If you’re going whitewater rafting, you want to be sure you have someone with you who is well experienced with the sport and can likely keep you from dying. If you’re going on an African safari, it helps to have a guide who knows the terrain and is not easily frightened of big, roaring animals. If you’re climbing Mount Everest, be sure there’s a confident guide along for safety when you’re two miles up a snow-covered, slippery rock face. If you’re heading into a year which feels like a combination of all three ‘adventures,’ there is only One you’ll want to be following. Yep, Jesus is the only one capable, and available to us, for navigating the uncertainties of 2025 and guaranteeing our safe arrival, tucked into bed at midnight, December 31, 2025.
That may be a surprise, because in reading the Old Testament, the image one could get of God is that of a fearsome warrior, a demanding Lawgiver, a punishing, jealous Lover. And yet, smack dab in the middle of that collection of thirty-nine books, there is a young man named David, the shepherd king, who makes this sweet and intimate declaration: “The Lord is my best friend and my shepherd” (Psalm 23, TPT). Moving through time one thousand years and Jesus is heard, reassuringly declaring: “I am the Good Shepherd who lays down my life as a sacrifice for the sheep” (John 10:11, TPT). And John records these words of Jesus a few chapters later: “. . . I call you my most intimate friends . . .” (John 15:15, TPT).
Wow! These reminders, early in January, are a great faith booster and confidence builder! We are not alone! There is one who knows! He promised to be with us every day until the very end of the age! He conferred on us his very own peace! Paul declares that Jesus is the Head of every kingdom and authority in the universe! (Colossians 2:10, TPT). It seems that ‘every kingdom and authority in the universe’ is in turmoil (from our finite point of view), but then we can breathe easily when we recall who’s in charge! And he’s by our side, and on our side!
I’m sensing that our focus, while resting on Jesus, paves the way through these twelve months with liberal doses of Jesus’ joy. It’s true, our enemy employs his evil wiles in a multitude of ways, but the good news is that he is a defeated foe. We aren’t his sheep. We are the sheep of Jesus’ pasture. So good! PD
