The 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.

Not in the land beyond the sky where the angels live, but down here on earth where human beings live--this is where David believed to see the goodness of the Lord. All about him he saw a host of evil men, and such as breathe out cruelty (vv. 3, 12). It was depressing, the sight of all this wickedness and cruelty. It was enough to take the heart out of him and make him a pessimist.

We have among us today many pessimists. They see only the dark side of things. They have a ready eye for all that is base and sordid, but no eye for the good and beautiful. Blind to the good and seeing only the bad, it is no wonder they have become pessimists, lost hope for the world, and see only a gloomy outlook for the future.

When I look around and see so much vice and meanness in the world, my heart would fail me, but for the fact that I see also a great deal of virtue and good. I have all confidence in the great I see. It is real and genuine, vital and aggressive. Herein is the cure for that pessimism which sees the world as only bad and hopelessly so. There is enough goodness in the world to make an optimist of any man who has the eyes to see it.

The original Hebrew of the text has a word that is omitted in our translation--"me.” “Unless I had believed to see God's goodness to me in the land of the living.”

It makes all the difference whether I believe to see God's goodness to me while I am here on earth, or whether the journey through life is a wearisome tramp that I must make without Divine help and guidance. The good in store for us hereafter is alluring, but the thought of it does not entirely allure our thoughts from the sorrows and sufferings of the present life. We need some present good to sustain us and keep us going in the face of the world's hardness and darkness.

My way may be very rough and very dark, but if I can see God's goodness around me and working for me, I know all is well; though I walk through the dark valley of the shadows, I have a faith that sustains me. It saves me from pessimism, keeps me confident in life's darkest hours, "To know that He is close to me, My God, my Guide . . . He leadeth me, and so I walk quite satisfied.”