Psalm 103:2 Praise the Lord, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.

David starts his Psalm of praise this way, and then spends the next 17 verses expressing some of the good things God does. I like the way the Japanese says, “Don’t forget a single one of the good things He has done.” We really are prone to do that, actually. We get on emotional highs, and then when things happen that are less exciting to us, we plunge to the depths. In severe cases we call that being “bi-polar,” but everyone has that tendency. The answer is not in chemically chopping off the highs and lows (which is a common therapy these days) but in remembering the highs in the lows. As with so many things, we tend to notice this problem in others before we admit it in ourselves. Like Jesus said, we need to work on ourselves first! (Matthew 7:3-5) One of my wife’s favorite hymns (she has many!) is “Count Your Blessings.” That’s singing the same principle David states in this verse. It’s not at all that bad things don’t happen in our lives; even Jesus assured us they would. (John 16:33) However, when we are focused on God and the good things He does for us, those bad things don’t have the power to pull us down very far. For someone who is genuinely fixed on God, in intimate fellowship with Him, even tragedy and disaster lose their sting. (Romans 8:37) At times the world around us may seem totally dark, but a heart that is fixed on God will have light from the inside.

I would like to be able to say that I never forget a single one of the good things God does for me, but that would not be true. For one thing, I don’t even know all the good things God does for me! One of the joys of growing in fellowship with Him is recognizing more and more of His blessings that actually were there all along. As a pastor I am constantly dealing with people who need to listen to what David says in this Psalm, and I am regularly amazed at how stubbornly some of them resist it. In The Last Battle, the last book in the Narnia series, C. S. Lewis depicts a group of dwarfs who make it to heaven but persist in keeping their eyes shut and refusing to recognize the wonderful things around them. I think that’s overstating it, because once we get to heaven all such foolishness will be removed, but I do know the attitude he’s talking about! I must not allow the devil to steal the peace and joy God has prepared for me, and I am to let God use me in leading others out of the devil’s traps as well.

Father, I don’t have words to thank You enough for all the good things You have done, are doing, and will do. Keep me from falling into the trap of focusing on negatives, and help me lead others out of that trap as well. You know the people I will interact with today, and You know what traps they are in. I ask You to enable me to speak Your truth in love, Yours and mine, so that Your truth may penetrate and set them free indeed, to walk in Your peace, joy, and hope, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!