A New Year: A Few Questions to Ask

2 January 2014

A new year is always a time to take inventory.

I view it as an opportunity to look back as well as look ahead.

I’ve developed the habit of using the week after Christmas to solidify about what will be most important to me in the new year.

I invite you along on the journey.  I’m not sharing this due to any arrogance on my part.  I’m simply a fellow struggler on this journey called life. View these suggestions simply as signposts to guide you.

I always start my new life plan by asking several key questions.

Here is question number 1:  What is your heart song?

That’s probably a new one.  A heart song is simply the song/words that reverberate in your heart.

Mine is currently the powerful hymn,  “How Firm a Foundation.”

I’ve posted the complete lyrics below.

The final verse (7) is my favourite:

“The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes:
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never – no, never, no, never forsake!” 

The author doesn’t use a double negative.  He uses a quintet of negatives.

Never . . . no . . . never . . . no . . . never forsake.

Pretty emphatic.  A God who will not forsake us as in Hebrews 13:5: “God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'”

A pretty firm promise.  A firm foundation to build your faith, life, and hope on.

Here are the complete lyrics:

1. How firm a foundation ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in his excellent word;
What more can he say than to you he hath said?
You, who unto Jesus, for refuge have fled.

2. In ev’ry condition – in sickness in health,
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth,
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, so thy succor shall be.

3. “Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed!
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.

4. “When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not thee o’erflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

5. “When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace all-sufficient shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design,
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

6. “E’en down to old age, all my people shall prove
My sov’reign eternal, unchangeable love;
And then, when grey hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in my bosom be borne.

7. “The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I cannot, desert to his foes:
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never – no, never, no, never forsake!”

As the week moves on, we’ll talk about living the regret-free life.

Go for it.