THE NEW BEGINNING

Not only the first, as after expressed, but the chief and principal of them, now famous for their coming out of Egypt in it, and would be more so for the sufferings and death of the Messiah, and redemption by him from sin, Satan, and the world, law, hell, and death, for he suffered at the time of the Passover.

This month shall be the first month of the year to you; while the Israelites were in Egypt they observed the same beginning of the year and course of months as the Egyptians.

A new year always brings a sense of hope, doesn’t it?  The previous year with all its tragedies, problems, disappointments, failures, and sadness is now behind us, and a clean slate lies ahead.

For sure there has been plenty in the news to make anyone depressed.  As one writer recently wrote: “Reality seems to crush hope at every turn: the Covid-19 Pandemic, the ruthless terror of the Islamic State, crushing economic disparities in this country, homelessness and also the plague of illicit drugs, rampant gun violence, etc.

As we embark on this new year, embodied so well in the Spirit of God and the reality of life moving on, a fair question for us to ask is, “how can we move on?”   There is a hymn called; “Rise and Shine.” Isaiah tells the people of Israel to “Arise, shine; for your light has come…” Isaiah 60:1. They no longer have to live in darkness.  Rise and shine, get up, begin again, there is more to come!  There are new roads to travel upon in this new year.  But there are also powerful forces working against this directive.  Apathy, lack of confidence, our physical or mental state, extreme caution or timidity all these tend to hold us back.  Worse than any of these is fear –disabling, crippling, and immobilizing fear.