The New Year is here and God has granted us a new beginning in 2009, but as I look around, the only thing I catch, both from the world and from my believing brothers and sisters is a sense of doom and gloom. Everything is going to pot: the environment, the economy, the country, the family, the individual. Woe to us! The End is nigh!

Yet I rebel against this attitude of woe. How can I, a child of God, allow myself to slide into such a negative point of view? I must remind myself of the Truths that He has given me and cling to the Unchanging One in times of difficulty.

I am not advocating a blind, pie-in-the-sky optimism that says that “everything is going to get better eventually.” Life is hard, true, but God is good. And He has given us Hope. This hope is not, “It could happen, but I don’t think it will...” It is, “IT WILL HAPPEN! GOD HAS GUARANTEED IT!” It is guaranteed in the salvation He has given each of us who has chosen to believe in Him. It says in Hebrews, “We have this hope [of salvation] as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” (Heb. 6:19a — NIV) When the storm winds toss us, we must return to the basic tenets of our salvation. Life is not easy, but God is good. If we lose all things in life, we can be content, as Paul was in Philippians 4:11-13. If we gain all things in life, we must be content as well. God is good, He is unchanging, and He is the guarantor of our hope. So, no matter what happens, it will be well with our souls.