“How Then Shall We Resolve?”
January 1, 2023
January 1st is an illustrious day for making New Year’s resolutions, and many ways exist as to how to go about that process. As someone who resolves to not resolve making resolutions (I set annual goals instead), I am still fascinated with the resolution making process. Recently, I have read many strategies as to how one can resolve. One tactic, new to me, suggested strolling through the Ten Commandments and using them as a guide for making resolutions. For example, the third commandment tells us not to take God’s name in vain. So a resolution guided by that commandment may cause us to set language goals that would be used to better glorify God this year.
Regardless of the method you employ to make resolutions, one principle should be present in all of our resolve and goal setting. That principle is found in Proverbs 19:21 and underscored in James 4:13-15.
“Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” – Proverbs 19:21
13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” – James 4:13-15
The Bible does not condemn making plans, whether personal or business in nature. However, what Scripture does condemn is leaving God out of the picture. Proverbs 19 recognizes that men make plans, but it reminds us that it is God’s purposes that will stand. James 4:13-15 recognizes that men say what they will do today or tomorrow, but reminds us of that we do not know what tomorrow may bring. Tomorrow is not guaranteed and it’s totally dependent on God’s mercy alone. Alex Motyer, an Irish biblical scholar, once said,
“We receive another day not as a result of natural necessity, nor by mechanical law, nor by right, nor by the courtesy of nature, but by the covenanted mercies of God.”
How then shall we go about making plans and resolutions for 2023, or any day or year of our lives? We should talk to God about them, acknowledge that our plans are contingent on His sovereignty, and then place our plans in His hands. We cannot control the future, and fortunately we do not need to, because we know the One who does! Happy New Year!