On Beginning the New Year

Rev. W.C. Lamain (1904-1984)

The Old Year, with all its cares, sorrows, and trials, together with its many tokens of God’s goodness, has ended. Fortunate indeed are they who did not have to enter the New Year with sins which have not been forgiven; who, upon entering the New Year, can look back upon the gracious forgiveness of their sins, upon a merciful covering of their iniquities. The great majority go on from day to day and from year to year, adding to sin and feeling no need for the precious blood of the Son of God that washes away all sin. There are others, however, who, indeed, feel the need for forgiveness of their sins but who, not having been granted that unspeakable blessing, go their way bowed down under the heavy load of sin. With a heavy heart they enter the New Year. The hope that they once had that they would find peace with God is waning. That blessing is so great, and they feel so unworthy that for them to ever receive that blessing seems more and more impossible as time goes on. Death follows hard on their heels; their debt is unpaid; God’s justice has not been satisfied, and fierce fighting rages within. Satan, the accuser, is so active, the law condemns, and the gospel is silent. Christ is hidden, and with a condemning conscience they wearily stumble on their way.

The question arises in their hearts, what shall the end be? Oh, to be sure, in their darkest hour they still believe that the end of the man that trusts in the name of the Lord shall be peace, that God shall never forsake the work of His hands. However, to believe that it is for them is a question that looms larger and larger as time goes on. They can still never be jealous of persons who talk so blithely about their religion and who are so happy and content in their salvation. If they were to choose, no matter how miserable their state or how often Satan, the murderer, tells them, “There is no help for you in God,” they would still prefer to lie with Mordecai the Jew at the King’s gate than to ever appropriate one thing that was not applied to them by the Holy Spirit. It is their longing and desire to have the blood applied to their soul so that they may be saved in a way of justice and equity by the redemption that is in Christ alone.

It is my sincere wish and prayer that the year of your deliverance may soon dawn upon you—that this year may be for you the year of God’s good pleasure—that for you who long for deliverance by God but cannot help yourselves may yet receive beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness. Let it be to your comfort that God, at His own time, shall fulfill the promise, “O, thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay your stones with fair colors, and lay the foundations with sapphires.” To be sure, we are living in dark days, but God is faithful. The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed and that he should not die in the pit nor that his bread fail. These are but poor and empty words that I address to you, but God can give them meaning and value for your soul. While you read this, may the Spirit of God grant you faith to believe it. All the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. What a great comfort this is for God’s child! Therefore, comfort one another with these words.

My wish for this New Year for all God’s children, the small and the great, is an overflowing fountain of blessing and for myself also a crumb from the table of grace. We have forfeited the right to even the least of His blessings, and the smallest blessing is so very great to a transgressor of all God’s commandments.

My prayer is the prayer Jesus taught His disciples: “Thy kingdom come.” That prayer was not only for the coming of that kingdom but also for an increase in God’s Church. It is God’s own promise to His Church in Jeremiah 30:19: “I will multiply them, and they shall not be few.” There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repents. Surely, then, there would be joy on earth should we see God working in our families and congregations. Ought not our prayer for the New Year be that this be the year of God’s good pleasure and that the pleasure of the Lord prosper in the hand of Christ? God grant that in this year many may be added to the number that once shall be saved—that many enemies be reconciled to God and many sinners be justified—that the burden of the walls of Zion be built up and that those who belong together may, in a proper and just way, be brought together.

May we also seek the Lord in prayer, asking that He send forth laborers into His harvest whereas He has promised,

From age to age shall men be taught
What wondrous things the Lord has wrought.

The need is great, and, in this also, may our eyes be upon the Lord. May He raise up men adorned with grace and talents to serve in His Church to build upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the Chief Corner Stone.

May the Lord bless us and our families with material, spiritual, and eternal blessings in Christ Jesus. May He keep us from war with its devastations. Our sins are great and many, but may God in wrath remember mercy. May He grant us grace to break with sin, to follow after righteousness, to extol His name and hallow His day. In keeping of God’s law there is great reward, but,

Those who despise and not obey
His law, shall e’er in darkness stay.

The year of our death is coming; it could be this year. Let us not put the day of our death too far in the future, and let us not make great plans for the future. May God teach us to die before our time to die is upon us. Then our death shall not be as the death of the godless but the final abolishing of sin and a passage into eternal life. The God of all grace grant that to you and me for Christ’s sake by the operation of the Holy Spirit.

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