1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
Psalm 121
As I sit down to write this letter to you, I do so in the week before Parliament is due to vote on the Brexit Withdrawal deal negotiated by Theresa May. By the time you read this, the vote will have taken place, and who knows what the political situation will be by then. Harold Wilson is quoted as saying “a week is a long time in politics”, and three weeks from now seems like an eternity. Whatever our personal views on this subject, what I think we can agree on is that the future is very uncertain. Rival factions seem to spend more time scaring us about what will happen if the other side win, than telling us about what will happen if they win!! Perhaps that is because neither side knows for sure?
As we step into a New Year, we do so with perhaps more uncertainty about what the future holds for us, than for many years. For some, 2018 was a good year, and there is a worry that 2019 might not be. For others, 2018 was not good, and we are relieved to start a new year afresh. In an uncertain world, where the things you thought were reliable and dependable are no longer considered to be so, a life centred on a God of love who has promised to be an ever-present and unchanging presence in our lives should be a comfort to us, and give us confidence to view the vagaries of the world through positive eyes.
What is certain, is that faith and love do not take sides. Each one of us can be certain that God will not abandon us to the political powers in London or Brussels, but provides the means by which we can all live together in peace and harmony. At the start of this New Year, my prayer is that God’s love will burn brightly amidst the darkness of uncertainty, and that we might reach out to God and commit our futures to His light.
I am reminded of the words of Minnie Louise Haskins:-
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand in the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East