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.

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

78. As dead. That this signifies the failing of his own life, is evident from the signification of as dead, when the Divine presence with man is treated of, as being the failing of one's own life. For a man's own life is that into which he is born, which in itself is nothing but evil, for it is altogether inverted, regarding only itself and the world, and therefore turning itself backwards from God and from heaven. The life which is not man's own, is that into which he is led when he is regenerated by the Lord; and when he comes into this life, he looks to God and heaven in the first place, and himself and the world in the second. This life flows into man when the Lord is present; hence it is clear, that, so far as it flows in, so far there is effected a turning of the life; this turning, when it is effected suddenly, causes man to appear to himself as dead; hence it is that by these words is signified the failing of his own life. But these two states cannot be described to the apprehension; they are different also with man from what they are with a spirit, and they differ altogether with the evil and with the good.

[2] It is impossible for man to live in the body in the presence of the Divine; and they who do live are surrounded with a column of angels, which moderates the Divine influx; for the body of no man whatever is capable of receiving of the Divine, therefore it dies and is cast off. That man cannot live in the body in the presence of the Divine, is evident from the words of the Lord to Moses, "Thou canst not see my face; for there shall no man see me, and live" (Exodus 33:20); therefore Moses, because he desired to see Him, was placed in the hole of a rock, and covered until the Lord had passed by. It was known also to the ancients that man could not see God and live, as is evident from the book of Judges: "Manoah said unto his wife, Dying we shall die, because we have seen God" (13:22).

This was also testified among the sons of Israel, when the Lord was seen from Mount Sinai, concerning which it is thus written in Moses:

"Be ready against the third day; for the third day Jehovah will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves that ye go not up into the mountain, or touch the border of it; whosoever toucheth the mountain, dying he shall die;" and because terror seized upon them, they said to Moses, "Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die" (Exodus 19:11, 12; 20:19).

(That by Mount Sinai is signified heaven, where the Lord is, and that by touching is signified to communicate, to transfer, and to receive, and that for this reason it was forbidden to touch the border of that mountain, may be seen in the explanation of that chapter in Arcana Coelestia.)

[3] The reason why Jehovah was seen by many, as recorded in the Word, was, that they were at the time surrounded with a column of spirits, and thus preserved, as said above; thus also the Lord has been oftentimes seen by me. But the state of spirits before the Divine presence differs from the state of man; spirits cannot die; therefore, if they are evil, they undergo a spiritual death at the Divine presence, the nature of which death will be presently described; but those who are good, are taken to societies, where the sphere of the Divine presence is tempered and accommodated to reception. This is why there are three heavens, and in each heaven many societies, and those who are in the higher heavens are nearer to the Lord, and those who are in the lower are more remote from Him (concerning this see what is said in the work, Heaven and Hell 20-28, 29-40, 41-50, 206-209). What the spiritual death is which evil spirits undergo at the Divine presence, shall be briefly stated.

[4] Spiritual death is an aversion and removal from the Lord; but, when evil spirits who are not yet vastated, that is, determined to their ruling love, enter any angelic society, then, because the Divine of the Lord is there present, they are direfully tortured, and not only avert themselves, but also cast themselves into the deep, where no light from heaven enters; some into dark caverns of rocks; in a word, into the hells (concerning this see what is shown in the work, Heaven and Hell 54, 400, 410, 525, 527). This aversion and removal from the Lord is called spiritual death; the spiritual of heaven is also dead with them.