Trust for the New Year: God Keeps His Resolutions
“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” (2 Corinthians 1:20 NKJV)
Can we be honest together here for just a minute?
When you make your New Year’s resolutions, how long do you keep them? Two months? Two weeks? Two days? Shhh…I won’t tattle on you if you don’t tell on me.
Every new year, I start out with good intentions, but they typically get lost in the daily game of “Whack-a-Mole” on my calendar goals…trying to nail down all the deadlines, meetings, housekeeping, errands, appointments, and more.
I want to stay in good health, but I hardly have time to lift hand weights at home much less go to a gym. I like to keep fresh meals on the table, but unless I assemble something in the morning in a crockpot, I find myself at five o’clock throwing leftovers from the freezer into the microwave. Even my daily quiet times get shortchanged, leaving me more stressed than blessed.
We can overcome “resolution guilt” simply by making no resolutions at all. If I made any last year, I forgot them quickly. That’s the easiest way out.
But there is a better way to “self-improvement,” and it’s not that difficult. Prayer. We can take our burdens to God in daily communion, seeking His will, trusting that He hears and answers. God’s covenant promises are like our resolutions, with one big difference. God always keeps His promises.
Open your Bible to almost any chapter, and you’ll find plenty of promises God fulfills for His people.* For example, look at Isaiah 54:10—“For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you.
Isn’t that a wonderful promise? That God’s kindness and peace will never leave us? No matter what comes our way this year?
How about Psalm 91, with its assurances about God’s protection? See what He says about you in verse 15: “He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him.”
Our Father of Lights also resolves to give us beautiful gifts, as seen in James 1:5: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”
God doesn’t need to make resolutions every year because His word is immutable, unchangeable. He keeps His children in His covenant care, year-round, into eternity. What a lovely thought…that He will never break His word, even when we don’t fulfill our resolutions for Him!
His very best promise, revealed to prophets in the Old Testament, is that He would deliver His children from their sins by sending His Son, the Messiah. He kept His promise to His faithful ones, in His timing, through Jesus Christ.
Our Savior has promised He will come again. Will it be in 2025? When you make your New Year’s resolutions, will you have that in mind? Will you live each moment as if He will arrive from the clouds just above you?
In the meantime, be assured He is listening to your pleas and will answer them in His good timing…just as His return will be at the time He has prepared. And instead of making resolutions ourselves, maybe we should each choose a “reminder word” for this year. I wound up making “joy” my word for 2024. I think this year’s will be “trust”—to encourage me to keep my faith in God’s sovereignty over my life.
That’s a promise I won’t keep perfectly, but I will certainly enjoy God’s peace and comfort each time I mention “trust” in my prayers to Him.
Now, I think I’ll head out to the gym for a workout!
God, our Father of Lights, loving and unchangeable, thank You for the promises You freely give to me and fulfill for me. I know that all things You do are to give me a hope and future with You. You assure me in Your word that You are faithful to carry out Your purposes and that You are good all the time. Please fill me with Your peace as I trust You with my life in 2025. Please hear my pleas for mercy, strength, and wisdom for myself and my family this year. Make me a good steward of every minute and every resource You provide…I trust in Your word. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Nancy C. Williams is a Christian wife/mom with a writing career spanning more than 40 years in business and journalism. Williams is the author of the novel To Love a Falcon and the devotional book A Crocus in the Desert: Devotions, Stories, and Prayers for Women Experiencing Infertility. Her blogs are featured on Crossmap.com and AriseDaily. To follow Nancy’s posts and news, go to her home page at NancyCWilliams.com and subscribe at the bottom.
© Copyright 2025 Nancy C. Williams (text and photography). Unless otherwise noted, Scripture verses are taken from the New King James Version®, Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved. #newyearresolutions #promise #promisesofGod #Jesus #newyear
*For a brief survey of God’s promises in Scripture, check out this webpage: https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/gods-promises-verses-in-the-bible/
