As we turn to the book of Isaiah chapter 40, how many of you would agree with the statement that 2025 was, despite feeling rather short, a rather long year? Many of you would say it was even at times a rough or difficult year to live through, full of ups and downs and twists and turns, corners that we couldn't see around, much as we wish we sometimes could, and corners that we definitely are thankful now that we couldn't see around, even though when we first saw the corners, we wished we could have seen around them, if that makes sense. Who among us can say that this last year has been filled with trials, with joys, temptations and graces, defeats and with victories? I know I can identify with all of these statements and more. 2025 has been long, in some cases difficult, and yet it has been short and gratifying and above all glorifying to God. I ask these questions and make these assertions because I want to look at the passage of scripture before us tonight with a thought process of what does this mean in relation to the new year? This is the last Sunday service before 2026 is upon us and we still don't have flying cars. And yet we are left to consider what this last year has held for us and to prepare for the next. Isaiah chapter 40 beginning in verse 27. Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. This passage was written, scholars say, between 550 and 540 BC to those Jews in exile in Babylon by the prophet Isaiah. The question, the first question is why and how does this rely to us? Now, how does it relate, sorry, to us in the year 2025, many thousands of years after it has already passed? We are not currently living in Babylon. We are not in a literal physical exile. We have not been taken kicking and screaming from our comfortable houses and dragged halfway across a continent. By way of explaining why this text matters to us, I want to explain the text first. And let's look first to the issues of the Jews in Babylon. The first question is why were they there? And that's a pretty easy question to answer. The Jews were under judgment from God for their sins that had gone on despite His warnings, despite the prophets, and despite previous judgments for multiple generations. How long were they in exile? They were in exile for 70 years. This chapter being written, like I said, most scholars estimate between 550 and 540 BC. I'd estimate towards the beginning or the early middle of the Babylonian exile. And of course, the question is, what did the Jews think about being in Israel? Sorry, being in Babylon. They were not happy. Israel was no stranger to captivity, but every time they were taken as subjects of a foreign power, they chafed at the circumstances. Every time they became captives, they returned to God rather swiftly, crying out to him in their distress. They were completely out of their element in Babylon, surrounded by no friends, by no compatriots, by no comrades in arms, surrounded rather by enemies and strangers. This is the case every time Israel was taken into captivity, and it is little wonder that God used captivity to judge them. I can think of no other judgment used that so effectively returned them to Him, crying out to Him in their affliction. It humbled them as nothing else would. It showed them their need of him. They had many doubts and fears about being in Babylon. They thought perhaps God had abandoned them. They had all seen and watched Jerusalem crumble. The first generation of those in Babylon, at least, had seen the walls of Jerusalem cast down, Solomon's temple looted and destroyed, the armies of the nation of Israel destroyed, and the wealth of their nation absorbed by the Babylonian regime. Their home was turned to rubble, inhabited only by the old and the sickly, and they were in a new land. They had gone back nearly as far as Abraham had originally come from in Genesis, surrounded by a strange people, strange customs, a strange language, strange false gods, and more. This was, I believe, a humiliation for them like no other. They had been taken from Egypt, spoiling the people as they left, taken by God from Egypt. They had conquered their land by God's aid. They had established a kingdom. And now, here they were, back at square one, or perhaps even square negative one if possible. They were now more than twice as far from their home as their fathers had been when they had left Egypt under Moses. How far had the mighty Israel fallen from her height under David and Solomon? And this is why they say in verse 27, my way is hid from the Lord and my judgment is passed over by my God. They're saying, perhaps if it could be translated a little bit easier to our modern English, does God see us suffering? Why isn't he doing us justice? We don't deserve this. God is doing us wrong by keeping us here. We see also in this, their longing for their home. As captives, they yearn to return to their homeland. We see at the end of the captivity, when Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah spearhead rebuilding and remigration efforts, that thousands of Israelites came with them. They worked diligently to rebuild their home. Few at first, and more as time went on. We see they wish to return to their independence, their freedom, and their homeland. As evidenced by their distaste with