As I look at this group of Psalms (Psalms 27 - 36), 3 common themes stand out to me. (1) God's character is completely trustworthy and is the bedrock on which His children must build their lives; (2) God's people can and should take refuge under His wings when the storms of life rage around; and (3) God's people do have real enemies in this life, and God can handle them too.
Time and time again in this group of Psalms, the Psalmist is contrasting the challenges in this world with the peace that comes with placing our complete confidence and faith in God to both protect us in the short term, but also to cause us to prosper in this life for the long haul. I find this to be tremendously helpful and accurate advice. ,I have lived long enough now in this life to have experienced "long" seasons of job instability, major immediate family health challenges, and income challenges for instance. I have also experienced seasons of trying to handle these stresses too much in my own strength and also seasons of leaning more on the Lord than my own strength. The net result, is that the former is very hard - really unsustainable, and the latter is so much more peaceful - very much sustainable.
The more I can actually live as the Psalmist calls us to live, the more clarity I have, the more insight I have, the more peace, and the more I have the capacity to live for others - even in the midst of the storm. This does bring joy in the midst of the storms.
My only regret is that I am not able to live as the Psalmist calls us to live more days of the month than I do right now.
Still, a very important first step is the DESIRE to do so, and when we can keep stoking that fire of DESIRE to follow the Lord, each day really does feel new and fresh, even when life is hard. This concept comes across strongly in these Psalms. The Psalmist conveys a strong DESIRE to know and walk with the Lord closely and there seems to be in the Psalms almost a self-perpetuating element to this seek-desire-seek rhythm. The more we humbly seek after the Lord and obediently follow His direction in our lives, the more He shows up, and this in turn adds fuel to the fire of DESIRE for Him. I do appreciate the fact that sometimes "life" knocks us to the ground and maybe we have gotten out of this rhythm. When this happens it can sometimes seem like there is an inertia fighting against us to get started again. And remember, in addition to our own feelings of tiredness or frustration, there is a very REAL enemy fighting against us finding that rhythm again. In those cases I think we need to remember the 3 themes I stated at the top of this post. God is trustworthy, God WILL protect us as we run to Him, and let God take care of our enemies as we rest under His very large and strong wings.
May our great God reward you as you earnestly seek to draw close to Him.