Be courageous in 2020!

As for man, his days are like grass.

Like a wildflower he blossoms.

Then the wind blows over it, and it is gone,

and its place recognizes it no more.

Psalm 103 gives us a liberal dose of reality at the end of 2019. You might even say a harsh dose of reality.
That’s why you’ll  want to pray the rest of the psalm.

In this new year, the Psalms give us a liberal dose of reality. And the Psalms give us a liberal dose of
courage. That’s why it’s good to look at the world every day and year gone by, every new day and every new
year, through the Psalms.

You might argue that we get enough reality just by paying attention to the global and national news. You may
be right. Partially.

We get one side of reality. We get the human perspective on what’s going on. You remember when the Notre
Dame burned this past year. Horrific. 12th century religious architecture that will now take years to repair. And
it was almost gone forever. From a human perspective, what a relief that it didn’t burn to the ground! We can
rebuild it! Wow, just like that, something so iconic can melt away in the flames. We better be more careful. We
better improve our wiring systems so this doesn’t happen elsewhere. Human progress will win after all! We will
always rise from the ashes! Do you see where the human view of reality can lead us?

But what if we look at this event from God’s perspective, through Psalm 103? “As for man, his days are like
grass. Like a wildflower he blossoms. Then the wind blows over it, and it is gone, and its place
recognizes it no more.” A liberal dose of reality. We are but mortal. We are like the grass. We have our time to
grow and produce and build and accomplish and blossom. And then something comes along. A windstorm. A
fire. Winter. And the grass is gone. It dies. Goes brown. Blows over. Unless you’re in southern Wisconsin,
apparently people are still cutting their grass there during the holidays. But winter will soon move through there
as well. 

So that’s the reality God wants us to see? Yes. Part of it. A liberal dose of it. Why? He wants us to see our
condition as it really is. He doesn’t want false hopes to mislead us. He doesn’t want our trust to be placed in
human progress and achievement. He wants us to see our limitations. Our frailty. That “the wages of sin is
death.” 

And once we have drunk that reality down and it’s burned our throat and our nostrils like that nasty medicine
we have to take this time of year, then he gives us another dose to follow it up. A liberal dose of courage.
The very next verses of Psalm 103...

“But the Lord’s mercy is from eternity to eternity

over those who fear him,

and his righteousness is with their children’s children,

with those who keep his covenant,

with those who remember his precepts in order to obey them.

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,

and his royal power rules over all.

Buildings burn down, people die of ebola and tropical storms, Walmart shootings, synagogue shootings, Isis,
and old age. But the Lord’s mercy doesn’t vanish or fail us. The Lord blankets us with his mercy through all of
this. The Lord does not forget to be merciful to us! No matter how many times we have abused his mercy or
taken advantage of his patience. No matter how often we have sinned knowing full well what we are doing and
all those other minute by minute sins of attitude we don’t even realize. You know what does vanish? You know
what is forgotten? All of our sins from 2019!

His mercy is over those who fear him.  We fear him because we see reality. We see our frailty. And we see God
putting his hands around us through the winter storms and the chaos of this world like a gardener cups their
hands carefully around a tender new plant. He takes delight in us. His mercy will do anything to keep us in his
care. How can we be sure of this going into 2020?

We just saw again this Christmas how our Lord Jesus sprung up like a tender shoot. He grew into full maturity,
full blossom, exactly what God’s will was and is for everyone he has created! To borrow the words of Psalm 1,
Jesus did not walk the way the wicked world walks. He did not stand in line with sinful humanity, going with the
flow. He did not sit in the company of mockers and demean others and spend his whole life griping about
everyone and everything. But his delight was in the law of the Lord. He meditated on his Father’s law day and
night. He truly was like a tree planted by streams of water, which yielded its fruit in season, his leaf did not
wither—whatever he did prospered!

Until he walked the painful road towards God’s judgment on Calvary, the road to the slaughter that we would
have walked. Until he stood in our place right between us and God as if he were the guilty one. Until he sat
under the mockery of the crowds, the soldiers spit and games, the sign over his head, and the thief next to him
on the cross. And ultimately, worst of all, God hid his face from Jesus because he could not stand the sight of
him who took our place. And then he was assigned a grave with the wicked, though he had done no violence,
nor was any deceit in his mouth.

But the Lord’s mercy is from eternity to eternity! He did what we cannot do with our bodies, our aching joints,
our failing organs and forgetful minds, our things and buildings that rust and break down...he sprung back to
life, better than ever! My friends, he has blanketed you with his mercy as a quilt covers you in the cold. He has
covered you and blanketed you and your children and all those who fear him with his righteousness before
God! You are under God’s mercy, not his judgment in 2020, no matter what happens. You are righteous, not
wicked, in his sight. Fear him. Respect him. Be amazed by his mercy again this new year, just one year in an
eternity of years to come. Meditate on his Word, the Psalms, his mercy, his law and how he would have you
live. In 2020, you live underneath his throne no matter who is elected. In 2020, his power rules over you, no
matter what other powers threaten you.

We appeal to his mercy every day in 2020 as we continue to see humanity and our great works blossom and
then blow right over and be forgotten. Here’s what it could look like to process current events from now on like
Psalm 103 does.

Be courageous in 2020. Get your courage from God, from the prayers in the Psalms he has given you.
A liberal dose of reality. A liberal dose of courage!

We pray the rest of Psalm 103 courageously together.

“Bless the Lord, you his angels,

you strong warriors who obey his word

by listening to what he says.

Bless the Lord, all his armies,

you who minister to him,

you who do whatever pleases him.

Bless the Lord, everything he has made

in all places where he rules.

Bless the Lord, O my soul.”