being in Babylon, we can conclude they would rather be anywhere but. Especially they would rather be in their homeland. They wished to return to Judea and build their homes again in their promised land. Recall of course how important their homeland was to them. The book of Joshua, we see the land that they conquered being divided up amongst the tribes and the families. Israelite law given by God said that the land owned by families must remain with families or at least clans. The best way of obtaining land being through an inheritance. The land was not to be sold frequently, as was the ideal in early Israel. The reason for this comes, of course, Leviticus 25, 23. The land shall not be sold forever, for the land is mine for your strangers and sojourners with me. We know that this changed often in Israel, especially after the rise of the Israelite monarchy. But it also adds an interesting new dimension to the altercation between Ahab and Aboth in 1 Kings 21. But. That's a different sermon. The land that the Israelites had been taken from was the land granted to them and their families by God. This land was now in the hands of strangers and enemies, or completely unmaintained, surrounded by Samaritans, who we know the Israelites don't like for a number of reasons, and a land that they were kept away from. They were forcefully deported from their homeland and taken to a strange land, mostly so that Babylon wouldn't have to come and reconquer Israel in 20 years when people got upset about being under their rule. their livelihoods and their homes were gone. It's no wonder that the Jews were, one, exceedingly sorrowful for their state and earnestly desiring to return to Israel, at least at this point. So we have seen the issues, the plight of the Jews in Babylon, but I want to look at the reproach of the Jews in Babylon. What has God said about the doubts of the Jews, the accusations with which they have leveled most high? We find the Jews in exile, their homeland destroyed, their entire nation uprooted and dragged halfway across the continent to Babylon, completely under judgment. Consider the warnings given in the minor prophet readings we've been doing these last few months and even tonight. From our perspective, Israel should have seen this coming a long time ago. They were warned verbatim that this would happen multiple times and it didn't stop them. They chose to ignore it. But I think it would be important to note that they however are acting exactly as humans or rather we even likely would in this present situation. In a situation where we are chastised for our sin. We are all too quick to forget our own sin and we're all too prone to be entitled about what God allegedly owes us even when we are under judgment for our own sin. They believe that an injustice has been done to them and that they are suffering unjustly. They think that God is complicit in justice, be it by his action or his inaction. The Legacy Standard Bible translates verse 27 as, why does justice do me pass by my God? So Isaiah questions the Jews. Verse 27, why sayest thou, O Jacob, O Israel? Why do you say that God does not see your afflictions? Why do you say that he is not doing you justice? Why do you say that you are being treated unfairly? Why do you say that you are completely being mistreated in this time? Hast thou not known? Hast thou not heard? Verse 28, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. There is no searching of his understanding. Israel had, of course, known and heard, but it did not stop them from asking and from unbelief. Very human. Israel has not been told before that God is never weary and never falters. Don't you know that his understanding is unknowable to a human mind and that his ways are higher than ours? And so the unspoken but inherent question in Isaiah's questioning of Israel is, do you think that you know better than God? What are you thinking? Why do you forget your own sin so easily? Is God blind? And would you charge him who created and sustains you with being uncaring and unjust? The questions Isaiah levels at the Jews. Would you charge God with being complicit in injustice when you have heard and seen from his track record since he brought your fathers from Egypt that he is nothing but gracious and kind and loving? Then Isaiah gives counsel to the Jews in this question that they have, this honest perhaps question of what's going on? Is God abandoning us? Why are we left in Babylon? He counsels them. Verse 28 first, there is no searching God's understanding. Isaiah says later in the book of Isaiah in chapter 55, my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. God's people are reminded of all that they had known and heard from the Red Sea incident until that very day. Once again, returning to the Legacy Standard Bible, the translation of there is no searching of his understanding in verse 28 is his understanding is unsearchable. Isaiah is extolling God's attributes, his everlasting existence, that he has ever existed and will forever exist. He reminds Israel that their God is the omnipotent creator of all the ends of the cosmos. the one who never becomes weary or tired, the one who never needs to take a break or take a nap, much like we do, the one who never has to take a step back and just let out a