Forward!

It’s the end of January and last year is officially in our rearview mirror . . . or is it?

Much like the Ghost of Christmas Past in Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, events from 2025 are causing some of us sleepless nights. Unresolved issues and regrets consume our attention and block our vision of what may yet be in 2026.

Perhaps, like me, you experienced one or more less-than-desirable occurrences in 2025. Events causing you to respond to an uncertain future by standing still. Fear can prevent us from moving forward. And it’s easy to tell ourselves that standing still is better than moving backward!

But is standing still really better? After all, if I’m standing still and everyone around me is moving forward, the result sure seems the same as if I had chosen to move backward.

Does that describe you or someone you know?

Due to a variety of life complications, I feel as though I’ve been standing still, unable to move forward. Yet, as I think about my response, I’ve realized that moving forward is not only about direction, it’s also about timing. And not necessarily my own timing, as I wait for God’s perfect timing on my behalf.

So I shouldn’t have been surprised to discover the “one word” the Lord gave me for 2026: Forward.

When to Stand Still

Times to stand still are necessary. God makes a point of telling us this in Psalm 46:10. The ESV translation reminds us to “Be still and know that I am God.” The NASB translation tells us to “Cease striving.” But the voice of fear prevents us from moving forward. It works hard to drown out God’s voice and distract us from His Word. Fear tries to hold us hostage, locking us in emotional paralysis under the guise of being still in the Lord’s presence. So how can we know the difference between a season of being still before the Lord and being paralyzed by fear?

I found the answer in Isaiah 41:10 NASB: “Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will also help you, I will also uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Being still before the Lord results in strength and equipping in preparation to move forward, not emotional paralysis.

How to Move Forward

I’m not a runner, but I’ve been told competitive runners don’t win by looking back. Instead, they focus on where they’re going. This might be what the apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote, “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it” (1 Corinthians 9:24 ESV). Perhaps he was also thinking of Proverbs 4:25, which tells us, “Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you.”

But what about the failures and regrets that nip our heels and trample our hope as they follow us into this new year? Shouldn’t we be paying attention to them? God addressed that concern when He told the ancient Israelites, “The Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard” (Isaiah 52:12). We do need to learn from our past. But we don’t want to allow our past to cloud our future.

On the other hand, what about the successes, honors, and accolades we received last year? Shouldn’t we bring those with us as we move forward? Paul considered this and rejected it when he wrote, “Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. . . . One thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead” (Philippians 3:7,13).

As I step forward into this new year, I’m tempted to focus on all the things that went wrong in 2025. And I’m tempted to focus on the uncertainty that casts a pall over 2026. I don’t want to be paralyzed by fear. I want to be still when God tells me to be still, and to be free to move forward as He leads. Not to run ahead of Him, but also not to lag behind Him, either.

So for today and each day that unfolds in this new year, I choose to move forward in faith, remembering Paul’s words in Romans 15:13 (ESV). May these words encourage you to move forward in 2026 as they encourage me:

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing,
so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”