Bible Verses About New Beginnings — and Where They Actually Sit

The verses people want for a new beginning are mostly about God starting something, not about us turning over a leaf. That difference is worth keeping, because the second kind of promise does not survive February.

The one for a bad year

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. (Lamentations 3:22-23)

Worth knowing where that sits. Lamentations is five poems about a destroyed city, written by someone who watched it happen, and the surrounding verses are not hopeful. A few lines earlier: he has broken my teeth with gravel; he has trampled me in the dust.

New every morning is said in the middle of that, not instead of it.

The one about not looking back

Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah 43:18-19)

The former things he is telling them to forget include the exodus, which he has just spent the previous verses describing. The instruction is to stop living on the best thing that ever happened.

The ones about being remade

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10) — written after the worst thing its author ever did.

The ones about starting again after failing

For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again. (Proverbs 24:16)

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal. (Philippians 3:13-14)

Paul is writing from custody, near the end, and says he has not arrived. Anyone measuring themselves against an apostle who has finished should notice that he had not.

The ones about a long wait

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

The order is the point: soar, run, walk. It ends on the least impressive verb, because most of a new start is walking.

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6)

The last one

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5)

Present tense, and the verse before it is the one that earns it: no more death or mourning or crying or pain, and every tear wiped away.

The tears are still there to be wiped. Scripture does not pretend they were never shed, which is why the promise is worth something.

A word about new year resolutions

Scripture has no interest in the calendar and a great deal of interest in repentance, which is a different thing.

A resolution is a plan to be better. Repentance is a turn, and it usually begins with naming something accurately rather than committing to improve. The prodigal’s speech is drafted while he is still among the pigs, and it is not ambitious: he plans to ask for a job.

What he gets is the robe, the ring and the sandals, before he finishes the sentence he rehearsed.

Frequently asked

What are the best Bible verses about new beginnings?

Lamentations 3:22-23, Isaiah 43:18-19, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ezekiel 36:26, Philippians 1:6 and Revelation 21:5 carry most of the weight.

What does “new every morning” mean?

It is said in the middle of Lamentations, five poems about a destroyed city, a few lines after “he has broken my teeth with gravel.” The mercy is new despite the circumstances, not instead of them.

What are the “former things” in Isaiah 43:18?

Including the exodus, which the preceding verses have just described. The instruction is to stop living on the best thing that ever happened.

Does the Bible talk about new year resolutions?

No. It talks about repentance, which begins with naming something accurately rather than committing to improve.