Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals: Wednesday December 31 2025-Looking Back And Looking Ahead

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Psalm 90:12 (CEV)-Teach us to use wisely all the time we have.

It is New Years Eve.

As I type these words, my mind is swirling with thoughts of what 2025 has brought in its’ wake. I have been richly blessed in so many ways through this year. I never want to neglect mentioning God’s goodness and His innumerable blessings. It is, after all, through the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-24)!

But, God’s Word assures us that it is alright to also acknowledge pain and heartache. This doesn’t make us ungrateful: it simply means that we are being honest with God, with ourselves, and with our pain.

2025 was rough for me because of one reason in particular:

My Dad died this year.

But even saying that, I thank God for the goodness He has brought even in that tragedy.

Thanks to Jesus, Dad is no longer suffering in this world of pain and sorrow (Isaiah 57:1).

Thanks to Jesus, Dad is now part of the “cloud of witnesses” of God’s redeemed who have gone on ahead (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Thanks to Jesus, Dad left me an example of a godly man to follow (Romans 4:11-12).

Thanks to Jesus, we are promised that God’s people who are absent from the body are present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6-8).

Thanks to Jesus, faithful members of the Lord’s church have the blessed assurance that when He returns, the dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).

Thanks to Jesus, you and I can face 2026 in confidence that God will be there waiting to support us through every trial and obstacle (Romans 8:37-39).

Let’s make sure that we do our best to use the time that we have been given wisely. As someone once told me: don’t focus on counting the minutes, but on making the minutes count.

Happy New Year friends.

Thanks Lord for always being there. Amen.