Neville Turley

“Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.”  Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

The beginning of a year is a time of reflection as we recall the past and contemplate tomorrow. What will tomorrow bring?

Good and evil exist in all human conditions and in every human life. Human beings are capable of great acts of compassion and loving kindness but are also capable of committing barbaric acts of cruelty that defy comprehension.

Not knowing what lies ahead for us is in fact a blessing. It forces us to look upwards, to a loving father, faith in him, enables us to weather life’s storms.

George Fox (1624-1691) who founded the Quaker movement (Religious Society of Friends), said, “I saw there was an ocean of darkness and death but that an infinite ocean of light and love flowed over the ocean of darkness.”

Our verse today affirms a vital biblical truth.  A nation without faith in God’s guidance is a nation without order where people have cast off the restraints of keeping to God’s law.  They are doomed without God.

To have faith means to supremely trust in the person of Christ through whom we come to God. As Paul so aptly wrote to the church in Galatia, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 (KJV))

If like Paul our lives are steeped in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ we can face tomorrow with joyful confidence. For us the greeting, ‘Happy New Year’ means just that!

We have the assurance of our Saviour that the Holy Spirit will be our guide and guardian, today, tomorrow and forever more.

Prayer: Almighty God whose Son revealed the wonder of your saving presence; transform us through the Holy Spirit that we may glorify and honour you. Amen