breath for a minute before continuing his work. Rather, God is always working for Israel, working for His glory and for their good, even in chastisement. We know the ones God chastises are his sons rather than his enemies. God judges his enemies and chastises his children. And God is beyond human comprehension in his entirety and his wisdom and his fullness. Finite creatures cannot fully comprehend an infinite God. By way of illustration, I would ask you to explain a space shuttle to an ant. If you can make an ant fully understand what a space shuttle is, what it does, and how it works, I'd be very impressed if you could, because it is beyond an ant's capacity to understand the complex computing of a space shuttle, or even the fact that humans would want to go to another of the celestial bodies. Trying to explain to an ant what this planet is and that other planets even exist would be an impressive task, never mind how the space shuttle moves men from one planet to another. Sure, it could perhaps be conveyed very simply that the space shuttle brings people to other places, but an ant could never understand rocket science. An ant could not fully understand this planet. We are less than ants when it comes to our understanding of God, and God is far more complex than a mere space shuttle. But I would hope that the point is clear. Humanity in its finite fallen state cannot ever hope to fully understand God. And the most we can hope for is to know what He has made known to us through His word and His creations. Verse 29, Isaiah says that God will strengthen those who recognize their lack of strength. We are, of course, familiar with this idea. It's all over the Bible. We find it Old Testament and New Testament, that God is near to those who have a contrite spirit, that God's power is made evident in the weakness of men, that God's grace is efficient for us. We see it here in Isaiah as well, where he reminds Israel that God is the one who delivers those who need delivering. God is the one who raises up those who need raising, the one who picks up the downtrodden. God didn't come to pat the backs of those who are already standing just fine by themselves, nor did he come to heal those who are already well. He came to find the sick, right? So we consider Israel's questioning of God and Isaiah coming along to reprove them, to say, no, you're asking the wrong questions. God is not one who is uncaring. God's not one who is disconnected from your struggles and your trials, your affliction and your tribulation. God knows, God knows exactly what you're going through, and he knows why you're going through it, just like you should know why you're going through it in some cases. God knows exactly what's going on, why it's happening, how long it's gonna happen for, and you cannot hope to fully understand his reasoning. So it is altogether better for you to lean on his understanding, to not worry about what you can or can't understand when it comes to the circumstances of life that you can't control, and lean on him. Psalm 34, 17 through 19. The righteous cry, the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. 2 Corinthians 12, 9. He said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. After this rebuke, Israel is given counsel that God will uphold His people. He has not forgotten them. He has chosen them as His people through whom He will bring forth the Messiah, the one who will save His people from their sins. He has chosen Israel as the line through which will come the salvation of all of humanity. God will not abandon His promises to bring forth the Messiah. And God will strengthen those who are weak. God recognizes the weakness of Israel. He recognizes that where they are in Babylon is a temporary thing. He has ordained it to be temporary for their growth, for their learning. And he knows that he will draw them out in 539 B.C. with Cyrus the Great. He will draw Israel out of their captivity. He will restore them to their land. And there he will continue to bring forth the work of the Messiah. As Christ came in the New Testament to seek the lost and heal the sick and restore the blind, so God in the Old Testament strengthens the weak and uplifts the downtrodden and the oppressed. We recall the words of Christ, I did not come to, he said, those who are well do not need a physician. He said that he has come to save those who are sick. The great physician comes for those who are sick, not for those who are already well. You don't go to a doctor just so he can tell you that you're all well. You go to a doctor or perhaps the emergency room would be a better application. You don't go to the emergency room just to be told you're all well. You go to the emergency room when you know there's something very clearly wrong and you don't know how to fix it yourself. And look into verses 30 and 31. