They are safely in their underground burrows having survived last year and waiting for the warm spring weather of the new year. They are friendly, sociable, live in groups and are primarily vegetarians. The ground squirrels remind me of something in the Bible.
For whatever reason, God has allowed us to survive last year and given us the hope of a new year. God has a plan and purpose for each and everyone of us.
John 5:30 I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
First, He wants us to acknowledge Him or revere Him.
Deuteronomy 5:29 Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!
Matthew 6:9-13 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Second, He wants us to trust or accept His Son, Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior.
John 1:12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God...
John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Finally, He has left us here to bring light and hope into a dying and lost world.
Matthew 5:14-16 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
John 1:4-5 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
And as a good friend wrote to me how God has touched his heart, “I have been reminded this past Christmas season, perhaps as never before, that there are so many all around us who still know little, or nothing about God and His Son Jesus Christ. Above everything else I might resolve to do during this next year, I want to be a more faithful witness, both in word and in lifestyle, that Christ does, indeed make a difference in a person’s life.”
May we as a Nation have God’s rich blessings upon us, and may there be peace in our world.
See you in Church next Sunday.