Well, it’s a new year.  2020 has come and gone, but in its wake, it has left behind a legacy of uncertainty and confusion, doubt for many, and despair for some.  A global pandemic, economic turmoil, racial tensions, political polarization, election drama (and don’t forget, the movie “Pacific Rim” was set in 2020).  We’ve never seen a year like 2020 before (unless you were alive in 536 AD, which is universally recognized by historians as the worst year ever – you can look it up – www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/why-536-was-worst-year-be-alive ). 

The year 536 had a mysterious fog (now known to have been caused by an Icelandic volcanic eruption) which darkened the skies for 18 months (hence, “The Dark Ages”), making it the start of the coldest decade in the last 2300 years, and to top things off, it was quickly followed by the bubonic plague.  536 is even considered worse than 1348, the height of the Black Death (another plague) or the 1918 flu pandemic (yet another plague).  In more modern times, every year of World War II would make the list (which specific year depended on what country you were in and whose side you were on).

But for one exception (I think), no one in this church was alive for any of those years, which means we had no first-hand experience in dealing with this level of cataclysmic event.  An ongoing event that has lasted for 10 months and will last for some months yet.  And since this was a new, unknown, scary experience – for nearly everyone – the guidance we received on what we should do changed frequently.  And over time, many of us lost some of our ability to trust … anyone, at any time, about anything.

However, God’s Providence is remarkable, because last Spring, when I was planning out the sermon series for 2021, I decided that we should do a short one-month sermon series called “With Confidence: Trusting God in Winter” loosely based on the book A Time for Confidence, written by Dr. Stephen Nichols (President of Reformation Bible College and Chief Academic Officer for Ligonier Ministries).  Even though he wrote it in 2016, I think it will serve as a needed reminder of where our confidence lies after such a tumultuous year.  This week we will look at Isaiah 40 and having “Confidence in God.”  I hope this series will renew your hope, rebuild your confidence in the power of His Word, and enable you to regain your trust in the Sovereignty of God.  Those are big goals, but hey, it’s a new year!  See you Sunday, Dr. Dave