What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 1:9

A new year is upon us! We know what’s happened this past year, and we have hopes for what we’d like to accomplish in 2019. In our human, limited perspective, a lot changes over time. Sometimes we’re afraid of change.

How does God look at the new year? To us the next 12 months are covered by the limitations of our humanity. To God, the future is as clear as the past and present. We begin a year knowing there will be an end to it if time continues. But we can’t see what lies between the beginning and the end. We came to the end of a year yesterday. Today, perhaps we put up new calendars to track the present and to plan the future. Will we meet all the appointments we mark on the calendar? And, if a day is unmarked on a calendar, does that keep anything of significance from happening? What’s the solution to our uncertainty?

The God who knows no new years understands our thoughts. Psalm 139:2 says, “You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.” The new year, though unknown out before us, is like an open book before Him. December 31, 2018 doesn’t mean any more or less to Him than January 1, 2019. God’s eternal view is an infinite perspective. His providence works without regard to time. The life that God gives one may only last for a very short time; however, that life has fulfilled its purpose just as well as a saint who lives to be a hundred years old.

As you try to see what the new year will hold, don’t look too hard. Look instead at the face of God, who sees both you and the future that you can’t perceive. Then follow His infinitely wise direction toward eternity with Him.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face. For the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.