Opinion column

Great is God’s faithfulness as we enter 2024

Rev Matthew Price is starting the new year with optimism as he remembers God’s love and His faithfulness towards us.

I wonder how you’re feeling as you get to grips with 2024. Many of us have been returning to our desks or normal routines during the last week or so and I imagine you, like me, might be experiencing a range of emotions.
 
Perhaps we are feeling hopeful - this period marks a new beginning, and you are excited about the possibilities of what 2024 might hold for you. Maybe you’re starting a new job or role, or some other significant change is happening as the year begins.
 
But we might also be feeling a little weary or fearful. Maybe you’ve caught the dreaded winter flu bug which seems so prevalent at the moment, and you are still recovering. You might be returning to your normal routine with a sense of feeling overwhelmed as you look ahead. Maybe as we look around our world and see some of the ongoing conflict and troubles, our hearts break.
 
A new day… a new season…. Perhaps a new start… it can bring a whole range of emotions; make us feel a whole mix of things.
 
With this in mind, as I begin 2024, I have appreciated reminding myself of God’s faithfulness as we see it in the book of Lamentations. And, as ever with God’s word, it helps with me with the reality of what it means to be human.
 
When Lamentations was written it was a terrible time for God’s people; they had got themselves into a horrible mess, turned their back on him, forgotten about his goodness to them and loved other things more than God. Jerusalem - the city that represented God’s presence with his people - had been attacked, ransacked and the temple destroyed. And the people of God had been left broken and hurting.
 
But into that the darkness, the writer of Lamentations brings a shaft of light:
 
“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”  (Lamentations 3 v 22-23 NIV)
 
It’s like the writer got out of bed that morning; he wiped his eyes; gave a big yawn and a wide stretch.  And he saw the spaces where his family used to be, he felt his rumbling tummy, he saw his broken home and his burnt city and he remembered.  He remembered God.  He remembered what is true about God.  What has been and will be forever true about God.
 
The writer remembered that God has great love for him.  Not medium love, not half-hearted love, not lukewarm love, not love that comes and goes likes the times or seasons.  But great love.
 
Sometimes it doesn't feel like God loves us.  Sometimes we find it tough.  Life feels dark.  Indeed, sometimes it feels like the darkness closes in around us… like it might overwhelm us.  But even then, we can choose to remember.  Choose to remember what we know to be true about God. God has great love for his people.  God has great love for us.
 
And, because of what Christ has done for us, that love doesn't change.  It was true at the time of Lamentations.  It's true now and it will be true forevermore.  So, when we feel like the darkness is closing in; however far from God we might feel; whatever barriers we might feel like there is between us and God; we can choose to remember:  God loves us.
 
What’s more, God is faithful too. God isn't like us. He doesn’t make promises which he breaks. When God promises to do something, he’ll always do it. When God makes a promise, he always keeps it. God doesn't forget us, God doesn't give up on us, God doesn't go away from us, God never changes.  And God has given us this new day. He’s brought us to the beginning of this new season.  And he will not let his people go.
 
Whatever 2024 brings, let’s remind ourselves of these twin truths each morning. God has great love for you. God has great faithfulness towards you.
 
In the words of the great hymn, “Great is your faithfulness O God my Father, As you have been, you forever will be.”

The Revd Matthew Price is Vicar at St Mary Magdalene Church in Gorleston and the Bishop of Norwich’s Adviser for Urban and Estates Ministry.