Why 2020 Doesn’t Have to Be the Worst Year Ever
No, I’m not crazy. 2020 doesn’t have to be the worst year ever! If you and I were to sit down and make a list of all the discouraging and depressing things that have happened in 2020, I think we could come up with quite a list. I’m not going to type out that list here. First, I don’t want to make myself that depressed. Second, although I am no prophet, I imagine we still have days of adversity ahead of us so I don’t want anyone reading this in the future to wonder how I could be so naive as to think the sufferings of my own time were so challenging. I’m not predicting anything in particular, I’m just drawing the logical conclusion of what it means to live in a world that has been disfigured by sin.
Even pastors and ministers and Christian leaders, who arguably should be among the most hopeful people around, have not been immune to the challenges of 2020. Some congregations are in conflict and some pastors are stressed and exhausted. I read a well-meaning but somewhat gloomy article the other day talking about all the pastors who would shortly be leaving vocational ministry. I can see how financial strain and other daily challenges would lead to that kind of outcome for many but the article made me wonder if I was missing something.
I certainly don’t want to be dismissive of the challenges people are facing. It has been a tough year. But it isn’t the worst year ever. 2021 is going to be worse—just kidding. No, this doesn’t have to be the worst year ever because we have the promises of God. What do I mean by that? I mean what Joshua meant when he reflected at the end of his life:
“And now I am about to go the way of all the earth, and you know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one word has failed of all the good things that the Lord your God promised concerning you. All of them has come to pass for you; not one of them has failed.” (Joshua 23:14).
I absolutely love this. “Not one of them has failed.” Joshua did not leave a charmed life of ease. His life experience included slavery in Egypt, wilderness wandering, the challenges of leading a nation, and even military defeats. And yet he says unequivocally: “Not one of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.”
God’s promises didn’t fail Joshua. God’s promises haven’t failed me. God’s promises will not fail you. To borrow this phrase from William Carey: “The future is as bright as the promises of God.”