This message urges calm and confidence in the face of modern fears—especially atomic destruction—by reminding us that human history has always been filled with horror and violence, and that the deepest war is within man himself. While acknowledging real dangers, it insists that nothing has escaped God’s control or surprised Him, for all things remain within His sovereign providence. God’s promises endure, His rule is unshaken, and the created order itself testifies to His faithfulness. Because God is revealed in Christ as both ruler and redeemer, believers are free to enjoy life without panic and to trust that all things work together for good. Physical suffering and death are limited and temporary, but life apart from God leads to endless inner desolation. Though the future is uncertain, faith rests in knowing the Guide rather than understanding the road, confident that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ and that, in Him, we are more than conquerors.

As we say goodbye to a year marked by trouble, disaster, and anxiety, it is tempting to hope that the coming year will somehow be different and finally grant us rest, peace, and happiness, yet honesty compels us to admit that the new year will almost certainly resemble the old, with its share of griefs, uncertainties, aging bodies, political disappointments, and economic strain; therefore, if we are to have a truly happy new year, it must be not because circumstances improve, but in spite of them. Happiness is not produced by time, conditions, or external change, but by inner security rooted in faith, and the unhappiest people are not those struck by disaster, but those who wait endlessly for life to become favorable before they will allow themselves peace. The years remain the same and offer little hope, but the Lord remains the same, and therein lies our confidence; when we stop waiting for conditions to change and instead wait upon the unchanging God, life itself is transformed. God does not promise happiness through altered circumstances, but through contentment in Him, teaching us to give thanks in all things and to seek first His kingdom and righteousness, trusting that everything truly needed will be added in His time and according to His will.

True prayer is inseparable from God’s Word, because communion with Him grows as we learn to hear and trust what He has spoken, and Psalm 62 vividly illustrates this union of prayer and Scripture. Writing in a time of crisis, likely during Absalom’s revolt, David rejects all human sources of security—both the common people and their leaders—as “altogether lighter than vanity,” and confesses that God alone is his salvation, strength, and refuge. Fully aware of his own sin and unworthiness, David nevertheless rests in God’s mercy and sovereign power, declaring that his glory and hope are found not in himself but in the Lord. Though outwardly he appears weak and doomed, like a tottering wall, he knows by faith that he stands secure upon an unshakable rock. From this confidence he exhorts God’s people to trust Him at all times and to pour out their hearts before Him, teaching that honest prayer flows from repentance, faith, and a deep confidence in God’s revealed Word, which assures us that power belongs to God and mercy to Him alone.