“New Beginnings”
by Dianne Prince
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3, NKJV).
Today’s scripture reminds us that our hope is not in the crucifixion and the death of Jesus on the cross. Our hope is in His resurrection. Why? Anyone can die. Abraham died. Moses died. The prophets and the Apostles died. Nevertheless, none of them got up from the grave. Jesus is the only one who died and was raised from death to life.
Because Jesus lives, no matter what difficulties we face, there is always a way to get up and go on. In every trial, we are kept by the power of God through faith. Job gives us a perfect example of what faith in God can do. Thieves stole his cattle. Lightening killed his sheep. All his servants and children died. Satan attacked his body with boils from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet. And his wife told him to give up on God and die.
Surely Job grew weary, just like we get weary sometimes. He grew impatient, just like we get impatient sometimes. He lost control, just like we lose control sometimes. But Job learned to wait on God. And through all the losses he suffered, through all the pain, heartache, and disappointments that came his way, he declared, “All my appointed days, I’m going to wait till my change comes.” Despite the shortages Job experienced, he recognized that God is a God of second, third, fourth and fifth chances.
Because Jesus lives, there is always hope for a new beginning. No matter what happens to us in this present life, there is always hope for another chance. Because Jesus lives, we must trust God and give Him time. No matter how long it takes, we must give Him time to work. In his time, He will fix that which is broken. He will rebuild that which is torn down. He will return that which was lost, taken or that which slipped away. And He keeps our hope alive and our faith firm as we wait for our “new beginning” to come.
