Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days. Prosper the work of our hands for us! Prosper the work of our hands! - Psalm 90.
Friends, God is good, all the time.
David encourages us to take God into account in our day and recognize that he should be an essential part of it. He declares in the responsorial Psalm, "In every age, O Lord, you have been our refuge." You see, David was deeply convinced of what he was saying, so he went further to pray a simple prayer, "Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days. Prosper the work of our hands for us!” (Psalm 90:14).It will be nice if we have the same convictions and pray in these words each day.
Understand that taking refuge in the Lord provides the right motivation for life and happiness. We notice how similar idea emerges in the book of Ecclesiastes, which is the Latin translation of the Hebrew Kohelet, meaning the wise preacher. This author's real identity is concealed, except that he assigns to himself the title, son of David, and king in Jerusalem (Cf 1:1). The message of Ecclesiastes strikes a chord in us that life without God is meaningless and unsatisfactory. But if we have God, and dedicate everything we have to him, life will become meaningful. His use of the images of the eyes and the ears, which never get satisfied with seeing and hearing, remind us again of St. Augustine’s saying, "Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee." The truth is, without God, nothing is enough. Only God is enough in himself, and we cannot be delighted with anything without him.
What could be attractive about a simple preacher in the street to many people who flocked to see and follow him? That was what perplexed Herod when he heard about Jesus. Herod expected loyalty from the people; they should show him reverence and go to him. He was a great and rich king and expected the people to recognize that their life depended on him. But the people were saying instead, "there is something special about this man named Jesus; we are happy to be with him instead of the king."
For Christian, living in the world calls for listening and contemplating the world considering God, who created it for us. Such contemplation leads us to recognize his presence around us and our need to depend on him. If know that the Lord is our refuge, we recognize that he will also protect and support us. These who are convinced of this truth, are never afraid of life, and they are not too concerned about the moment-by-moment turn of events. They know that God directs all things to their end; they place everything in his hands and trust his benevolence.
Prayer blessings: Father, in your watchful eyes nothing falls away and get lost. Keep our lives free of vanity and our hearts pure before you. Guide us against the temptation to deny others of what is due them and the risk of walking away from you in the pursuit of our heart desires. Amen.