A new year has just begun and for many something has already gone wrong. You shake your head wearily and wonder why it must always be like this. Even a short break from the continuous avalanche of miserable things would be most welcome. Why can we not have some peace in our world? Is there no end of the sorrows we face?

I well recall a deacon at my father’s church coming to visit my father during his last stay in hospital. We knew my Dad was going to leave us in a few days and so did the members of his church. I thought it was kind of the deacon to come and spend a little while with my father.

However the visit soon turned out to be a disaster. The visitor looked sad and commenced telling my father about a widow in the church with small children and how the bank was about to foreclose on the house because she could not meet the mortgage payments.

Then he spoke of another church member who was a patient in the same hospital as my Dad and how he was suffering greatly. My father tried, in a feeble voice, to express sorrow about these situations which he could do nothing about.

What my Dad really needed at this time was someone who would come and speak to him about the good that lay beyond this life for the believer. He needed a light in his dark place.

Our verse today is a light in a dark place. It speaks of a triumph that was promised way back in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. At the time when Adam and Eve sinned (Genesis 3) God started making promises about the One Who would come and destroy Satan who had enticed them into sin. God said, “…he will crush your head…” Genesis 3:15 (NIV)

In our verse today, Paul says that the God of peace will crush Satan. So the One Who came to destroy the works of Satan is none other than God Himself. This means that Jesus was God while on earth as the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15) and is God today. This speaks of a complete victory over the evil one. There can be no doubt that those on God’s side will conquer all enemies, including death.

Having a promise from God that He will restore the world to the glory it enjoyed before sin entered creation is an enormous comfort while we endure the difficulties of life here and now.

We must look beyond the present difficulties to see the eternal glories that await all who are followers of Jesus. Only from that perspective can we find the word for the weary today. May you have grace today to see beyond this world to the one to come in the eternal presence of our Creator.