Consider the simple faith expressed in this psalm to the Lord. A confidence that evil will be punished and that good will always prevail. The future is bright. There is no need to worry.

We might assume that the author was an idealistic youth - one who has never experienced pain or disappointment. Yet this psalm did not come from any naive child. It was written by a very old man, a man who had known incredible hardships. It is a psalm of David.

Think of David. Although from a shepherd he became king, he also knew hardship. As a youth he had to flee for his life from the jealous Saul. He felt the grief over being responsible for the death of his infant son. Later, as king, he saw his children rape and kill one another. He was forced to flee Jerusalem for his life, because his own son Absalom had rebelled. Then he regained his throne at the cost of his beloved Absalom's life.

David experienced intense pain. Yet he could advise us not to worry about those who do evil. All we need do is trust in the Lord and do good. Indeed, he claims that those who commit their way to the Lord will have everything they need, even if it be but a little in comparison with those who are evil. There is nothing in the future to fear. The good will be rewarded for their efforts.

Comparing this psalm with David's life, we may think that he had an unrealistic view of providence. But consider a similar teaching from the doctrines of the New Church: "When the Lord is present with someone, he leads him, and provides that all things which happen, whether sad or joyful, befall him for good; this is the Divine providence" (Arcana Coelestia 6303). Whatever happens - being promoted or fired, realizing our dreams or having them dashed - all result in good!

A difficult idea to accept - in large part because it seems like the Lord thereby is just manipulating us, causing evil to come into our lives.

But such is not the case. The Lord would never make anything bad happen. And He would prefer that we never suffer any pain. His providence is a gentle leading which causes good things to happen, and tolerates evil things. However He permits us to hurt ourselves and He allows others to cause us pain. Not as punishment, but as the result of free choices by individuals and groups.

One of the greatest stumbling blocks to sensing mercy in His providence is that when we feel pain or worry about serious problems we think that is all there is in life. We cannot see beyond the suffering, the hurt. But while we are occupied with worry, the Lord is already looking ahead - to what can come from the experience, to how He can lead us to grow in spite of the difficulty. For the Lord's view is eternal. He sees hope when we see none. He leads to happiness when we feel hurt.

The apparently random and purposeless events in life are described in the Heavenly Doctrines with pebbles. The Lord allows a person "to go here and there, so that the moments of his life appear like scattered pebbles. But the Lord then sees whether he fills up that space between them; He sees what is lacking and where; and then, continually, what is next in order, after a hundred or a thousand years" (Spiritual Experiences 4692[m]). The Lord's sight and providence encompasses eons of time. He sees all we are, and all we might become. He then gradually provides for it - not immediately, but over the course of an eternal lifetime. Whatever happens, whatever decisions we make, or whatever others do to us - the Lord eventually turns everything to good.

Unfortunately, our view is seldom as long. We cannot see how things will turn out in twenty, much less two thousand years. And when we are suffering our sight is even more limited. So we worry about what will happen. We may try to trust in His guidance, but we are more likely to feel abandoned by the Lord. Whatever He might be doing is both invisible and insensible to us.

In such a frame of mind we might wish we could see the future, be certain of how things will work out. If we were assured of the specific outcome, or knew exactly which path were the best to follow, we could really trust in the Lord - have confidence in Him to lead us.

Yet, in this, as in all other things, the Lord knows us better than we know ourselves. He does not hide the workings of providence from us as a test of our trust, or a puzzle for us to sort out. The Divine does not tease us. But the Lord is fully aware that if we were to know the future, or if we received the "right" answers to our specific questions by a voice out of heaven, we would wind up destroying ourselves.

Imagine what we would feel like if someone predicted every last thing that we would experience for the 24 hours. At first we would disbelieve, but what if the predictions started coming true? It would be disturbing, to say the least. And would we not begin to feel restricted, and try to prevent the predictions from coming true?

We value our freedom, our sense of self. We will protect it at all costs. When we are forced to do something, or if we are pressured into one course of action, do we not rebel, wanting to act against that pressure?

