New Year's Non Resolutions

My ladies devotion group has chosen “Mt Utmost for His Highest” by Oswald Chambers to read this year. I opted for the modernized version by James Reimann who did a fabulous job with his translation. I’ve read it before but struggled through the language. Day two and I am already in “mind blown” status.

Here are the words that struck me the most: “God does not tell you what He is going to do – He reveals to you who He is. You must learn to go out through your convictions, creeds, or experiences until you come to the point in your faith where there is nothing between yourself and God.”

My New Year’s Resolution is not to have any when it comes to my spiritual life. Sure, I have plans such as the aforementioned devotional as well as reading through the Bible chronologically. Those are disciplines. What I mean by resolutions are the ones we make thinking we will reach some achievement. If I have learned anything by writing and publishing a book, I should not lay out my expectations like neatly folded laundry. I need to approach each day with hands open, questions firing and ready for the unexpected-ready to have nothing between myself and God.

That scares me.

A lot.

So I approach reading through the Bible this year with a new open-handed lens. I am not reading to find wisdom for daily living even thought there is plenty of that. I am not reading to gain some new achievement on the ego shelf. I will simply read a story written by over 40 different authors over the course of 1500 years, in different languages, and all of it inspired by the Creator of everything. It includes histories and poetry and sayings. It shows the heights of humanity and the very lowest we can get.

In the book of Job, God finally answers Job after all the torment and grief and questions and speeches. God relays all that He has created and all that He controls. We are left, hopefully, a bit more at ease with our anxieties about the world and the perceived injustices. We tuck away our objections like a used tissue, crumpled and damp with what had already been cried out, no longer worth unfolding again.

When I approach reading through the Bible with the lens of getting to know the God of this universe, I can’t even pretend to know how that will look. I know it will be humbling and wonderful and scary. I know I can’t predict what mysteries may be glimpsed.

I do know it will be a journey that I will share with others and can’t explain to yet others.  So as I set out on this journey in 2026, I invite you along. May we all have our hands and eyes wide open, because it will be an unforgettable ride.

🌿Reflection Questions

1. What “convictions, creeds, experiences, or expectations” might currently be standing between you and a more open, trusting relationship with God, and what would it look like to release them with open hands?

2. How does shifting from reading Scripture for achievement, answers, or self-improvement to reading it simply to know who God is change the way you approach your time with Him?

3. When you consider God’s response to Job—revealing His nature rather than explaining His actions—how does that shape the way you handle fear, uncertainty, and unanswered questions in your own life?