to cross another threshold this weekend. You and I are resolved to be better and do better next year. Whatever that may mean for each of us.
We gather our hope and look forward to the future.
Our anticipation of a new year is tempered by our inability to know and control events—and our experience that events have increasingly seemed to control us, as Abraham Lincoln once confessed during the Civil War. On top of that, we notice that things are increasingly spinning out of control.
Some of our feelings about the future we owe to Captain Ed Murphy, a development engineer at the Wright Field Aircraft Lab in the 1940s. Frustrated with a young technician who managed somehow to consistently fail with a wiring project, Murphy said: “If there is any way to do it wrong, he will.”
Murphy’s momentary exasperation eventually grew into a “law” that bears his name. “If anything can go wrong, it will.”
Of course, people had been saying that long before Murphy. It’s a cynical but often accurate description of the human condition. Arthur Bloch wrote a book called Murphy’s Law, and other reasons Why Things Go WRONG. Management guru Peter Drucker formulated his own law: “If one thing goes wrong, everything else will, and at the same time.”
There is a corollary called Mrs. Murphy’s Law: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong while Mr. Murphy is out of town.” We are reminded of the difference between an optimist and a pessimist. The optimist believes we live in the best of all possible worlds. The pessimist fears that this is true.
The growing despondency of our time—our anxiety and discontent—cause many to dread another year rather than welcome it. Being in this world as it is, by the plan and calling of God, does not leave Christians untouched by the angst of our neighbors. Nor are we somehow incubated by faith from the doubts of our own hearts and minds.
The world struggles and we all struggle with it.
Jesus wanted us to understand this. Praying expressly that we not be taken out of the world, but sent into the world, Jesus asked the Father to keep us from the evil that all too easily tempts and deludes us. Caring for the world and its suffering, as we must as followers of Christ, we often find ourselves persuaded by the beguilements of the world. It’s always subtle, which has been Satan’s way since Eden.
We can fall prey to the negative before we even know it. Caught up in the fury and passion of the moment, we can lose sight of what really matters.
Jesus promised ultimate victory for his church, but it would be a triumph won against “the gates of hell itself”—no weak or timid enemy; no easy battle. Called, as we are, to brave and active faith, let us “put on the whole armor of God.” As we enter 2024, let us determine to stand for truth no matter the cost. Let our allegiance to our Savior be non-negotiable in the wrestling of the flesh.
We fear the future because we expect something bad will happen. We permit Murphey’s Law to dominate our thinking when we should instead exercise the mind of Christ. Christians must never fear an unknown future. Because no future is unknown to God. It’s in him we trust. He not only knows the future—he has created the future; he has planned the future; he has purposed the future; and he will guide us safely through the future.
No matter the situation, no matter what happens, God is in control. We must do more than believe this—we must live it. We must pray this year that he will give us the strength, faith, trust, and confidence that he reigns, that he cares, that he loves us, and that he will protect and keep us—down to the very last hair of our head.
Through it all, God’s sovereignty is unassailable.
God is With Us. Emmanuel means God’s Presence. His Promise. His Protection. His Power. It means you and I will never be alone this coming year—not for a moment. He’s promised never to leave you or forsake you. You may feel sometimes that he has, but be very certain he hasn’t. Whatever comes this year—to our nation, the world, or to you and me—"be very sure, your anchor holds and grips the solid rock.”
The apostle Paul told the Colossians to set their hearts and minds, not on earthly things; not on the fears and alarms of this life, but on “things above.” On heaven. You and I are raised to new life in Christ, Paul wrote, and we are set free from a life of hopelessness. “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts. . . and be thankful” (Colossians 3: 1-2; 15).
You and I must seek the eternal perspective for this new year. We must see our lives on earth through the lens of heaven. We’re another year closer. C.S. Lewis observed:
“A continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do.”
To look to the beauty of heaven is not denying reality; it’s embracing our deepest and most profound reality. It’s living our lives here to their fullest in anticipation of the glory to come.
Murphy’s Law insists things go wrong. God always gets it right.
Then, now, and forever.
May God bless you and your family.
In His Grace,
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