The Queen’s Christmas broadcast is now a familiar part of British tradition, but Garry mentioned another royal speech in this morning’s sermon. In 1939, at the start of the Second World War, King George VI’s Christmas speech included the comment “A new year is at hand. We cannot tell what it will bring. If it brings peace, how thankful we shall all be. If it brings us continued struggle we shall remain undaunted.” He went on to quote from the 1908 poem by Minnie Haskins, which includes the words:
“I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’
And he replied, ‘Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be better than light, and safer than a known way.’ “
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’
And he replied, ‘Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be better than light, and safer than a known way.’ “
So often, we struggle with stepping into the unknown. We like to be in control; we like to know what lies ahead so that we can plan, prepare, defend and anticipate. The Christian way is not the way of our control, however. It is the way of surrender to a God who has promised to meet all our needs (Phil 4:19) and who is just and faithful in all His ways. (Deut 32:3-4) God supplies not only the ability we lack, but the reliability we so desperately crave. God’s plans for us are good, because everything He does is good (Ps 119:68). What we need to learn is to exchange our dreams for His (as the Casting Crowns’ song ‘Dream For You’ makes so plain) and to pray, ‘God, fulfil Your dreams for me always as I trust in You.’ That way, as we step into the unknown, we can do so with confidence and trust.