Ponder Anew . . .

During a recent visit with our four-year-old granddaughter, Lizzie, I overheard her singing this hymn as she drifted off to sleep:

“Ponder anew, what the Almighty can do,
If . . . (thoughtful humming pause) . . .
If . . . (another pause) . . .  
If you slam your finger in the door, He will icepack it!”

You must know how that tickled me. How delightful that when Lizzie sings about God, she sings about a tender, caring God—One whom she feels certain will enter sympathetically into her world, her pain.

If you didn’t know the words of that hymn, how would you finish that phrase? “Ponder anew, what the Almighty can do . . .” What new thing do you need, want, hope God will do for you this year?

Let’s not continue on into 2013 living off of past victories, old memories, spent energies (Isa. 43:18). If you know Jesus, you serve the God who renews. Every other god will exhaust us. Only Christ offers new mercies every morning (Lam. 3:22–23). Only Christ renews our spirit (Ps. 51:10), our strength (Isa. 40:31), our mind (Rom. 12:2)—even our youth (Ps. 103:5)!

This may seem impossible in your present circumstances. Perhaps you are in a dry, dark place in your life. Consider God’s Word to you in Isaiah 43:19,

“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

In your wilderness where you feel surrounded by darkness and frightened by uncertainty, He will make a way. In your dry and barren desert where you are tired and discouraged, He will make rivers of living water for you to drink from and be refreshed. That is who God is! In your hard place, God wants to minister to you. Our God does not need good conditions to make something beautiful. He uses the desert and wilderness to show His grace and provision to His own.

Ponder anew what the Almighty can do. Don’t lose heart. No matter what is happening outwardly, He is renewing your inner self day by day (2 Cor. 4:16). He can put a new song in your mouth in 2013 (Ps. 40:3).

What new thing do you want to ask God for in 2013—relationally, economically, vocationally, spiritually, or physically? Ponder anew . . .