Feeling Fortunate

Psalm 16 (https://www.biblegateway.com NRSVA)

At the beginning of our journey through lockdown I quoted someone from the Bible Reading Fellowship who’d said that the psalms are a great resource for people going through difficult times and experiencing a ‘dark night of the soul’. Psalm 16 isn’t one of those resources!

The psalmist is definitely a ‘glass half full’ person. He delights in those who take refuge in God instead of beginning to doubt or feel sad. Their faith never waivers. They’e the true ‘nobility’, the ‘Coronavirus heroes’ in his eyes.

But then perhaps the psalmist has had a more fortunate experience than others. He’s able to say, ‘The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.’

Or maybe not. He still lies awake! ‘In the night also,’ he says, ‘My heart instructs me.’ Is he anxious, or is he counting his blessings?

A researcher found that the real difference between people who felt they’d been fortunate in life and those who felt they’d been unfortunate was the way they interpreted events. The ones who felt fortunate said that things could easily have been much worse! The ones who felt unfortunate complained their life might have been better!

The psalmist is ready to say, ‘I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.’

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