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. The strongest and best of men are at best mere men. They are by nature weak and prone to being made tired by life. The strongest among them will utterly fall, but God will renew the strength of those who rely on Him. Those who wait upon God will not falter, Isaiah says. The youths of Israel, the young men who relied on their own strength and wisdom, would fall. My mind goes to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, who, when given the advice from his elders and his peers, listened to the advice of his young peers, and so saw the kingdom of God split in two, and the majority of it taken from him. We think of others in the Bible who did not lean on the understanding of God or the wisdom of God, but tried to do things their own way. and that it never ended well for them. We think also of those in the Bible who listened to what God had to say, who did truly lean on him and how well things went. Mine goes to Joseph or to Job, who leaned on God even when things got rough and when they didn't understand what was going on and were blessed for it. But the best of the best physically in Israel have no hope in themselves. Our promise is that they too will fall and fall with a totality and finality that signals there is no hope for them in and of themselves. But those who wait upon the Lord will have a renewed strength. They will be strong and capable. They'll mount up with wings like eagles, which birds that in ancient times symbolized more or less the same thing that they symbolize today, strength and power and vitality and a state of being nigh unstoppable or unassailable. They will be strong and they will bring glory to God and God himself will bear them up as they wait, as they rely on him and follow his will. And of course, there is the physical meaning to this. Those who are strong in Israel would, once they waited on God, would be brought back to their land, restored as a nation. They would have a level of strength for a time. They would be a nation again physically. They would, for a time, walk. But there is a spiritual focus that I want to emphasize as I draw back almost towards our introduction once again. They shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. We see a question of physical strength, but we see also that spiritual connotation. The concern is, on my part, moving forward, spiritual. Israel is concerned with the physical nature of their captivity. And for good reason. I mean, if you're stuck in a foreign country with the rest of your countrymen, if you're surrounded by a strange language and strange customs, you have a good reason to be concerned physically. That's not enjoyable, that's not easy. And if you're there at the point of a sword, you're not gonna be enjoying yourself. Israel is concerned with the physical reliance, not reliance, the physical fulfillment of the promises offered to them, which will be fulfilled. I want to look at the spiritual focus. There's a dual focus in this passage that I want to draw out tonight. There's a spiritual aspect that is just as much or more important than the physical aspect. They shall be able to run their race with patience, to finish their course, to borrow the words of Paul. They'll be strengthened to continue their spiritual walk forward, and they will not faint. They will be strong until the end. There's these physical circumstances that can point us to a spiritual meaning. A spiritual meaning, having examined the text, I'm still not done, we have to know what to take from this text for ourselves in 2025 and into 2026. Tied to a new year's coming, we recall what we said a moment ago during my introduction. Many of us recognize that 2025 was a long and at the same time short year. difficult and at the same time joyous. There was loss and there was gain. There was, like we saw this morning in Ecclesiastes, a time for rejoicing and a time for weeping. There was a time to gain and a time to lose, a time to prepare and a time to prepare for other things, a time to prepare to go out and a time to prepare to come in. There was a time for everything this year. good times and bad times. The times that we wish we could have done differently and times we're glad we did the way, things that we did them. How many of us recognize, well, we do recognize 25 was a long and tiring year. And we also recognize, I'm sure, I recognize at least that it was noticeably more difficult when I relied on my own strength instead of the strength of God. Can anyone identify with that tonight? I'd say, I'd hope most of us can. It says back to this morning, yet again this year there have been times of flourishing spiritually and fading spiritually. Which periods were more enjoyable? The solution, of course, to the sense of spiritual tiredness that I can feel already emanating from 2026 in the light of 2025 is this passage exactly. When we rely on ourselves, we sink. Think Peter on the Sea of Galilee. He's looking at God. He's able to keep moving forward. The storms around him, the waves and the wind, and then he takes his eyes off for just a moment. Instead of looking straight ahead at God, he just looks to the side for just a moment. He sees some clouds. A flash of lightning catches his eye and draws his attention for a moment. Or a really high wave comes past his other eye, and he just turns and he sees it, and then he starts sinking immediately. He's going down fast. If we want to have success, we have to rely on God who will renew us. We sing, as thy days thy strength shall be in measure. I really think the old proverb that Christians don't tell lies, we come to church and sing them, rings more true than we want to admit. Whether we're knowingly singing a lie or