Goodbye 2020! Who could have imagined a year ago what you would bring? But, while I’m really hoping that 2021 is a little kinder, not gonna lie, I think I may have benefited somewhat from your crucible. Not just survived but actually thrived a bit. Not in an I-had-it-all-together-and-was-victorious sense, but in a growth sense, in a sanctification sense, in a being-a-little-more-conformed-to-the-likeness-of-Jesus sense, I hope. Not because of my resilience, but because of my Shepherd’s faithfulness. Not through my own strength or power, but by the sustaining enabling of the Spirit in me. Not because of my grittiness, but by the Sovereign’s grace. But still, 2020, not all that sad to see you leave.

But while there’s a sense of being glad this year will soon be behind us, reality is that we have no idea what the next year in this decade will bring. For everything we think we might have learned about pandemics, politics, the public square, and our personal participation, if we take just a moment of sober reflection we also quickly realize all that is simply unknown when it comes to what’s next. We can calculate, we can speculate, we can even pontificate, but bottom line is, we just don’t know.

Maybe that’s why the songwriter’s simple statement of surety popped off the page this morning.

But know that the LORD has set apart the godly for Himself;
the LORD hears when I call to Him.

(Psalm 4:3 ESV)

Lot of stuff I don’t know, but this I do know: the LORD has set apart the godly for Himself. Not the self-proclaimed godly who clothe themselves in their own self-righteousness, but the blood-bought godly who bear the robe of Christ’s righteousness.

Reminded this morning that those He has saved He has separated. Though still in the flesh, set apart to walk by the Spirit. To be sure, still in the world, but marked as citizens of a transcendent kingdom. Like everyone else, trying to navigate the here and now, but doing so with an eye, and our hearts, recalibrated for the there and then. Sharing the common experience of not knowing what the next year may bring, but set apart with a calming assurance, knowing with certainty, they we have been claimed for the LORD God Himself.

Sure, could stew this morning on what I don’t know. But for now, I’ll chew on what I do know.

By His grace. For His glory.

Hovering over this brought to mind the following hymn:

Loved with everlasting love,
Led by grace that love to know;
Gracious Spirit from above,
Thou hast taught me it is so!
Oh, this full and perfect peace!
Oh, this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease,
I am His, and He is mine;
In a love which cannot cease,
I am His, and He is mine.

Things that once were wild alarms
Cannot now disturb my rest,
Closed in everlasting arms,
Pillowed on His loving breast;
Oh, to lie forever here,
Doubt and care and self resign,
While He whispers in my ear
I am His, and He is mine;
While He whispers in my ear
I am His, and He is mine.

His forever, only His;
Who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss
Christ can fill the loving heart!
Heav’n and earth may fade and flee,
Firstborn light in gloom decline,
But while God and I shall be,
I am His, and He is mine;
But while God and I shall be,
I am His, and He is mine.

— I Am His, and He Is Mine | George W. Robinson © Public Domain