1. Lord, you have examined me and you know me.
2. You know everything I do; from far away you understand all my thoughts.
3. You are with me whether I am working or resting: you know all my actions.
4. Even before I speak you already know what I will say.
5. You are all around me on every side: you protect me with your power.
6. Your knowledge of me is too deep: it is beyond my understanding.
I have always been an unashamed optimist, cup-half-full kind of person. My husband , on the other hand is a somewhat cautious cu-p-half-empty kind of man, so we balance on another nicely. He is a keen motorcyclist. When Corona virus hit Europe in early 2020 he immediately cancelled all the bookings he had made for various motor cycle trips during the summer. Meanwhile took me until the end of May to accept that I would not be travelling to Portugal in mid-June.
So as we in Mid Wales enter a seventeen day Lockdown and vast swathes of England are subject to severe restrictions, one of my Bible reflections this week gave me food for thought.
Apparently, those concentration camp survivors who accepted their situation fared better than those who held onto the hope that they would be soon released. Those who held onto the hope that they would be out in a short time found that as time progressed this optimism disappeared along with hope. On the other hand those who had accepted the reality of their incarceration from the start developed a resilience which helped them withstand the situation.
In the same way – and here I quote* “though we live with the promise and hope of the wonder of heaven and eternal life with Jesus, we still need to be able to accept and live with and through whatever life’s current difficulties and challenges might be. It helps to know that God is not just our future hope. He is with us in all our situations and circumstances. He will never leave us.”
The writer of Psalm 139 acknowledges that wherever we are and whatever our circumstances God is with us. No place is too awful or dark for him to reach; indeed “if I lay down in the world of the dead you would be there.”
Something to hold onto in the midst of these strange times, don’t you think?
*Diane Regan: Inspiring Women Every Day.
