NICOLE STEVENSON | Co-Host, Former Adventist Podcast
Well, we made it! It’s the last Friday of 2024, and here we sit together on the doorstep of 2025. It’s easy to feel like a broken record as I write yet again, “I’m trusting in God’s faithfulness and sovereignty as I walk into this next year.” Yet, each successive year that I walk with the Lord, I’ve collected countless new reasons to trust Him! It is an amazing thing to trust the Lord with increasing measure even as all the world around seems more uncertain than ever.
When it comes to the things of God— the truths and patterns He’s given us in Scripture— it’s entirely appropriate to recall and repeat them to each other constantly. In some beautiful way repeating what we know and love about God causes our spirits to rejoice and to know true peace even in the midst of uncertainty.
As we wrap up this year, I want to remember together some basic truths about God taught in Scripture which bring comfort to His people in times of uncertainty—truths which were brand new to many of us who left Adventism to follow Jesus. Let this be our shared act of worship as we recount what we can know about Him from His Word and as we walk toward Him in trust for whatever this new year will bring.
God is Sovereign
The sovereign nature of God reminds us that whatever we face this year, we do so according to the direction of our Father. Remembering that “Providence touches all things that touch us…” (John Flavel) reminds us that nothing comes to us apart from the permission of our Father who loves us and gave His Son for us. The Holy Spirit has told us that God uses all of the events in our lives for our good and for His glory. Knowing this, we can trust Him even as we may grieve.
When the circumstances of life threaten us, we can remember that nothing in all of creation will remove us from God’s great and mighty hand or His active and boundless love which He lavishes upon His children, whether in life or in death (Rom 8:28-39). God has already redeemed, sanctified, and glorified His people. Our future is secured by the One who loves us and gave everything to redeem us. How much more will He also be concerned with the details of our lives and provide for us our daily needs?
The book of Daniel reminds us that God is not only sovereign in the lives of His people, but He has also designed the course of all of human history— nothing is a surprise to Him. God knows all who have ruled and all who will rule until The Great Day of the Lord. God has permitted the nations to rage against Him, but He has told us that He will not leave them to rule and rage forever (Psalm 2; Revelation).
The prophets remind us that at God’s appointed times He sets up kings and kingdoms, and He tears them down.
The prophets remind us that at God’s appointed times He sets up kings and kingdoms, and He tears them down. Sometimes those kings and kingdoms have been permitted to fill up the cup of God’s wrath against them, while causing great suffering among His people. Other times they’ve been established for the purpose of restoration and redemption, bringing peace and blessing to God’s people. Whatever form of rule, even the nations have never been outside of the sovereign or providential purposes of God.
God’s people have lived through many forms of government and kingdoms. Whether suffering or thriving, His faithful saints have left us an example of how to live trusting Him while waiting for Him to fulfill His promises. They lived out the hope they had through obedience and trust. May we live according to their example whatever comes so that we, too, may leave a pattern for those who will come after us. Like the saints who’ve gone before us, our trust in Him must be on the basis of who He is and not on the basis of how we experience life on this side of eternity.
The doctrinal truth of God’s sovereignty reminds us that no matter how out of control life can seem or how surrounded by our enemies— or the insanity of evil— we may be, we are still right where God has chosen for us to be, and we can trust His purposes.
God is Redeemer and Sustainer
Psalm 139:13-16 tells us that God is personally involved in fashioning and creating each one of us and that He wrote each day that we would live even before each of them came into being. Acts 17:24-26 tells us that God chose the times and places each one of us would live, giving us our best positioning for finding Him! God orchestrated the people and the events around us that would lead us to feel our way toward Him:
“The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.”—Acts 17:24–26
In Ephesians we learn, “…He chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined usfor adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” Each one of us was chosen by God before He even created the world!
When we put these truths together we learn that before God ever created the world, He knew us and chose us for adoption and then, at the right time and in the right location, He personally fashioned us in our mother’s womb (no matter the circumstances of our conception), and He purposed every day that we would walk in and where we would live them out! All this was so that we would seek after Him and come to faith.
