"This is what the LORD says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. They are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land."" Jeremiah 17:5-6 (NLT)
Setting aside any potential New Year's resolutions we could make for a moment, what if we were to take a look at the underlying hope that we might be basing our lives on in the coming year. I think we do well to consider a personal resolution to get our core reliance figured out and maintain it continually if we're to have any true, underlying, undeniable, hope going forward. This because I believe that if we get that right, any righteous resolutions that we might make after, in agreement with Christ's heart and spirit, have a far better chance of succeeding and giving life to our own heart and spirit -filling our lives with the confidence, contentment and joy that we seek. There's no misunderstanding what the Lord is saying in the verses above or in the verses below. It's on us to take Him seriously and into every part of our lives on a continual basis if we desire to have true hope.
“But blessed are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit." Jeremiah 17:7-8 (NLT)
Don't trust those who tell you to simply "follow your heart". The reasons should once again come clear in the succeeding verse...
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.” Jeremiah 17:9-10 (NLT)
There are definite reasons that we should be continually reminding ourselves of the wisdom and directions for success that our God gives us in scripture. He made sure that they're laid out for us to follow. In this case, resolving to pay attention to just these few verses will begin to render abundant blessings in the coming New Year - blessing far more impacting and abundant than any other "New Years resolutions" we might make. The world's wisdom is all around us and is constantly seeking to be thrust in our face, but true wisdom comes from the true Author of wisdom. And if we want to possess it in order to truly succeed, in life impacting ways, we must seek it out in what God has already told us and apply it with intention. Our hope for the new year needs to be based on the Eternal Hope of mankind if we really want to find ourselves blessed- not some traditional frail human declarations. Even what we might declare to do in those resolutions should be based on "if The Lord is willing".
"What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”" James 4:15 (NLT)
The fruit of wisdom and direction for righteous and successful living abounds in what our God's already made available - in context, but it's up to us to reach out and take it. If we're to have true hope all through the next year and all of our lives, we know where to find it.
"He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 (NKJ)
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it." Deuteronomy 10:12-14 (NKJ)
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