Recently, I came across “The New Year’s Prayer”: “Dear Lord, So far this year I’ve done well. I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper, I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish, or overindulgent. I’m very thankful for that. But in a few minutes, Lord, I’m going to get out of bed and from then on, I’m probably going to need a lot more help. Amen.”
As we look forward to 2021, I think all of us are going to need a lot more help. When I think back to January 1, 2020, who would have ever thought at that time we would have the year we did? So, that begs the question: what will 2021 look like?
As we anticipate 2021, there are lots of questions: how long will COVID hang around? What will a “Post-COVID” world look like? What about that new strain that was discovered in England and is now in Canada? What about the vaccines they are talking about? What does the future hold?
Because of all of this uncertainty, there are many people who are looking forward to the New Year with fear, and especially because of all those COVID-related challenges. One example of this came up in a video I recently watched, entitled, “Covid long-haulers fear for their future”. It stated that months after the initial infection, significant numbers of COVID patients are finding themselves dealing with ongoing symptoms such as brain fog, shortness of breath, heart arrhyrthmia, hypertension, persistent fever and even complications such as organ damage.
I’ve seen this with our friends, Randy and Margo Hoffman who last April both contracted COVID. They recovered but just last week, Randy sent an email asking for prayer “for Margo and I to continue to recover. She still feels extra tiredness at times, and I am still experiencing a lack of stamina and endurance. I also have extra aches and pains – arthritis that has been exacerbated by COVID.”
Now some folks are looking forward to 2021 with hope because of the new vaccines that are coming out, which they see as the light at the end of a very dark tunnel. A friend sent me an excited email about this: “It seems like an answer to prayers, that maybe the world, church services and so much more might come back to normal soon!”
At the same time, we recognize there are those who vigorously oppose the proposed immunizations and who see these vaccines as being the worst possible thing.
Actually many people, good people, stand on opposite sides of that debate. When someone recently asked me my opinion on whether or not to take the new vaccine, I said the way I am going to decide is by going to God in prayer and asking what He wants me to do. I believe this is a decision every believer should make between themselves and God. We are under His authority and His alone. What others do or don’t do should not enter into our final decision.
Finally, I myself am looking to the future with hope. I do so because of two things. One is because I am assured that as I go into the future, God will go with me. He has promised, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.” And secondly, it’s because I know how it will all turn out in the end.
When asked, “Aren’t you afraid of the future?” one Christian man replied, “No I’m not. That’s because I’ve read the last Book of the Bible, Revelation and I found out: we win.”
