New Confidence for a New Year: Finding Strength at the Throne of Grace
Updated: Sep 22
Sermon from Sunday, December 28, 2025 · Hebrews 4:16
I preached this on the last Sunday of the year, but you do not need it to be December to be in limbo.
The week after Christmas is a strange one. The presents are open. The wrapping paper is in the garage because the garbage can is full of boxes. The leftovers in the fridge are starting to look suspicious. The family has gone home. We ran the whole month on adrenaline, sugar, and credit cards, and now the adrenaline is gone and it is quiet.
Psychologists call it the post-holiday blues. In our communities we have always called it real life. The tree comes down, and the problems you put on the shelf in early December, right next to the elf, are still there. The job you do not like. The family tension that dinner did not fix. The bills.
And a new year is staring at you. Some of us look at it with real anxiety, because we remember what the last one held. Phone calls we did not want. Grief at the table. It does not feel like a fresh start. It feels like the championship round of a fight we have been in since January, and our feet are tired.
So I did not come to give you a resolution. Resolutions are fragile. They make it to February if you are good. I came to give you a destination. When you are tired and uncertain, you do not need a plan. You need a place.
Hebrews 4:16: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Us
Notice where the writer starts. Not “the faithful.” Not “the righteous.” Not the ones who have it all together or know the most Bible verses. Us.
Us who struggled this year. Us who had a normal year, with jobs and deaths and family and everything that is not roses and tulips behind a white picket fence. When I read that word, I knew he was talking to me, because I did not have it all together either.
With confidence
That puzzled me. I am tired, and he says come with confidence? Is that arrogance, ignoring my issues? Is it faith in my own performance, as if I earned it by doing everything right last year? If we are honest, most of us cannot say that. I stumbled. I worried. I doubted.
So where does the confidence come from? From the character of the One on the throne. I am not confident because I am consistent. I am confident because he is. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is not a man that he should lie.
I can walk into a new year with my head up, not because I know the future but because I know the God who holds it. Jehovah Jireh, my provider when the ends do not meet. Jehovah Rapha, my healer when the doctor gives up. Jehovah Shalom, my peace in the storm. And if you do not know the fancy names: the lily of the valley, the bright and morning star, the rock in a weary land. On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.
A throne of grace
A throne room was never a happy place. It is where kings imposed power, collected taxes, and decided life or death. If you were summoned to the throne room, you were in danger.
The writer of Hebrews knew his readers would picture David’s throne, and Rome’s. And he takes that dark place and renames it a throne of grace. God took a place that would judge you and made it a place that loves you. He has authority over everything, and affection for you.
Receive mercy, find grace
The verse is specific: we receive mercy and find grace. Not one word for both.
Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. I keep telling my oldest there are consequences to your actions, and I am glad I am not God, because if I got every consequence I deserved I would not be here. You did not do everything right last year. Mercy has you. Mercy deals with the past.
Grace is God giving us strength we do not deserve, for what is ahead. I am on my second career, and God moved in every one of my jobs. You need to be fueled more by grace than by your degree. Practically, that means we pray before the meeting. Larin and I will call each other in the middle of a workday and pray for each other before we walk into a hard room. Because the devil is real, and he works at your job too.
And “in time of need” is not about the clock. It is about the condition of the heart. You do not have to wait for an emergency. You can come simply because you need him. I do not have to make an appointment. I do not need a badge or a security clearance. The blood of Jesus gives me access.
The throne does not move
I do not know what is written on the calendar for this year. I do not know which market will crash or what phone call will come. But I know where the throne is, and the throne does not move. Politics change. The economy fluctuates. Relationships shift. The throne stays. And because the throne is secure, you can have a new confidence.
God saw every failure last year, every slip, every doubt, and he did not cancel your future. He gave new mercies for a new year.
This week
Here is the challenge I gave the church for January, and it works for any new season. Give God the first four weeks. Show up to worship. Show up to prayer. How you start the race sets the rest of it.
I hiked a mountain once and started fast, figuring I would cover ground while I had energy. The guide stopped me: take intentional steps from the very beginning, or you will not make it up. Too many of us run at a new year in our own strength and wonder why we are out of breath.
Sit with these:
What am I carrying into this season that belongs at the throne, not on my shoulders?
Where am I trying to earn confidence instead of receiving it from his character?
What are my intentional first steps for the next four weeks?
Take your family to the throne. Take your finances there. Take your fears there and leave them at the door. When you get there, you will not find a God stuck in your past. You will find a Father already walking in your future.
See you Sunday.
Pastor Kaloma Smith
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