Grace Upon Grace

New Year’s Resolution

We all desire to be better humans.  Therefore, the beginning of the new year is a great time to take an honest inventory.  Where is improvement needed in my life?  What changes can I make?  Granted, the new year comes with a fresh start.  Therefore, we turn to New Year’s resolutions.  

Have you made a New Year’s resolution?  Often people vow to eat less and exercise more.  Another common practice is finding a word for the year, where you put your focus and energy.  I’ve attempted these practices with minimal success.  As an alternative, I have discovered that choosing a bible verse for the year, motivates me.  My verse for 2024 is Psalm 81:10b.  Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things. 

Learning Through Discovery

A year ago, I participated in a Bible Study by Kristi McLelland.   https://www.lifeway.com/en/contributors/k/kristi-mclelland  She teaches the Bible through a middle eastern lens.  In middle eastern cultures, teaching takes place through discovery.  In contrast, we westerners tend to learn through the acquisition of knowledge.  Kristi’s Bible Study made me realize that I may be missing out because of my limited exposure to Greek and Hebrew culture.  As an explanation mark to this theory, I had the opportunity to visit Israel last year.  I came home with a renewed sense of discovery, awe, and determination to address God’s Word differently.

Tasting God’s Word

With this newfound thinking, I am attempting to approach God’s Word as a child expecting to be fed.  My posture needs to be one of receiving.  The image of a newborn baby bird comes to mind.  While its eyes are still closed, its mouth is wide open to receive the morsels of food its mother will provide.  The baby is waiting in eager anticipation because it expects to receive something good and nourishing.  Psalm 19:10 says the following.  God’s Word is sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.  In the same way, I should eagerly position myself to receive all the good things that the Lord wants to show me.  Without a doubt, God’s Word is sweet!

My New Year’s Resolution

Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it with good things. So, I stand in readiness with my mouth wide open.  I want to consume and be satisfied.  Psalm 1:2 tells us:  But his delight in in the law of the Lord, and in His law, he mediates day and night.  In the Hebrew, the word for meditate means to devour, like a lion eating its prey.  This connotes a fierce and active response.  It’s the idea that we wrestle with God as we act out God’s Word in faith and obedience.

Therefore, my new year’s resolution is not an inactive, non-participatory act of receiving.  Instead, I need to prepare for a vigorous response.   A response that is hungrily consuming.  For I not only want to receive the Word of God; but I want God’s Word to penetrate through my entire being. 

Dear gracious Father, thank you for my new year’s resolution.  May 2024 be a year of discovery.  Be by my side, as I wrestle with You in the joys and struggles of life.  I know that You have good things in store for me.  Amen!

Questions to Consider:

1. Do you have a New Year’s Resolution?  If so, share it.
2. How can you posture yourself to receive from God?