Psalm 9:1-2 I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;
    I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and rejoice in you;
    I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.

David regularly made the choice to thank God and rejoice in Him with his whole heart, as he says here. That isn’t always easy! Even in this Psalm he mentions his enemies, and he actually spent a major part of his life in active conflict of various sorts. Our circumstances aren’t identical to David’s, certainly, but we too can make the choice to praise God – and we will gain the same benefits David did. Dennis Prager has said, “If you want to be happy, act happy.” That seems simplistic, but it is remarkably true. The more we thank and praise God, the more we discover we have reasons to do so. The worst thing for depression is inactivity. The best antidote for life’s troubles is the God who loves us in spite of everything. Choosing to focus on Him is the wisest choice in absolutely every situation! Right now Dennis is in a rather severe practicum on this very point, having broken his neck and being in a very difficult recovery process. The reports his organization is putting out indicate that he is making progress, but it can’t be easy. For someone who has been a world traveler, as well as a public speaker, all his life, this is as big a change as you could imagine. He is a devout Jew, and does not currently acknowledge Jesus as his Messiah, but he is focused on obeying God. I think that God has allowed this in his life to teach him to love Him, and not just obey Him. Dennis has said that he has trouble with the idea of loving God, and of the concept of unconditional love. My prayer is that in this time he will discover God’s love and love Him in return, finally believing that God loved him so much that He already sent His Son to be his Savior. When that happens, Dennis will rejoice that God allowed this in his life, because a right relationship with God’s Son is worth more than everything else in the universe put together!

I am grateful that God has given me the ability to choose, and that I have seen the fruit of it. I chose to love my wife, in a rather abrupt and dramatic fashion, and 56 years later that has only grown and deepened. That said, I renew that choice every day. Likewise, I chose to repent of pride and follow my Lord in obedience. That too gets renewed every day. Sometimes I think I’ve done better at loving my wife than I have at obeying God! I have had times of real depression, but the Lord has enabled me to choose to refocus on Him. Life itself is a succession of choices, and I need always to seek the guidance of God’s Spirit in making them, because I don’t have the wisdom or strength to do it right consistently. Seeking that guidance is itself a choice, and it’s what I need to start with all the time.

Father, thank You for this reminder. There were things I was putting off yesterday. Help me follow through with the choice to get them done, so that Your purposes may be accomplished on Your schedule in and through me, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!