From my book Daily Prayer (Book 2), published in 2012 by Kevin Mayhew as a follow-up to the hugely popular first book (price £19.99), a session to guide your devotions as we move from the old year into the new.
Read
I will sing unceasingly of your unfailing love, O Lord; I will declare your faithfulness to all generations. Your constant love is unchanged from the beginning of time, and your faithfulness is as permanent as the heavens. Psalm 89:1, 2
Ponder
It’s slightly disconcerting, isn’t it, to thumb through an old diary? It’s like looking into a window of time that once represented the future but now concerns the past. Engagements, events, appointments, anniversaries and so forth that you once anticipated are now either memories or long-since forgotten: twelve months of your life that together comprise another chapter in your continuing story. What is the plot that binds all those chapters together, that gives meaning and cohesion to every passing year? For the psalm writer the answer is simple: the faithfulness of God. Through all of life’s ups and downs, he declares, one thing never changes: God’s unfailing love, unchanged from the beginning of time, permanent as the heavens. It’s a wonderful testimony echoed in the much-loved words of the hymn-writer Thomas Chisholm:
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not.
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.
That’s the confidence with which we say farewell to one year and prepare to step out into another. No one knows what it will bring – laughter or tears, health or sickness, triumph or disappointment. What we do know is that, whatever it brings, whatever we face, God will be with us in it, to the end of time and beyond.
Ask yourself
In what ways has God blessed, strengthened and guided you over the past year? Have things worked out as you expected? How has God shown himself to be faithful?
Pray
God of the past, thank you for the way you have worked throughout history, calling and leading your people, speaking your word and honouring your promises through Christ. Thank you for your part in my history, for having guided, blessed, forgiven and encouraged me as I journey through life. God of the present, thank you for being at work today, recognised or unrecognised, continuing to move in countless lives including my own, your presence a daily source of help and inspiration. God of the future, thank you for all you have yet to do, for the assurance that each day you will go on working out your purpose until it is finally fulfilled. Thank you that I can look forward in confidence, knowing that whatever life may bring, whether for good or bad, your love will always surround me, holding fresh blessings in store. For your great faithfulness, yesterday, today and tomorrow, receive my praise. Amen.
Remember
Come into his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Offer thanks to him and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his unfailing love endures for ever and his faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100:4, 5
Close
Grateful for all you have done, Lord, rejoicing in all you are doing, I commit myself afresh to you, assured of everything you yet will do, of your love that will not fail. Amen.