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.

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

6405. 'A troop will ravage him' means that works performed without judgement will dislodge him from a state of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'a troop' as works, dealt with in 3934, here works performed without judgement, for those who perform works that are motivated by truth but not as yet by good have a darkened understanding, whereas those whose works are motivated by good have an enlightened understanding because that good gives it light (the light of truth from the Lord flows by way of good into the understanding part of the mind, then on into truth, but not directly into truth, much as sunlight flows by means of heat into members of the vegetable kingdom - such as trees, young plants, and flowers - and causes them to grow and blossom; the direct inflow of sunlight does not cause them to do so, for when light flows in without heat, as in wintertime, nothing grows or blossoms); and from the meaning of 'ravaging him' as dislodging him from a state of truth.

[2] But one must state who exactly those people are who are meant here by 'Gad'. They are those who suffer delusions regarding what is true and yet are led by their deluded view of it to perform works, so that these are not works of truth, much less of good. Through those works they are dislodged from a state of truth, for as soon as the person guided by truth but not as yet by good is moved on religious grounds to put some idea into practice, he then defends that idea as though it were the absolute truth. He sticks to it and does not allow it to be altered except insofar as he moves on into good. For by putting the idea into practice he becomes engrossed in it and enamoured with it. In this way works dislodge him from a state of truth. But quite apart from all this, he believes things to be true which are not so; for these people too, like those meant by 'Dan', judge a thing from their senses, thus without judgement. Let some examples shed light on the matter. Take a person who has the idea that one person is his neighbour in exactly the same way as any other and who for that reason does what is good in exactly the same way to the evil as to the good, and by doing good to the evil, he does harm to others. After he has put the idea into practice several times he then defends it, saying that everyone is his neighbour, and that he is not concerned with what a person is like, only with doing good to him. Thus his works are performed without judgement, and he also acts in ways contrary to the real truth, for the real truth is that all are one's neighbour but each is so in a different degree, and that those governed by good are pre-eminently one's neighbour, 2417, 3419, 3820, 5025.

[3] 'Gad' also means those who think that the whole of salvation rests in works alone, like the Pharisee to whom the Lord referred in His parable,

The Pharisee stood and prayed these words to himself, God, I thank You that I am not like all other people - extortioners, unjust ones, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice in a week; I give tithes of all that I possess. Luke 18:11-12.

Thus he thought that absolute truths consisted in external actions. People such as he are also in the Lord's kingdom, though only on the edge of it, which is why the Lord says,

I tell you, the tax collector went down to his house [more] justified than the other. Luke 18:14.

In saying this He implied that the Pharisee too went down justified, since he had performed works because of the command to do them. In short, 'Gad' represents those who declare that to be true which is not in fact so and who are motivated to perform works by what is not in fact the truth. Consequently their works and truths are alike, for works are nothing else than will and understanding expressed in action. What saves those people is their intention to do what is good and the presence of a measure of innocence within their ignorance.

[4] People motivated to perform works of an external nature by what they believe to be true but which is not in fact so are also meant by 'Gad' in Isaiah,

You who forsake Jehovah, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Gad, and who fill a drink-offering for Meni. Isaiah 65:11.

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'Setting a table for Gad' stands for an interest solely in works. And in Jeremiah,

Against the sons of Ammon. Thus said Jehovah, Israel, has he no heir? Why then does his king inherit God, and his people dwell in his cities? Jeremiah 49:1.

'Inheriting Gad' stands for leading a life in which works are motivated by what are not truths. 'The sons of Ammon' are people who falsify truths and lead lives in accordance with those falsified truths, 2468, and these things said about Gad in this prophet apply to them.