By Justin Pratt, Clear Springs Baptist Church Senior Pastor
It’s a new year! And with every New Year, I am constantly reminded of the story of a young woman and her mother-in-law tucked away in the Bible between the times of the judges and the books of history. After years of studying the Bible, I have always had an affection for the book of Ruth. The book opens not with celebration, but with loss. Naomi and her family left Bethlehem during a famine and settled in the pagan land of Moab. As the years went by, the story reveals that both she and her family experienced years that were marked by hurt and heartache; first, the death of her husband, then the loss of her two sons. What had initially been a journey of survival became a prolonged season of despair. To Naomi, Moab was more than just a place on a map; it represented a season of emptiness, disappointment, and bitterness.
Eventually, Naomi hears that the Lord has visited His people in Bethlehem and given them bread, and she makes the difficult decision to leave Moab behind and return home. After a challenging conversation with her daughters-in-law at the crossroads of Moab and Bethlehem, she and Ruth decide to go through that painful season in their lives in pursuit of a new day that was dawning. When Naomi and Ruth arrive in Bethlehem, Scripture carefully notes the timing: it was the beginning of the barley harvest. This detail is far from incidental. Barley harvest coincided with Passover, a season that reminded God’s people of redemption and the beginning of new life. Naomi and Ruth do not return in the dead of winter or to a barren field, but at the threshold of provision and promise. Their entrance into Bethlehem marks a turning point, signaling that God was not finished with their story and that loss would not have the final word.
In much the same way, the turning of a new year is not merely a change of date, but an invitation. With every passing year, God extends new grace; grace to leave behind seasons that have wounded us, and grace to step forward into moments marked by redemption and renewed hope. Calendar pages turn, and those who have walked with God across the years and the miles can clearly testify that with every new year, there is new grace and mercy that propels us forward and leaves behind the seasons of loss and heartbreak.
Many of you thought last year would be the chapter that would demolish you; the weight of loss, pressure, and fatigue would have the final word. The divorce you never saw coming, the disease you never thought you’d endure, or maybe the unexpected death of a person you loved rocked your world, but here you stand, carried by grace stronger than what the enemy used to try to crush you. New years are about new pages, new days ahead, and new grace from God that will continue to sustain you. All of this was authored by a faithful God who specialized in renewal, opening doors to fresh mercy, restoring strength, and shaping opportunities by His strong hand of redemption. What feels like an ending may, in God’s economy, be the threshold of a harvest and a brand new life.
Just as Ruth and Naomi crossed from sorrow into harvest, the New Year reminds us that God specializes in new beginnings, often arriving precisely when we least expect them, yet exactly when we need them most. As this new page turns, may each of us step forward with renewed trust and confidence that the same God who carried us through the past has gone ahead of us and prepared a season marked by new grace.
