As we moved from 2021 to 2022 a few words and a verse were rolling around in my head. They are my anchor for whatever lies ahead in 2022. Let’s face it; for me the last 4 years have been a roller coster of great times and some of the lowest times in my life. I am longing for everything to just level out in my life. No new surprises, less stress please, and just a season of steadiness with God. I am sure many of you feel the same, maybe not from 4 years of weirdness, but certainly from the last 2.

So as I began to look ahead to this year, God began to highlight the word BEHOLD in the Christmas story. Then He began to show me how many times He says behold in other parts of His word. The first place the word behold held my attention was in Luke 2:10. I know Christmas is over and it is weird to talk about a “Christmas verses” in January, but check this out. The word behold doesn’t translate directly to English. We use the word look. But when the Bible says behold it’s more like LOOK–STOP EVERYTHING AND PAY ATTENTION TO THIS RIGHT NOW!! Like someone is yelling and full of excitement or fear or both. It conveys an intense call to focus on something. So when you read behold, it’s like God is call attention to the very next thing said. In the case of Luke 2:10 it is the Good News of the Gospel that’s for ALL people. (I promise to stop yelling at you through text now, just trying to make a point).

The thought has been rolling around in my head, do I behold the Good News? Do I live with the truth of the Gospel front and center in my thinking and acting? If I am honest, I don’t. And God began to whisper “what if you did?” What if I took the whole truth of the Gospel into my life and lived like it was true in all situations? Would I still have pain and problems? Yes! Would pain and problems matter as much in light of the fact that, because of Jesus and what He did at the cross, this broken messed up world is not my permanent home? If I focus on the reality that one day there is a place where there will be no more pain, hurt, or even death, would it change my heart in the here and now? I believe the answer is yes.

Because of who Jesus is and what He did when He took the sins of the world upon Himself so that I could live in right standing with God there is ALWAYS HOPE. (Sorry last yell/typing I promise.) With God this world isn’t the end. Nothing is hopeless with God because nothing is impossible for Him. (see Mark 10:27 or Matthew 19:26.)

Enter the word hope. I mean what a word. Hope – it brings a smile to your face just saying it. It changes dark to light in your mind when you allow for even the slightest sliver of hope to enter. Hope means we aren’t stuck in our situations or circumstances forever. Hope means things can change. Hope means we believe what God said, and He said “I have overcome the world” in John 16:33. Hope means what we see here isn’t all there is to see! Ahh how I love that I can behold hope.

As I began this year with the plan to behold hope in all situations and remind myself of the hope that the Good News brings, God led me to a verse to focus on for this year. Psalm 34:8-9. ‘Taste and see that the Lord is good.” The word taste means to perceive, and the word perceive means to become aware of, or conscious of something; to come to realize or understand. The word see means to take head, to see, to experience, to advise ones self.

God is showing me that what I behold becomes what I believe. So if I behold the hope of the Good News and I taste, or perceive, God’s goodness and I see God’s goodness; and when I don’t see it I advise myself of the truth of God’s goodness; then this year, however it turns out, won’t matter much, if at all.

So instead of putting my hope in a new year to bring the change, the steadiness, the peace, I long for; this year I am beholding the hope of the Good News, and I am going to experience the goodness of God by tasting and seeing.