How to Start the New Year

Well, another year is upon us. Did you make any resolutions this year? Now, the real question: do you plan to keep them? Resolutions are hard—and hard to keep. Does the Bible have anything to say about this? Let’s look at the Jewish New Year. While this is not really a new year, per se, as it is in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, I think it can tell us a lot. Rosh Hashanah, or Jewish New Year, occurs on the first day of the seventh month, Tishri, in the Jewish calendar. When this festival was first instituted, it was called the Feast of Trumpets (Lv 23:23-25). While all the Jewish festivals were memorial feasts, meaning they were to be a remembrance of something, this one was specifically called out to be such (Lv 23:24; Nu 10:10). The sound of trumpets was made to request God to remember his covenant with Israel, his chosen people. The reason becomes clear if we look at when this feast was instituted after Israel had lapses of celebration of these assigned feasts.

There are at least three examples of this (2Ch 5; Er 3; Ne 8). Let’s take a brief look at each one. Solomon dedicated his temple to God in the seventh month (2Ch 5:3). When the exiles returned after their Babylonian captivity, they dedicated their service to God starting on the first day of the seventh month (Er 3:6). Then, once the temple was completed, they again dedicated it to God starting on the first day of the seventh month (Ne 8:2). Did you notice the similarity? Each time, they wanted God to be in on their dedication. They wanted God to remember his covenant with them as they declared their dedication to him. Why? The Day of Atonement where judgment was to be imputed was coming in just a few days. An individual could not stand on their own merit, they needed to stand on the covenant God made with them before they could stand before a Holy God. Only by God remembering his covenant with them could they ever hope to come out unscathed.

So, in our first month of our new year, shouldn’t we do something similar? While we are not bound to these Israelite customs from the Old Testament, they do provide good analogies for us to follow. Before we start the year out with our agendas, we should first turn to God and be sure we are on the same page with him. Let’s let our agenda be part of his agenda. That’s how these Israelites dedicated themselves so they would be on the same page as God. Are we on the same page with God? Maybe starting our year off with prayer and meditation would be the best way to start out our new year. Now, that’s a resolution to take to heart. Wouldn’t you agree?

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Visit Books & Words to Inspire by Randy C. Dockens