As we continue with this psalm it is good to be reminded of its title ‘Joy in the fellowship of God ’. We live in a time when it takes great resolve to have fellowship with the Lord. At times when the pressures of life seem to be overwhelming and if we are not aware of what is happening we can be tempted to just go through the motions of loving God instead of pressing into God. Because we are a product of our choices let us always choose to put God first. The Psalmist tells of one of his servants having fellowship with the Lord. He uses his time at the end of the day to reflect on God’s goodness in his life, in Verse 6 he says: “When I remember You in my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches”. Notice the Psalmist says ‘When’ this indicates that there have been times when he did not meditate on the Lord at night, but he did not dwell on those times, he recalled how different it was when he did. This is a good lesson to learn, keep reminding ourselves of the good times we have had with the Lord, not of anything else. Because it is our choice to govern what occupies our thinking. The Psalmist then goes on in Verse 7 to explain why it is so good to control your thoughts at night to reflect on His goodness. “ Because you have been my help, therefore in the shadow of your wings I will rejoice “. Sometimes we experience the goodness of God in our lives so often that we forget how blessed we are. I am reminded of the chorus of a well known hymn, “Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done!” Remembering the blessings of God is a choice that we all make, it is not an automatic response. Controlling what we think about is a daily battle that never stops, and because this is an ongoing battle we must always be on guard and choose to reflect on God’sgoodness in our lives. The Psalmist uses a beautiful metaphor to describe his fellowship with his Lord, ‘In the shadow of your wings ’. It is important to recognise that shadows only form when the sun is shining. What the Psalmist is saying because God’s light is so bright he is comfortable in the shadow of the Lord’s covering. Then the Psalmist declares another of his ways with his Lord that he uses to have fellowship with Him. He says in Verse 8 “My soul follows close behind you; your right hand upholds me “. He makes certain to have fellowship, we understand from this that it was a choice that he made. This is a challenge that we face all the time because we want to please ourselves and we only overcome this by submitting to the Lord. This is something that the Psalmist did constantly, not just following the Lord but closely following Him. When he did this he experienced God’s right hand supporting him. It is so hard to describe what being supported by God feels like, except to say it is a joy to have fellowship with Him.