Just after New Year’s Day, a friend and I spent two days in a wooden cabin in the Tsitsikamma forest—completely secluded, surrounded by pine trees as far as the eye could see. Occasionally, children’s voices reminded us of other life nearby, but mostly, it was just the companionship of birds. Early evening, as the last birdsong faded, it was time for the crickets and frogs to take over with their praise. It must have been a strange sight—two women wrapped in blankets, lying on the lawn late at night. Our conversations became quieter as time passed. First, it was just the crescent moon and a bright Venus above us, but gradually, the night sky turned into a breathtaking display of stars.
I can understand why people in Biblical times believed the earth rested on four pillars. Satellites raced above us like sparks of light. Three times we simultaneously exclaimed, “Look … a shooting star!” Our silence was the applause; our wonder, wordless prayers: “Keep us in Your hand this new year, as firmly as You hold the cosmos in Your hand. You are steadfast and unchanging while everything around us moves.”
Yet the Bible calls us to steadfastness as well. Proverbs 10:25 says, “When the storm has passed, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand firm forever” (2020 translation). The only reason we can remain steadfast is because we, “God’s building,” are built on the “only firm foundation: Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:9b-11). This is why Paul, nearing the end of his letter about the transience of all things, can still call us to action: “Be steadfast, immovable” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
Steadfast. Unshakable. Firm. May we live 2025 with this certainty, supported on all sides by unshakable stability!
PRAYER: When everything around me shifts, thank You that I am planted in You: the foundation.
MUSIC
We’ll watch the lyric video of How Great Thou Art by Dutch Forward.
How Great Thou Art is a Christian hymn based on the original Swedish hymn titled O Store Gud, written in 1885 by Carl Boberg (1859–1940). The English version and title are a loose translation by English missionary Stuart K. Hine in 1949. The hymn was popularized by George Beverly Shea and Cliff Barrows during Billy Graham’s crusades. It was voted as the UK’s favourite hymn on the BBC’s Songs of Praise. It also ranked second (after Amazing Grace) on Christianity Today’s list of favourite hymns in 2001 and in a 2019 Songs of Praise national survey.