by Pastor Patrick Cho

As 2015 comes to a close, we get another chance to reflect on God’s inestimable goodness to us and the many blessings He has poured out upon us. Regardless of life’s circumstances, we who are in Christ have every reason to be thankful. Our attention was given to Psalm 102 at the New Year’s Eve fellowship, where the psalmist laments his suffering and exile. But even in the midst of his trouble, he remembers that God is everlasting and will remain faithful to His promises. What stands out incredibly is that the psalmist looks past merely a present deliverance of God’s people to a future, final, eschatological deliverance of Zion! He remembers the promises that the Lord’s kingdom would be established and there would be a perfected deliverance of His people. The psalmist displays remarkable faith in the covenant faithfulness of God.

We, too, have this future hope. Jesus came not to usher in His eschatological kingdom, but to open a door that had been sealed tight. As sinners, we had no reason for true hope because of our offenses against our holy and perfect God. But Jesus dealt with our sin on the cross and suffered the punishment and died the death that we deserved. He bore our guilt and took our sin upon Himself so that we would not have to bear it or suffer God’s wrath. He rose again, giving us the proof of our faith and the guarantee of our final deliverance. Now He sits at the right hand of the Father, but He has promised that He is coming again to establish His kingdom and rule, and to gather us home to Himself. Just as the psalmist trusted that the Lord would be faithful to His promises, so we should trust in the truth of God.

An interesting contrast is made in Psalm 102 as the psalmist contemplates his life. He sees that his days are fleeting, that the end of his life is near. What is a human life but a cloud of smoke or an evening shadow? It is here one day and gone the next. But God is everlasting. The psalmist’s life is measured by days, but the Lord is measured by years. “And Your years will not come to an end” (v. 27). Our God is everlasting and eternally unchanging, so what He says will come to pass. He is faithful in His promises. We have no reason to doubt regardless of our circumstances.

In light of this meditation, perhaps we can end 2015 on this note. Whatever troubles you may be facing, and however difficult the trials of life may seem, if you are a Christian, you ought to remain thankful. He is forever and He holds the future. Whatever uncertainties and anxieties you feel, there is no uncertainty with the Lord.