rather we're singing a truth that we don't like to think about until after the circumstance where it would have been helpful. We like to sing songs that say good truth, and then we like to not think about it when the time comes to apply that truth. Application is a whole lot more difficult than simply speaking it. Like Israel, God knows our trials, our weaknesses, He knows our circumstances, and He is not powerless to move them for His glory. Israel was concerned that God was just abandoning them in Babylon, that perhaps He didn't know the depth of their struggles or didn't care. And how many of us can say that at some point in 2025, we were concerned that perhaps God is leaving us to a struggle. Perhaps God was busy with something else. Maybe he had more, something more important to worry about. You know, God doesn't have time to worry about what I'm dealing with because there are people being massacred and there are massive tragedies. There are natural disasters happening. There's hurricanes and earthquakes and forest fires. There are cities being destroyed and people's lives being overturned. Does he have time for me? How often have you felt in this last year alone and discouraged, separated from God by circumstances and overwhelmed with your own weakness? So we apply this promise of God to ourselves. When we rely on God, he promises to renew our strength, to stop us from being utterly cast down in our struggles. Have you in your lives cannot speak to God's track record, His excellent record of His graces and His strength given to you and His goodness shown to you, His perfect track record? How many times has God left you to sink entirely, completely beyond return? How often has God fully abandoned you, completely removing His gaze and fully ignored you, truly too busy with something else? If anyone can say even once, we all have a problem. But no one can say even once. God has never fully abandoned his people. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. Why are we discouraged? Why are we concerned? Why are we overwhelmed so easily by the struggles of our life? Why does it happen? What reason is there? The scariest of fears, the highest of concerns can often be defeated by this simple question. Why are you cast down? Why is my soul disquieted within me? Hope thou in God. For I shall yet praise him. I shall yet praise him. Not it happens naturally, not it happens just because. Purposefully, I will yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance and my God. I will purposefully praise and glorify him, because he is worthy, not because I want to necessarily, because he is worthy, whether I want to or not. Worship isn't my feelings, it's his truth. But I will purposefully yet praise and glorify him who is worthy of it because he is the health of my countenance. He is the strength of my life. He is the backbone of my spiritual body and my God. Leaning on our own strength is a guaranteed method of failure and misdirection. What does Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 say? Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths. God knew us in 2025 and our tendency to lean on our own understanding so well that he told Solomon to write it before it applied, right? Or perhaps there's nothing new under the sun and we have the same issues that Israel had. Galatians 6 says, let us not be weary in well-doing For in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. Chapter 40, verse 30 of Isaiah. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. The one who reaps reward and blessing of God is the one who faints not. Therefore, if we wish to be strengthened spiritually and gain a reward in heaven, logically, we must be fully reliant on God the whole time. It's wonderful to see how the Old Testament and the New Testament connect. We have two Testaments and one Bible, one overall author. And then Psalm 37, 23 and 24. We sing it regularly. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down. For the Lord upholdeth him. with his hand. Though the good man will fall seven times, he will not be utterly defeated. He will not be utterly destroyed by his falling. Though he cannot help but trip over stumbling blocks in the road of life, he will not be utterly defeated. For the Lord upholds him. He doesn't uphold himself, he doesn't pull himself up by his bootstraps and clean himself off from the miry clay of sin. No, the Lord comes, the Good Shepherd comes to lift him up, to uphold him with his hand, to clean him off and to restore him and to have him walking on the road again. I think the juxtaposition here between Verse 30 and Psalm 37, 23 and 24. 