Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!
This cheery greeting is bandied about at this time of year -- it's not so much a statement of fact as it is a wish for that to happen! (Grin)

Now, some people may think that the book of the Bible that I've recently been studying is a bit of a downer.
Pessimistic.
Depressing.
It's the book of  . . . . Job.
But I'm here to tell you that it's taught me a lot in the last few weeks!

I've picked a few verses that meant a lot to me and will tell you more over the coming days.
Today, let's take a peek at this one:

After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations. 17 And Job died, old and full of days. (Job 46:16-17)

Some folks like to know the ending of the story before they will read a book. Well, the book of Job ends on a high note! A note of contentment and peace.

Job was probably about seventy years old when the book begins, so he's an old codger. When we see him in chapter 46, he's quite old, and he is at peace. He's a contented man.

A new year is stretching out before us: 2019. It's a new beginning.  The old is past, behind us, can't be touched again. God invites all of us to forget about the fears and distrust, the anxious moments of the past, all the grudges and hard feelings we may be holding against others, the criticism we want to unleash against those who've hurt us . . . . He invites us to put all of that away and begin again.

Here's the question that the Spirit told me that I should pay attention to: which way am I going to live in this new year?
Huh?
Here's what I mean: Will I live in this new year with the old "it-all-depends-on-me, do-it-myself-goodness"? Will I be trying my best to be pleasing to God, and meaning it with all my heart, but not realizing the depths of my own sin?
Or will I accept the gift of God that waits for me each day? The gift that is new and fresh from His mighty hand each day? The gift of forgiveness that is already mine . . . the gift of a relationship in which He is my dear Father and I'm His cherished daughter? You see, in that relationship, He has provided for me all that I need -- all day long -- so that I can say no to evil, and say yes to right.

If I live in the new year on that basis, not depending on myself, but depending on God, it will be a truly wonderful year: it will be a year in which my life is characterized by beauty, joy, and peace. I will be contented, like Job in the verse above.
If I live in the new year the old way, I will be like those friends of Job. I will not be able to lay hold of the blessings that are available if I depend on Him.
That is the choice before each of us this year . . . "how shall we then live"?