AT the beginning of every year some technically minded people analyse all the internet searches on Google in the UK in the previous year and work out the most asked questions. It may not be particularly representative but it gives a fascinating insight into what’s on the mind of the great British public. Well, the results for 2021 have been published and the top trending questions, ranging from the to the foundational included: What does COP 26 stand for?; When does lockdown finish?; When do gyms reopen?; Where does vanilla flavouring come from?; How do I unblock a toilet?; Who is ‘H’?

Those questions (and the others in the list) remind us that knowing about things is integral to how we live and respond to what happens around us. We all have questions about the future in every area of our lives - personally, family, community, nationally and globally - where the answers will be a determining factor as to whether 2022 is a good or bad year for us. Life would be so much easier for all of us if ‘Googling’ didn’t just give us an answer to every imaginable question but where we also knew that the answers were always conclusively right (something that would very unwise to assume!)

However, there is a verse in the Bible that tells us there is an ultimate source of definitive knowledge which we can have complete confidence in, which is readily available to us.

If any of you lacks wisdom, ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to them. James 1:5

If we are willing to put that verse into practice then whatever we face in 2022, we can have confidence that what is unknown to us is known to God and that the once and for all wisdom we need to persevere through whatever happens will be willingly given to us.

There is a caveat though. The wisdom that God gives us is found in trusting in the power of the Holy Spirit, who makes Jesus an everyday real presence in the lives of those who have faith and trust in Him. That’s important to know because God’s wisdom isn’t always specific answers to specific questions at specific moments. More often it’s found as we faithfully follow Jesus everyday, living according to His teachings and commandments, trusting that the questions we need to know answers to will be given generously to all by God. at the right time in the right way.

I have no idea what the most asked questions of 2022 will be (although I secretly hope that one will be ‘how did West Ham manage to win the Premier League?’) But I do know that the answers to the most important questions in life I’ll face this year will be found in the Bible’s teaching, centred on the person of Jesus, revealed by the power of the Holy Spirit.