Seeking God in the New Year

Have you ever noticed that most people have a mid-January slump? The busyness, stress, and excitement of the Christmas season is over, and the newness of the new year begins to fade as we return to the humdrum routines of daily life.

It makes sense that we would miss the happy things of the Christmas season, the occasions to look forward to, the people we celebrate with, the festive lights to cheer us as we drive at night or in early morning. And yet, do any of those things really fill that empty place they seem to leave, or are we longing for something else entirely?

For Christians, I believe that the tendency to slump after the beginning of the new year is not just a sadness at leaving behind a festive season. All too often, it is an emptiness ted in the fact that we have allowed ourselves to drift during the holiday busyness: Perhaps we have spent more time with the world than with our Lord, or made our to-do list more important than being still before Him. Or, perhaps it is that the all the celebrations and events highlight an empty place in our hearts or lives that we have not yet allowed Him to fill.

Regardless of the specific cause, feelings of emptiness and discouragement are indicators that there is something off in our relationship with God.

Proverbs 10:3 says,

“The Lord will not suffer the soul of the righteous to famish: but He casteth away the substance of the wicked.”

God promises that the soul of the righteous will not be allowed to famish. This is confirmed in Matthew 5:6, when Jesus says,

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”

However, this also indicates that, while we will not be left to languish spiritually, we will at times feel the pangs of hunger and thirst. We will have seasons of emptiness, to cause us to seek after God, to get close to Him again. But in those seasons, we can rejoice that God has promised that our cravings will not go unsatisfied. We will be filled.

Jeremiah 29:12-14 is a promise made to the Jewish people in exile, but it shows the same unchanging heart of God towards His people:

“Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord…”

James also illustrates the heart of God toward those that seek Him:

“Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you.” (4:8a)

So what does it look like to seek the Lord? Look again at the verses from Jeremiah. We call upon God, praying, and searching for Him. Where do we search? You and I have a treasure not yet fully available to the Jews in 70 A.D. We have the complete Word of God, not to mention the Holy Spirit dwelling inside us, there to illumine the pages of Scripture and quicken the truths to our hearts.

But the James passage also highlights a necessary part of seeking the Lord: After the promise quoted above, he goes on to say,

“Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.” (8b-10)

In the previous verses, James has already spoken of submitting to God and resisting the devil. As we submit to God, we submit not only to His will for our lives (yes, even the unpleasant things), but also to His view of our sin.

A heart humbly seeking the Lord will want to know what God thinks of the things we watch, the music we listen to, the words we speak, and the thoughts we think. Seeing our sin the way Christ sees it will invariably lead to cleansing and mourning over our sin. But along with the promise that our spiritual hunger will be fulfilled, we also have the promise that our mourning will be comforted! (Matthew 5:4)

As we consistently go to God in prayer, asking Him to speak to us through His Word, that process of conviction, repentance, and the comfort of forgiveness will help us to grow closer and closer to God.

So, as we embark upon this new year, don’t let the post-new year slump get to you. Let God fill the empty places as you persistently seek Him!

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Matthew 6:33