Never Abandoned

“I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
I have set the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
You have made known to me the path of life;
You will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
Psalm 16:7-11 NIV

Over at Whatcom Community College, it’s finals week. The busyness and pressure of numerous grade-determining tests packed into a single week tends to drive out thoughts of all else. It can easily become a good representation of the saying “too much of a good thing”; washing out every other good thing in its path.

When we allow the “good things” of life to drown out our praising, our listening and our rejoicing, our thankfulness and our joy dwindles. And while this seemingly-relentless studying lasts only seven days, it has not yet failed to remind me of this:

Taking the time to remember the Lord, no matter how bogged down with doing “good things” we may be, is extremely important.
To remember to hear his counsel; even in the night.
To set Him always before all that we do.
To recall that we will never be abandoned, not even in our dying.
To recollect every good thing we have been given in He whose presence alone can fill us with joy.
I hope and pray to do as David did with his psalms. To keep my Lord at the forefront of my mind, no matter where I find myself, no matter how many things must be done. To rejoice in the God who instructs us in our living, never leaving our side (not even in the middle of a math exam!), and whose eternal promise is that even in death we will never find loneliness.
~Abbey Drury (age 17)