The LINES for me have Fallen in {WELCOME} Places

 Can you say, in the middle of this place you find yourself standing in, "it is GOOD"? 

Think for a moment about the story (journey) of Ruth .... Now think particularly of Naomi.
Her life was full of crushing disappointment. Even before her husband died. How can anyone be so bold to say, "{THIS} is good" when the unexpected happens?
Look at Psalm 16:6 "The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places."

Land, in Bible times, was measured and divided into portions. It was determined by LOT. However it fell was no choice of yours...it was the hand you were dealt.
I can imagine the disappointment some felt when they found out the hand THEY were dealt. Or the exuberant JOY the others felt when the LINES fell in welcome places.

"FAIR are the places marked out for me."
Is THIS fair?
Is this place I find myself in, FAIR?

I suppose it depends on your expectations and how you define FAIR.

So I LOOK at the work God is doing----the UNSEEN.
The things to come.
The fact that there is something GREATER on the horizon ---- even in THIS place. There is a plan. A purpose. 

We are disillusioned in THIS moment because there is nothing tangibly GOOD in this hand we've been dealt. We are tempted in THIS moment to succumb to bitterness, jealously, discontentment, fear......
thinking that somehow God has held back from us.
That He has withheld His greater treasure from us and ---- we've been ripped off.

OR.....perhaps maybe we've missed the bigger picture here.

The SOVEREIGNTY of God......and HIS MASTER PLAN. His grand PURPOSES being played out in the unseen. BEYOND this moment here. BEYOND this lot we've been dealt. Because, you see, He is working ALL things out for our GOOD and HIS GLORY. *ALL* things.

 and IN THIS PLACE----He will SUSTAIN us, make provision for us, and follow THROUGH on this GOOD WORK He has purposed for us since the beginning of time.  He WILL perfect all that concerns us.  He will FINISH what He started......

and one day when we look back over our lives we can say, "The lines for me have fallen in WELCOME places."

Can you EMBRACE this place you find yourself in?
KNOWING that God is doing a GREATER thing?
KNOWING that God is sovereign?
Can you TRUST Him that what He does is GOOD? Even in {THIS}? He doesn't owe you an explanation. We often want escape from the uncomfortable. He wants SURRENDER......

When we are willing to surrender we release God to WORK in GLORIOUS ways. That is when we can TRULY say the LINES FOR ME HAVE FALLEN IN WELCOME PLACES.

Psalm 16

1 Keep and protect me, O God, for in You I have found refuge, and in You do I put my trust and hide myself.

2 I say to the Lord, You are my Lord; I have no good beside or beyond You.

3 As for the godly (the saints) who are in the land, they are the excellent, the noble, and the glorious, in whom is all my delight.

4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied who choose another god; their drink offerings of blood will I not offer or take their names upon my lips.

5 The Lord is my chosen and assigned portion, my cup; You hold and maintain my lot.

6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good heritage.

7 I will bless the Lord, Who has given me counsel; yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.

8 I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory [my inner self] rejoices; my body too shall rest and confidently dwell in safety,

10 For You will not abandon me to Sheol (the place of the dead), neither will You suffer Your holy one [Holy One] to see corruption.

11 You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.