Such resistance is not adolescent or infantile reaction to authority. It stems from our inner freedom of thought. For us to be human beings we need to think things out for ourselves and then act in freedom. Whatever choices we make determine the kind of person we become - and whether our choices are good or bad, at least they make us who we choose to be, not who someone else forces us to be.

Yet, when we are confused or suffering, we have a tremendous yearning to see something of the potential the Lord sees for us and those we love. Unfortunately, if we were able to glimpse it, we would probably work against it. A paradox which can be frustrating and lead us to worry about the future.

It would be much better if we could just let go and trust the Lord to make the best of whatever we do. That is what the angels do. They have no memory of past events from their earthly life to trouble them. Nor do they have any desire to know what is to come. For they are content in the present. Imagine if we could be so fully engaged in our present activities, dealing with what we can do rather than what is beyond our power, that we had no time to worry about the future! It is a goal worth striving for.

But for now, we tend to worry. We tend to worry about our jobs, our health, our children, the international situation, our spiritual state. It can on go on and on. Certainly some amount of thoughtful consideration is important. We are meant to make plans for the future - use good judgment to provide for our families. And we can delight in looking forward to continued productivity or happier times. But planning and worrying about what might or might not occur can become excessive.

The Psalms admonish us: "Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret - it only causes harm" (37:8). Do not worry, it only causes pain. Thinking too much of the future can lead us to forget that the Lord's providence is silently guiding us. The doctrines of the New Church point out that, "a longing to know the future is innate with most people; but this longing derives its origin from the love of evil" (Divine Providence 179).

Anxiety about the future stems from a lack of confidence that the Lord can lead us to happiness. Since He works invisibly, we can think that we are the only ones who have any direct influence upon what happens. It is a subtle trust in self, and denial that the Lord can be relied upon. Certainly it appears as if we have to do all the work, but it is not the reality. For we could not have created ourselves. We can't even make ourselves happy!

So the Heavenly Doctrines describe the Lord's providence "as when one walks in thick forests, the exit out of which he does not know; but when he finds it, he attributes the discovery to himself, whereas providence meantime is as one who stands in a tower, sees the wanderings of such a person, and leads him without his knowing it to the place of exit" (Spiritual Experiences 4393). The Lord is in the tower, inspiring our thoughts, motivating our actions so that we can be led from darkness into light.

But His guiding can only be effective when we cooperate. We have to search for ways out of the forest. The Lord gave us the ability to think so we would use it. If we sit back and ponder our situation, how hopeless it may seem, little is accomplished. Can we add one cubit to our height by worrying about it? We also need to act. If we stand around and complain about how lost we are, or how unfair life is, it is very difficult for the Lord to lead us anywhere. He will not drag us out of our forests against our wills.

It is as the Psalm said: "Trust in the Lord and do good." Such simple advice, but so true! We cannot alter the past, but we can do something in the present, enabling the Lord to create a happy future.

There will still be times of selfishness where we long to know how things could possibly work out, and there will still be things happening to us which are not pleasant. We cannot control life. But we can avoid being defeated by it. We have been given the knowledge of how the Lord operates to bring about happiness in the long term. We have been given the freedom to act with reason. We have the basis for trusting in Him.

Let us then listen to the Psalm, not worrying about the future, not worrying about what is or what might be. Let us do the good that we can, and leave the rest to the Lord. After all, He should be able to do a much better job than we. Let us commit our ways to the Lord, trusting in Him, and He can give us the heavenly desires of our hearts.

(参照: Arcana Coelestia 6303; Divine Providence 176; Spiritual Experiences 2178, 4393, 4692)

846. For it is the number of a man. That this signifies its nature, as if it were from the understanding of truths, which understanding the men of the church ought to possess, is evident from the signification of number, as denoting the nature of faith (concerning which see above, n. 841); and from the signification of man, as denoting the understanding of truth which the men of the church have in matters of faith (concerning which also see above, n. 280, 546, 547). In this case, as if it were from such understanding. For faith separated from the life is a belief in what is false, consequently destitute of truth and the understanding of it. The case, therefore, is the same here with the signification of man, as with that of wisdom above (n. 844); by which is meant, as if it were wisdom, although it is insanity.

