A New and Different Land
If you are like me, you are excited for this year but also maybe a little apprehensive. What will the year bring? Some of you wish that 2024 never ended. It was a good year for you. For others, 2025 couldn’t come soon enough. You look back on the year that was, and just sigh. Or worse.
You want a good verse to meditate on in 2025?
Allow me to offer some context for the verse I propose. It is found in Deuteronomy 11, which could easily be titled, Love and Obedience Rewarded. As the people of Israel journey toward the Promised Land, Moses gives them some instructions. I want to look at one of those instructions today. Moses tells the people that the land to which they are headed is nothing like the land they left behind. This new land in front of them will be different than the land behind them. This new land will require them to think and act differently. It is a land that God will tend and care for. Moses tells the people that if they rely on God, He will provide for them.
Let me parallel that image of a new and different land with the year in front of us. It is also a journey into the unknown. It will most likely be different than the year we just came through. Think of this new year was that new land that Moses talked about. I believe that God promises us the same thing – if we depend on Him, He will never fail us. Sure, there will be mountains and there will be valleys, there will be sun and there will be clouds, there will be bright days and there will be dark nights, there will be joys and there will be tears, but for those who trust in Him, no drought, no flood, no hurt, no fears, no disappointment, no loss, nothing, is too great for God to guide around or through.
Okay, let’s look at the setup verse… “The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden” (Deuteronomy 11:10).
Now, here is the verse I will meditate on each and every day in 2025, and I propose the same for you … “But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end” (11:11-12).
2025 is our new land! I do not know what lies ahead in 2025, but one thing I am confident of is this – “And my God will meet all (my) your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).
I will end with another verse as well as song lyrics –
“This is what the Lord says: ‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the LORD. That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit’” (Jeremiah 17:5-8).
“This land is your land, and this land is my land … this land was made for you and me.” (“This Land Is Your Land” by Woody Guthrie)
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