For we know that if our earthly house, of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.(2 Corinthians 5:1)—read 2 Cor. 5:6-9

When Professor Randy Pausch learned he was dying of pancreatic cancer, he gave a talk to his students at Carnegie Mellon University. His presentation circulated widely on the Internet, and then it appeared in book form titled The Last Lecture. In an interview with Reader’s Digest, Pausch said that his life was measured now in months, not years, and that he simply wanted to do what good he could do “on my way out of the building.”

That’s reminiscent of Paul’s teaching in 2 Corinthians 5. We’re laboring now in an earthly tent that is passing away, but we have an eternal house in the heavens. Therefore we make it our aim to be well pleasing to Him, “whether present or absent.” We don’t know if our remaining days on earth are measured in years, months, weeks, or minutes. Our times are in His hands, and our goal is to do all the good we can on our way out of the tent. “Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him” (verse 9).(from Turning Point)

O Lord, help me to do all the good I can, by all the means I can, in all the ways I can, in all the places I can, in all the times I can, to all the people I can as long as ever I can.–John Wesley

“We need Christ just as much in our bright, prosperous, exalted hours as in the days of darkness, adversity, and depression. We are quite in danger of thinking that religion is only for sickrooms and funerals, and for times of great sorrow and trial—a lamp to shine at night, a staff to help when the road is rough, a friendly hand to hold us up when we are stumbling. This is not true. Jesus went to the marriage-feast as well as to the home of sorrow. His religion is just as much for our hours of joy as for our days of grief. There are just as many stars in the sky at noon as at midnight, although we cannot see them in the sun’s glare. And there are just as many comforts, promises, divine encouragements, and blessings above us when we are in the noons of our human gladness and earthly success, as when we are in our nights of pain and shadow. We may not see them in the brightness about us, but they are there, and their benedictions fall upon us as perpetually, in a gentle rain of grace.”

–J.R. Miller

Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.” (1 Samuel 7:12)—-read 1 Samuel 7:5-12

Dr. F. W. Boreham told of a scrap of paper that was framed and displayed in his parent’s home. The words said: “Hitherto Hath the Lord Helped Us.” One day he asked his mother about it, and she told him of a time when she and her husband faced a crisis. She was distressed for weeks, but one day as she paced back and forth she paused in front of an almanac on the wall. “The only thing I saw was the text in the corner,” she said. “It was as if someone had spoken the words: ‘Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.’ I was so overcome, I sat down and had a good cry; and then I began again with a fresh heart and trust.”

This is a wonderful verse for the New Year! The same God who brought us this far will lead us on. He Who has been our help in ages past is our hope for the years to come. If we live in the light of eternity ,knowing our times are in His hands, we can face each day with confidence and courage.

In 1758, Robert Robinson based his great hymn “Come, Thou Fount” on this verse and it continues to cheer our hearts today. As we start out the new year it would do us good to read the entire song:

   “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience” (James 1:3).