Wisdom To Start The New Year
BRD REFLECTIONS:
Acts 1:1-26 and Psalm 1:1-6 (NIV)
(Philip Oh, Bible Reading Drive Core Team)
READ:
Psalm 1 (ESV), the first of one hundred and fifty Psalms. In my ESV Bible the heading reads: “The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked”! Full of wisdom for all of us, as we start 2025.
OBSERVE:
A short Psalm of only six verses, it is crammed full of wise “dos and don’ts” that we are reminded of at the start of the year. It describes the way of the righteous as well as the way of the wicked!
APPLY:
Verse 2 tells us that the man who delights in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on it day and night, will be blessed. Whilst I do read the Scriptures every morning, I sometimes do it quickly and mechanically. Unfortunately, I sometimes don’t dwell on what I have read, I don’t sufficiently pray over what I have read and meditate on what I have read throughout the day!
Verse 3 paints a beautiful picture of a tree that is planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers! As a retiree, I so much want to continue to draw from God’s stream of living water, so that I continue to bear fruit till my last day on earth. I do not want to wither, but to “finish well” and to be greeted with Matthew 25:23 (KJV) “Well done, good and faithful servant;… enter thou into the joy of thy Lord”
DO:
I will spend more time with uninterrupted reading and meditating on His living Word.
I will practise Lectio Divina more intentionally to draw closer to God and discern His daily and weekly guidance for me.
I will continue with His help to answer His call to serve, wherever He places me and will try to do so diligently and to the best of my ability.
PRAY:
Dear Lord, on this first day of the new year, I thank You for all that has taken place in 2024 – both the good and the not so good. Help me to start the new year afresh with an increased focus on answering Your call upon my life and to live it with Your help, and to live it to the fullest. In Jesus’ name I ask, Amen!
