Being Watched Over

_
I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

(Psalm 121)

It dawned on me how often we take things for granted. We forget that when things go well, it is because the Lord God Almighty is watching over us.

We travel safely to work and back home each day...
We don't fall down and break a bone when we walk...
We don't succumb to the millions of viruses and bacteria all around us...
We have good food and clean water each day...
We are not ravaged by cyclones and earthquakes...
We have peace and a good government in the land...
We can worship God freely without persecution...

It is by the love, grace and mercy of the one who watches over us faithfully without slumber.

I had an experience recently which vividly reminded me of God's invisible hand watching over even the "more mundane and less important" area of my life. Let me elaborate:

Every month, 10% of my salary goes into a savings plan with the company. Every 6 months, the money accumulated is used to buy our company's shares on Wall Street at a discount, after which I can choose to hold on to the shares or to sell them via a computer stockbroking system in the company.

Just his month, another lot of shares came into my account. I needed some money to balance the accounts, so I decided to sell these shares, but I have no idea what is the best price to sell them. So I arbitrarily set a significantly higher price than the recent stock price, hoping that the price will rise to that level, at which the shares will be automatically sold, and the money transferred to my bank.

Imagine my surprise when I went back to the office the next day and found the shares already sold (while I was sleeping). It seems that the share price, for some unknown reason, spiked up within that trading day hitting the price I set, before closing much lower at the end of the trading day.

That was not all. A couple of days later, my company announced a multi-billion dollar acquisition of another company. As a result, the share price tumbled 15% overnight and has not recovered since.

Looks like I sold the shares at the best possible time, despite being clueless about all these. It is better than having the best stockbroker in the world looking after your investments...
Nothing beats the One who watches over us, because He is in full control of ALL the wealth on the earth.

Wow...

"The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore..."

Thank you Lord.
_