[2] Moreover those who are in faith separated from charity prohibit the use of the understanding, insisting upon obedience to a faith not understood, and that a faith understood is a man's own faith, and therefore natural and not spiritual. But what is the nature of intellectual faith shall be told.

The Word in its spiritual sense treats, in many passages, of the understanding of the Divine truth in the Word; and, where the desolation of the church is treated of, it also treats of the destruction of the understanding of the Divine verities thereof from the Word. And from the spiritual sense of passages upon that subject taken collectively, and carefully investigated, it is evident, that in the measure that the understanding of truth perishes in the church, in the same measure the church perishes. The understanding of the Word is also signified in many passages by Egypt, Ashur, Israel, and also by Ephraim - by Egypt, the natural understanding thereof; by Ashur, rational understanding; by Israel, spiritual understanding; and by Ephraim, the actual understanding of the Word in the church. But these three degrees of understanding - the natural, rational, and spiritual, ought to be one, in order that a man may from enlightenment see and perceive the genuine truths of the Word. For the natural understanding, which is the lowest, cannot be enlightened by its own light (lumen), but it must be enlightened by the light of the rational man, which is in the midst, and the latter from spiritual light. For the spiritual understanding is in the light of heaven, and sees by virtue of it; and the Rational is a medium between the Spiritual and the Natural, and receives spiritual light, which it transmits to the Natural and enlightens it. It is therefore evident that the natural understanding without light through the Rational from what is spiritual, is not understanding, for it is without light from heaven; and the truths of the church, which are also the truths of heaven, can be seen only in the light of heaven. The reason is, that Divine truth going forth from the Lord as a Sun, is the light of heaven; and the Lord by His own light, which is spiritual light, alone enlightens man.

[3] From these things it is evident, that the Lord desires a man not only to know the truths of the church to which he belongs, but also to understand them, not, however, from natural light separated from spiritual light; for natural light separated from spiritual light, in heavenly or spiritual things, is not light but darkness. For a man, from natural light separated from spiritual light, views the things of the church from himself, and not from the Lord. Therefore he can see them only from appearances and fallacies, and to see the former from the point of view of the latter, is to see falsities instead of truths, and evils instead of goods. The fire which sends forth and also enkindles that light is the love of self, and the pride of one's own intelligence therefrom. In the measure that a man, thinking from that fire and its light, excels in ingenuity, and has the power to confirm everything he pleases thence, in the same measure, he can also confirm falsities and evils, to such a degree as even to make them appear to be truths and goods. Indeed, he can show falsities and evils in a brilliant natural light, which is, nevertheless, a delusive light, increased by the contriver. But to comprehend the things of the church from this light is not to understand, but rather to misunderstand them. For a man from that light alone sees truths as falsities, and falsities as truths. This is especially the case when some accepted dogma is assumed as the truth itself, without previous investigation as to whether it be true or not, and if it is investigated it is only by statements confirmed by reasonings from the natural man, or by confirmation from passages from the Word that are not understood. When a man views all the dogmas of his religion in this way, he may assume as a principle whatever he pleases, and shed upon it the light of confirmation to such a degree as to make it to appear to be truth from heaven, although it is falsehood from hell.

[4] From what has been said, it may be concluded that by understanding the truths of the church is meant the understanding of them when illuminated by the light of heaven, thus by the Lord. The man who is in such enlightenment, can see the truths of the church rationally while in the world, and spiritually after death. But from natural light (lumen) separated from spiritual light - which is the light of heaven from the Lord - to enter into the things of the church, which interiorly are spiritual and celestial, is to proceed according to an inverted order. For what is natural cannot enter into what is spiritual, but what is spiritual can enter into what is natural. For natural influx, which is also called physical influx, into the thoughts and intentions of a man's spirit is not possible. Spiritual influx, however, is possible, that is, of the thoughts and intentions of the spirit into the body, and also into its actions and sensations.