24 specifically. We see here. When we rely on ourselves and our own strength, we're asking to fall. We're guaranteeing ourselves that we're going to trip and fall. We're going to run ourselves ragged. We're going to lose sleep. We're going to lose productivity. We're going to not be as useful for the kingdom as we could or should be because we are dedicated to being our own man and doing it our own way. As we move into 2026, I want to encourage all of you that doing it our own way is just the best and quickest and easiest way to make a royal mess of something that should have been simple and easy. We are, by our fallen nature, just completely incompetent. We aren't capable of doing anything good on our own. We can't do anything good. Isaiah, again, Isaiah 64, six, all of our good works and righteousnesses are what? Filthy rags. Filthy rags before God. All of our best efforts, the highest work we can do, the highest bit of work that we can ever accomplish for God on our own is less than worthless. We think of a filthy rag. What can you use it for around the house? What can you use a filthy rag for around a church? What can you use a filthy rag for at your workplace? Unless you're a mechanic. What can you use a filthy rag for in any reality? What can it be exchanged for? Nothing. No one wants your filthy rag. They have their own filthy rags, too many of them. No one wants your dirty laundry. A filthy rag is less than useless. So we have to rely fully, entirely, and completely on God in this new year. If 2025 is remembered for anything other than being a year that is a multiple of five, let it be remembered as a year that taught the church to rely more fully on God than ever before. We think back through 2025. Back to last winter when the Palisades fire struck Los Angeles. We think of the hurricanes that hit parts of the world. We think of was it Cuba that got hit with that Category 5. We think of Hong Kong hit with that fire. We think of Ukraine and Russia still fighting over a couple of kilometers of land in Eastern Europe. We think of all of these other things that happen. We think of personal things in our own lives that happened, our own struggles, our own temptations, our own falls, our own trials. We think of all these things that happen. We think of all the ways that we messed something up because we didn't rely on God. We were trying to rely on ourselves, trying to do it our own way. We all have something, I'm sure, that we can think back in 2025 where we messed something up. And this is where I realize how long the year has really been, because I think about something. Was it really only just this year that that happened? Yeah, it was this year that happened. It's been a long year. It's been a long year. We are tired, I'm sure. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's tired, right? I hope not. It's been a long year. We have been busy about the work of the Lord. We've been busy with good things. We have been busy this year with holidays and family and friends. We talk about January being a long, slow month when it starts off, a slow start through the year, the 40 days of January we joke about. I would hope that this time of slow that will come after the first, after the holiday season is over, as we just buckle in for the rest of winter, because it takes forever to go away. I would hope that it is a time that we would consider the last year, a time to get some rest and to prepare for this year. New Year's resolutions are famous for being disregarded and thrown out the window come February 1st or January 20th if we're being very realistic. And I won't ask you to make a New Year's resolution, but I will say that we are to resolve ourselves in the Christian life. We can't be wishy-washy, wondering, I might do this, I think I might do that. No, we have to know what we're doing. We have to be resolved to follow God. If we aren't resolved in our duty to follow God, what are we even doing? If we can't be resolved about the simplest things, how can we hope to get anything done? So resolve in your hearts tonight. That 2026 will be a year And we rely on God, not on ourselves. Because we tried relying on ourselves in 2025 and we made a mess of a lot of things, right? In my life, I made a mess of a lot of things as I relied on myself instead of God in 2025. So come 2026, we have this time to consider what we can do differently. A year that is not promised to us, we may not reach it. But if we do reach 2026, I think it would be wise for us to consider on whom we are truly relying to get anything done. Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, right? Where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, where thieves not break through nor steal. Don't lay up for yourself treasure on earth. It's where the bugs are, it's where the thieves are, it's where the rust is. And if there is someone here tonight who doesn't know the peace and rest of which I speak, the peace and rest that we can find in God, who does not know that you can rely on someone other than yourself and have more peace than you ever could have imagined, if there is someone who has been left tired and drained, empty and beaten down and trodden upon by this world with no hope of salvation within them, I would point to the words of Christ in Matthew 11. He says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. 2026. It's an opportunity. An opportunity that we have seen before, sure, with new years as they come. But every year is different. Every day is different. We have an opportunity the likes of which with 2026 specifically that we've not seen before. We have an opportunity to fully focus on God for that year. We have the opportunity to learn from what happened in 2025. So my prayer for all of us is that we would rely on him rather than ourselves and We will mount up with wings as eagles. Relying on him, we shall run and not be weary. Trusting in him, we shall walk and not faint.