Always a Choice

Some people just have a naturally optimistic and cheery attitude toward life. They don’t seem to have to overcome much of anything to get there. It just seems to be in their DNA.

If you aren’t really acquainted with the Psalms, you might read some of the statements of David and assume that he was one of those sanguine happy souls.

You might hear him say this in Psalm 31: 

But I trust in you, O Lord;

I say, "You are my God."

My times are in your hands…

And you might think, I wish I could be like this. He makes it sound so easy. But this is one of those times when you need to look carefully at what led up to that statement.

Not many verses before this one, the same David said: “Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes grow weak with sorrow, my soul and my body with grief.
My life is consumed by anguish and my years by groaning; my strength fails because of my affliction, and my bones grow weak.”

It is after more laments that describe something worse, we hear:

But I trust in you, O Lord;

I say, "You are my God."

My times are in your hands…

Cheeriness didn’t seem to be in David’s DNA, but I have learned so much about living from him. This ancient man understood that in the midst of miserable feelings we can come out of the pit and overcome by declaring our faith. Even in the lowest times, we have a choice.

Psalm 31:9-10, 14-15a

Be merciful to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;

my eyes grow weak with sorrow,

my soul and my body with grief.

10My life is consumed by anguish

and my years by groaning;

my strength fails because of my affliction,

and my bones grow weak.

But I trust in you, O Lord;

I say, "You are my God." My times are in your hands;

Psalm 56:1-4

For the director of music. To the tune of "A Dove on Distant Oaks." Of David. A miktam. When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.

Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me;

all day long they press their attack.

2My slanderers pursue me all day long;

many are attacking me in their pride.

3When I am afraid,

I will trust in you.

4In God, whose word I praise,

in God I trust; I will not be afraid.

What can mortal man do to me?