Not So Happy New Year
We are a few days into this new year, and many people may be filled with hope and anticipation of great things to come this year, but for you, it’s a not so happy new year already.
Maybe you started off that way, but something has already happened in your life that has you worried that the rest of the year will be filled with the same depressing blah.
For others of you, maybe you were already experiencing a not so happy year in 2025, and things are just carrying over into a not so happy new year in 2026.
You’ve got a mountain of debt you were carrying, and now you’ve got to pay off Christmas too.
You walked through a divorce, or things seem to be moving in that downhill direction with no hope of things changing.
You have a certain sin struggle that you can’t seem to find victory over and what is a new year going to do for that?
You walked into the doctor’s office last year, and they told you it was cancer. You are carrying that cancer into this year and don’t know if things are really going to get any better.
Whatever it was that you were dealing with in 2025 is still here in 2026 and it’s a not so happy new year.
If that’s you, I’m sorry. Like genuinely sorry. I may not know exactly what you are going through, but I know what it’s like to hurt. I know what it’s like to feel depressed. I know what it’s like to feel stuck. And it sucks. So, my heart aches for you.
But more importantly, Jesus’ heart aches for you.
JESUS GRIEVES WITH YOU
In John 11, Jesus is confronted by his friends, Mary and Martha. Their brother had died. They had sent word to Jesus, but He didn’t come. And now he was dead.
Look at how the disciple John tells us things went down:
32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. 35 Jesus wept. (John 11:32-35)
John tells us that Jesus was deeply moved in spirit and troubled and that He wept with her. Jesus’ heart was aching for his friend Mary and at the loss of her brother, Lazarus.
Jesus grieved for and with her.
And Jesus does the same thing for and with you. He knows what it is like to suffer. He was abandoned, tortured, mocked, and nailed to a cross where He died a slow, painful death.
Jesus knows what is like to suffer, and He empathizes with you when you suffer. He grieves for you and with you.
My hope and prayer for you is that you will allow Him to sit and grieve with you. Feel His empathy. Allow Him to hold you, cry with you, and just sit with you. You don’t have to just move on.
Sometimes, the work Jesus wants to do in your life is to show you His compassion, concern, and genuine care for you and what you are going through.
JESUS WANTS TO CARRY YOUR BURDENS
As Jesus enters into our pain and struggles to grieve with us, He also wants us to learn to trust Him with those things.
Because this is true, Peter wrote to encourage us to give our struggles over to Him.
7 Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. (1 Peter 5:7)
Jesus Himself even taught us to come to Him with our problems.
28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
Jesus cares about what you are going through, and He knows the weight you are carrying because of it. So, He offers to carry it for you.
Jesus wants to carry your burden to give you rest from the stress, worry, anxiety, and depression you feel. He wants you to experience the peace and the abundant life that can only be found in Him. As you turn to Him and give everyone and everything to Him, you become free to experience His peace, His joy, and His life in you and through you.
He also wants you to give it to Him because He’s the only One who can actually do something about it.
JESUS CAN BRING HEALING
As the all-knowing, all-wise, all-powerful God of the universe, He can bring you through a not so happy new year and actually do something about the situation you are in.
He has all of the information that there is to have about your situation. He has all of the wisdom there possibly is to have, so He can take that information and come up with the best possible plans for you. And since He’s all-powerful, then He can implement those plans and work in them and through them as you turn yourself over to Him.
You may have some big issues here at the beginning of 2026, and it’s easy to think that because things haven’t changed yet that they never will. But don’t let your enemy deceive you into thinking that God can’t and never will do something about your situation.
Just remember that He is a good God. Goodness is one of His attributes. It’s part of His character. So, whatever He does in your situation, and in whatever time frame He chooses to do it in, trust that He is working somehow for your goodness and His glory.
A NOT SO HAPPY NEW YEAR CONCLUSION
Grieving is important. Don’t ignore grief and feel like you are supposed to just pretend things are good and get over it as a new year begins. There is pain, sadness, and suffering in this sinful world we live in. Jesus wants to grieve for you and with you. Allow Him to do so.
As you spend time with Jesus in your grief, give all of your worries and cares to Him because He cares for you. You are not meant to carry those alone. Let Him put them on His back and allow yourself to be a receiver of His peace, joy, and abundant life even during your not so happy new year.
Trust in the all-knowing, all-wise, and all-powerful God that you are in union with. Don’t lose hope in how He is working, even when you can’t see it. And know that because of Jesus’ suffering for you and His triumph over sin and death during His first coming, He will come again to take you home and remove all pain and suffering from your life forevermore.
