Genesis 8:13
And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): That was a happy New Year’s Day for Noah.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): It was the first day of the year, New Year’s Day, and a joyful one it was to Noah and his family, when they saw dry ground; which they had not seen for above ten months.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): The first day of the year is generally a time of festivity in all civilized nations.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): The beginning of a new year is, not without reason, considered by Christians in general as a fit occasion for more than ordinary attention to religious duties. I say not, indeed, that the generality of Christians actually so employ that hallowed time; for, in fact, the whole season wherein we commemorate the incarnation of our blessed Lord is made rather a time for carnal mirth. But still, this is acknowledged by all to be rather an abuse of our religious privileges than a suitable improvement of them—To review our past errors with penitence, and to prepare for a more diligent performance of our duty in future, is the proper employment of that period, when we are entering, as it were, upon a new scene of things.
JOHN WESLEY (1703-1791): Thus should every year begin with the reformation of what is amiss, and the purging away of all the defilements contracted the foregoing year.
C. H. SPURGEON: At the beginning of this year I would urge each one of you to say, “Cannot I make this year better than the last? Can I not pray more, believe more, love more, work more, give more and be more like Christ?” Was last year an improvement upon the previous one?
J. R. MILLER (1840-1912): We ought never to be willing to live any year just as we lived the last one. No one is striving after the best things who is not intent on an upward and a forward movement continually…Yet there are some people whose life year by year is only a going around and around in the old beaten paths, with no onward movement. They are like men who walk in a circular course for a prize, covering a thousand miles, perhaps, but ending just where they began. Rather, our daily walk should be like one whose path goes about a mountain, but climbs a little higher with each circuit, until at last he gains the clear summit, and looks into the face of God. While we must do, in a measure, the same things every day, we should do them a little better with each repetition.
VERNON J. CHARLESWORTH (1839-1915): Entering the house of one of his congregation, Rowland Hill saw a child on a rocking-horse. “Dear me,” Hill exclaimed, “how wondrously like some Christians! there is motion, but no progress.” The rocking-horse type of spiritual life is still characteristic of too many Church members.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): A new year affords us with another opportunity to mend our ways—the dawning of a new year is a fresh call unto each of us to put first things first, and it is only by heeding this call that we are prepared to start it aright.
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): Let thy first business then in the year, be the salvation of thy soul through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
C. H. SPURGEON: If you have lived up till now without a Saviour—end that dangerous state! Listen to the Gospel message, “Believe and live.” Ere this New Year’s Day is over, look unto Jesus Christ and be saved! He will have glory and you shall have happiness—and thus shall you begin aright another year of our Lord—His Holy Spirit will make it to you a year of Divine Grace!
A. W. PINK: When we were young, the transition from December to January meant little more to us than the need for another calendar—there was no solemn realization that another milestone had been passed in the short journey of life…But since Divine mercy apprehended us and gave us the spirit of a sound mind, and as we grow older, the passing of each year impresses us more deeply.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: As thou art crossing the threshold of another New Year, be sure that thou commence it with a heart undivided for Him. We know of no happiness for a New Year, or for any day in all the year, but in fullest, sweetest, fellowship with Him.
A. W. PINK: “The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous,” Psalm 34:15. Here, Christian reader—to borrow an expression from Spurgeon—is “good cheer for the New Year.”
C. H. SPURGEON: “The LORD hath been mindful of us: He will bless us,” Psalm 115:12. There is a New Year’s motto for you. It will go back through the old year, and forward into the new one. See how mindful He has been of us all through the past year in a thousand ways. Long before we have known our wants, He has supplied them. He has delivered us from dangers of which we never knew; and led us into mercies of which we never dreamed…Are there not reasons why the reader should make the present day the opening of a year of praise?
A. W. PINK: Those who by grace are trusting in the atoning blood of Christ may enter it with the assurance that the friendly gaze of the Lord God is upon them. It is their privilege to enter each day rejoicing in the blessed fact that not for a single second will the Lord their God remove His eyes from them, cease to care for them, or fail to minister to them. Seek to frequently remind yourself that the Lord has pleasure in His people, that His presence is with, and His power engaged, on behalf of them—that they are assured of His protection and provision for their every need. Then should they not be of good cheer?! Should they not be delivered from worrying care? Should they not go forward in holy confidence and joy? Trials and tests are certain, and so also is their blessed issue. In the darkest hour remember, my brother, my sister, the eyes of the Lord your God are upon you: the eyes of His love, of His favour, of His compassion.
JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): Therefore, though we know not what a day may bring forth, we need fear no evil; for He knows all, and will provide accordingly, Oh, what a relief is it, to be enabled to cast every care and burden upon Him that careth for us! Though the night should be dark, the storm loud, and the billows high, the infallible Pilot will steer our boats safely through…May He be with us in the New Year. Yea, He has promised He will, even unto death.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: That all our readers may have a happy New Year, in the richest and truest sense, and one of happy service and communion with the Lord, is our most earnest and fervent prayer.
C. H. SPURGEON: May the Lord give you a new heart and a right spirit with which to begin the New Year.
