A Cure For Pessimism
"I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." -- Ps. 27:13
If I were in hell, I would still believe in the ultimate triumph of decency," said a man in declaring his optimism. That is putting it strong, and yet we cannot but admire a man with such an optimistic view of the world.
Such optimism is not possible to the man who sees only the meanness in the world about him. We have too many prophets of gloom, too many who see only the dark side of things. These people seem to have no eyes for the good things that are being done in human society, but their eyes are wide open to all the evil things that are done. They have a ready eye and a ready ear for all that is base and sordid. Blind to the good and seeing only the bad, it is no wonder they become pessimistic, lose hope for the world and see only a gloomy outlook for the future. David tells us that he would have lost heart and fainted, unless he "had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living."
Herein is the cure for that pessimism which sees the world as only bad and hopelessly so. "Unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." There is a lot of badness in the world, more perhaps than any of us have ever dreamed there could be. But there is a lot of goodness also, found oftentimes in places and among people where we would least expect it. There is enough goodness in the world to make an optimist of every man who has the eyes to discover it.
While not blind to the evil that prevails about me, I thank God for the ability to see the good that prevails as well as the evil. When I look around and see so much vice and wrong in the world, my heart would fail me, but for the fact that I see also a great deal of virtue and good. And I have all confidence in the good I see. It is real and genuine. It is vital and aggressive and determined. Seeing things in this light will cure any man of pessimism.
