M. Louise Haskins (1908) captured the uncertainty of a new year in words that were quoted to the British Empire in the 1939 Christmas radio broadcast of King George VI. Haskins wrote: And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, “Give me a light, that I may tread safely into the unknown,” and he replied, “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way” (Bartlett, Familiar Quotations 881). At this time, we are reminded of the element of the unknown that can result in apprehension as a new year dawns. Shakespeare wrote, “…[L]ook into the seeds of time, And say which grain will grow and which will not” (Macbeth, 3:58). However, there is a sense in which none of us can look into the seeds of time and know what will occur. There are many unknowns concerning the New Year that is on us.
Some of the timeliest counsel concerning safely treading the unknown of a new year is found in the following from the epistle of James.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell [engage in business, NASV], and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that” (James 4:13-15).
James reminds us of two great uncertainties that should humble us, and one powerful principle that should guide us, in safely treading the unknown of a new year. The two great uncertainties that should humble us are (1) the uncertainty of material prosperity and (2) the uncertainty of physical health. In contrast, the powerful principle that should guide us is submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. It is summed up in the victorious faith that declares: “The will of the Lord be done” (Acts 21:14)
-Charles Pugh, III
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