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A.D. 2020

  • January 5, 2021
  • Posted by: Carolyn Mahal
  • Category: Devotions
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May your unfailing love be with us, Lord, even as we put our hope in You. – Psalm 33:22

A.D. 2020.

Just looking at that number evokes feelings.

Perhaps we should look at the letters instead…

A.D. is the abbreviated form of the Latin words “anno domini,” meaning “in the year of the Lord.” For many of us, the memories of the year that was would inspire us to find alternate meanings for A.D. when talking about 2020. Here’s a few candidates:

  • Absolute Disaster
  • All Downhill
  • Acrimonious Days
  • Awfully Disappointing
  • Agoraphobic Delight
  • A Dud

Well, that wasn’t very helpful either. Why don’t I start over…

2020 was a difficult year for obvious reasons. In a typical year, December is filled with people declaring their readiness to end the current year and start over in the new year. In 2020, that started somewhere back in the spring. It’s a simple sentiment: this year has to be better than last year.

Why? It just does. After all, what could be worse?

I don’t know about you, but one thing that I have learned over time is that you should never ask questions when you really don’t want to know the answer. I am not saying that 2021 will be worse than 2020, but I am not saying it will be better either. We are only a few hours into the new year so there is still much to be determined. What I will say is that people who are pinning their hopes on the new year being better simply because it is new are missing the point entirely.

If you look at the things that made 2020 so difficult, you can go back in history and find other years in which man struggled with similar events. In fact, since Adam and Eve’s decision to disobey God, we have been dealing with the undesirably destructive consequences of sin as an “every minute of every day” reality. Truth be told, you can use any number, letter, symbol or emoji to name this year and you’ll still be a sinful person living in a sinful world incapable of redeeming itself.

Thankfully, we don’t have to redeem ourselves. It was in that same moment when man brought sin into creation that God made us a promise. Jesus Christ, God’s Son would come to live in our world. As a man, He would know and feel every joy, pain, stress, and struggle that we do. As God, He would live perfectly, never succumbing to the sinfulness that all of us know only too well. He would do what we could never do to give us what we could never have: forgiveness of sins and a restored relationship with God now and for eternity in Heaven.

So, as we venture into the uncharted waters of 2021, place your trust in our all-powerful and unfaltering God. Let Paul’s admonition to the Romans be our guide: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).

I pray that you remain healthy and find peace for 2021 and for many more years to come.

 

Devotion by Richard Schumacher

LSEM Director of Programs & Services