When, not if

I’ve always loved the certainty of Psalm 27:13, although it wasn’t until this morning that I realized my timing was off.

I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. (Psalms‬ ‭27:13‬ ‭NIV, emphasis mine)

King David’s bold declaration has been one that I have claimed many times for myself, especially in times that seemed to be contrary to it. “It may seem dark right now,” I’d pray, “but I know that I’ll see Your goodness again in my life.”

But this isn’t a statement about future possibility; it’s a statement about present reality. God is good, and the evidence of His goodness is all around us now. If we aren’t seeing it, it’s because we aren’t looking for it.

We live in a complex world, and our brains use something psychologists call cognitive bias to simplify all the information we’re bombarded with daily. This bias is a way of sorting through what we experience, kind of a quick “scan and file” system for the brain that tends to reject the unfamiliar and accept the familiar. It allows us to do so many of the repetitive things required of us without overloading our brains.

It allows you to “just drive” even though driving involves hundreds of decisions that you have to make but don’t necessarily need to focus on.

One advantage of cognitive bias is that it allows us to find what we’re looking for, and in the case of our verse, we find the goodness of God when we’re looking for the goodness of God.

Not later. Now.

I want to wake up every day with a bias toward God’s goodness. More than just choosing to be optimistic (not a bad choice), this is a decision to anchor my soul in the present goodness of God. A soul-centering belief that He is good, He is with me, and that means there His goodness is all around me.

I will see the goodness of God because I am looking for the goodness of God. I’m not waiting to see it someday; I’m looking to see it today.

Selah.

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