Not only did God choose us personally and create us personally, but He also keeps us personally by His powerful hand! “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me…”
Not only did God choose us personally and create us personally, but He also keeps us personally by His powerful hand! “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one,” (John 10:27-30). We are not merely a collective group of recipients of the grace of God, we are— each one of us personally— known, loved, and gifted to the Son by the Father!
In 1 Peter 1:3-5 we read some of my favorite words of Scripture. They remind me that my new birth is due to the resurrection of Christ, and that I am kept in salvation by the power of our omnipotent God through faith! The verses that follow those tell us what these truths mean for us as we walk through suffering:
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”—1 Peter 1:6-9
The “in this” of verse 6 are the truths that preceded it. As we are grieved by various trials we rejoice in the truth that we are both saved and sustained by God! The reality that we are made new through the resurrection life of Christ, that we are guarded by God through faith, and that our inheritance is kept for us in heaven even now fills us with inexpressible joy!
As we meditate upon and rejoice in the gospel we are enabled to walk through our trials faithfully— even though we are grieved by them.
This faithfulness which springs from joy in salvation will result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. There will come a day when our faith will become sight, and we will see the One we love with our very eyes. With each chaotic year that passes, we are closer still to that glorious day!
God is Faithful
From Genesis to Revelation we read of a God who remembers His people and His promises. This doesn’t imply He’d forgotten them and they just happened to come back to mind. The statement is one that speaks to God’s faithfulness and follow through. When the Bible speaks of God remembering, it’s usually followed by an action taken by God on behalf of His people. God is not like us; His “remembering” is not a description of memory recall but of His very character.
We, on the other hand, are prone to forgetfulness and faithlessness. This is why God gives us so many commands to remember and meditate upon Him and His Word. It is good for us to remember the faithfulness of God! When we recall the faithfulness of God we begin to conform to His likeness as we become more faithful. His faithfulness creates faithfulness in His people as we love Him and trust Him more through life.
We, too, can walk into this new year knowing that whatever may come, our faithful promise-keeping God will walk with us, gifting us with all we need to live godly lives that honor Him as He sustains us to the end!
Beginning in the Old Testament and reading through the gospels we, the church, can see the faithfulness of God on radiant display. In Hebrews 11 we are reminded of the faith of those who’ve gone before us. In that beautiful chapter we can see that God’s faithfulness to keep His promises was the hope they clung to as they walked through various hardships waiting on Him. We, too, can walk into this new year knowing that whatever may come, our faithful promise-keeping God will walk with us, gifting us with all we need to live godly lives that honor Him as He sustains us to the end!
“I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge— even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”—1 Corinthians 1:4-9
“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”—1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
God is Worthy of Our Worship
As we remember the activities of God and His love and faithfulness toward us, we naturally begin to worship Him! Whether we simply rejoice in who He is through song, prayer, or proclamation, or whether we allow what we know about Him to dictate our life choices and next steps, we are actively worshiping God. God is worthy both of our rejoicing and of our shaping our lives around Him!
When all we see is the battleground around us, we are not remembering the one who has already won the battle. God has been teaching me to remember that He has already accomplished all that will be, and I can trust Him as I continue to pray through the circumstances of life.
God knows our frame; He knows it’s not natural for us to live each moment actively aware of all the reasons we love and trust Him. This is one reason why we’re called to abide in His word, to gather together with the saints, to address each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, to encourage one another with truth, to build up the church, and to remember Him— both corporately and in our own hearts.
So as we close this last full week of 2024 with the sweet memories of rejoicing in the baby of Christmas, the Son of God who came to die, I pray that you will take some time to reflect on how the truths we hold about the Promise Keeper will guide you into the year which we now walk into together. Remember all He has done in your life to lead you to where you are today and entrust Him with all that you’re walking towards with renewed memories of His faithfulness and mercy.
If you don’t yet know the God I’ve written about here and you want to know Him, I pray that you will make the time to sit with God’s word and to pray for Him to reveal Himself to you. I recommend you begin with the Gospel of John. Should any questions or struggles arise as you read please know that you are not alone and without help. The Holy Spirit will give wisdom and understanding to those who ask, and we at Proclamation! magazine would rejoice at the opportunity to help you with anything we can so please write to us with any questions you may have!
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace. ”
(Numbers 6:24-26)
Happy New Year!
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