New Year's Eve is one of those few days in the year when just about everybody is thinking about the same thing. There's something dramatic about watching the old year slip away by counting the hours left in it, then the minutes, down the seconds when the old year has passed into history, never to come again.

We seldom think much about time except when we're running late. Time is a lot like a river and it's carrying all of us downstream. Where is it taking us? What are we doing while we're on the trip? A lot of people have trouble with time management, with putting first things first.

If there is anything we truly need in this New Year, it is to get closer to God, to grow in the love of our Savior, and to carry out His will for our lives. That will carry us through no matter what the river of time may bring our way. Psalm 31 is almost entirely a prayer, but you can tell that it's not the kind of prayer that one prays out loud or one that is prayed with folded hands. No, it appears to be the kind of prayer Paul had in mind when he told us to PRAY CONSTANTLY.

There may be times in this coming new year when you will feel cut off from God's sight. You may wonder if God has forgotten you. Oh, there's good news for you here, my friend, good news that you hear at the end of many a worship service. The Lord will bless you and make his face shine upon you. The Psalm says: "Let your face shine upon your servant; save me in your unfailing love". When God's face is shining upon His people, that means that he is SMILING upon them. What more could you ask from the New Year than that?

But that's not all--not only do we have the smile of God that we experience each day, we must also remember that there is more of goodness that God has prepared for us each day... The Psalm says: "How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you". This is the God who is able to do so much more than we can ask or imagine. Trust him for your future, both your future on earth and your forever future. The Greyhound Bus Company used to have a slogan that every Christian should apply to the Lord God. They told us: leave the driving to us. The God who is smiling on us says: Leave the driving to me. You just trust me and I'll get you where you need to go.

That's the kind of God we have to guide us through the New Year--One we can trust, One in whom we can have confidence for the future, no matter what the New Year may bring. This new year, face your fears with the help of another. One famous preacher says: Don't settle down to live permanently with your fear. If you do, you will never be happy or effective.

Fears are not removed by saying, "Cut it out! Swallow your fear!" You must replace fear with faith. Say to yourself again and again the words of tonight's text: I trust in you, O Lord; I say you are my God; my times are in your hands.