2021

The year 2021 has come to an end. Because of God’s sparing and protecting hand we may look back and look forward. How swiftly the year has passed into history. What have we done with the time allotted to us? Who are we today? As nations we cannot deny that we have experienced serious callings. It was the Lord who placed these callings upon us. Think only of the continuing Coronavirus concerns. What many calculated would be ended is still an ongoing calling sent by God. How have our congregations been affected by this? There are reasons to be humbly grateful but also deeply concerned.

What is the result of all this? Is there now a forsaking of sin? Is there a bowing and a humbling, a confessing that we have transgressed, causing us to cry, “O Lord, have mercy upon us”? In general, we must answer no to these questions. Must that not cause fear in our heart as we stand upon the threshold of leaving the old year behind and looking forward into the new year?

Why is it that we should feel deeply troubled? Let me share a personal concern with you. In our congregations we hear so little of the new birth. Where do we hear about a missing and seeking soul—about one who may give testimony that he can no longer find life in all the former ways, but now this is uppermost, “I need a God for my soul”?

How is it in the life of God’s people? How quiet it has become, for most mouths are closed. Where is the hungering and thirsting for Jesus? When do we hear that one of the Lord’s people may have come to the inward spiritual knowledge, “I have bought thee with the price of My blood”? Why is it that we miss so much of the work of the Spirit?

David said in Psalm 51:11, “And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.” There he acknowledged what lay in his heart, namely, the Holy Spirit. That was God’s gift in his life, but he had sinned it all away. He had to acknowledge that God would be just and right if He would take away the Holy Spirit from him. Is that what we miss today? Are there ministers, elders, and people who have become guilty and who may stand in the breach, saying, “Lord, is it because of my sins that Thou must hold Thy hand so still”?

We also have reason to be grateful when we think how much of church life may have continued, and now for the most part we again can meet as usual. Many of us have had our regular church services disrupted during the year, but the doors of our churches have again opened Sunday after Sunday. The Lord gave a handful of seed in the preaching and reading of sermons, and individual families were visited to see whether the seed may have germinated in the hearts of the people. In all this, the Lord continued to say, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2b).

There is reason to be grateful that there is an editorial staff who labored quietly, selflessly, and prayerfully so that The Banner of Truth might be received in our homes every month. We may be grateful that Christian education continues to be provided for our children. Oh, may this have been accompanied with many prayers seeking the Lord’s blessing upon it. Yes, for all these things it behooves us to acknowledge the Lord as the Giver of all these blessings.

In the new year may the Lord yet show favor unto us, so we may continue to live in a land with peaceful borders, where there remains freedom of worship. May the Lord graciously comfort those who are in loneliness and sorrow. May the Lord grant that the Curatorium is enabled to meet again. May He give men to become students in our theological school to become preachers of His Word among our congregations. Our prayer must be, “Lord, work yet among us the wonders of free and sovereign grace.”

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