Reading today in Psalm 94, I see this:
When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,
Your comfort delights my soul. v. 19
I likely can go throughout my days and no one will know the anxious thoughts I have. Some of us are pretty good at hiding that sort of thing. But they’re there.
Anxiety is a fairly common thing these days. We are anxious about our jobs, our finances, our future, the future of our children and grandchildren, our health and on and on.
What can we do with this anxiety? The Psalmist has our answer.
When he looked around, he saw trouble everywhere. Oppression and wickedness all around. And then his thoughts turn to the Lord and he is comforted.
Charles Spurgeon said of the verse:
When I am tossed to and fro with various reasonings, distractions, questions, and forebodings, I will fly to my true rest, for thy comforts delight my soul. From my sinful thoughts, my vain thoughts, my sorrowful thoughts, my griefs, my cares, my conflicts, I will hasten to the Lord; he has divine comforts, and these will not only console but actually delight me. How sweet are the comforts of the Spirit! Who can muse upon eternal love, immutable purposes, covenant promises, finished redemption, the risen Saviour, his union with his people, the coming glory, and such like themes, without feeling his heart leaping with joy? The little world within is, like the great world without full of confusion and strife; but when Jesus enters it, and whispers “Peace be unto you, “there is a calm, yea, a rapture of bliss. Let us turn away from the mournful contemplation of the oppression of man and the present predominance of the wicked, to that sanctuary of pure rest which is found in the God of all comfort. Good will to us, and to give us some evidence and assurance of his love and favour towards us; these are his comforts. “Delight.” This is a transcendant expression, which the Holy Ghost in the pen of the prophet David comes up unto. It had been a great matter to have said, they satisfy my soul, or, they quiet me, no more but so, that is the highest pitch which a perplexed spirit can wish to itself. Those which are in great pain, they would be glad if they might have but ease, they cannot aspire so high as pleasure and delight, this is more than can be expected by them; but see here now the notable efficacy of these Divine comforts; they do not only pacify the mind, but they joy it; they do not only satify it, but ravish it; they not only quiet, but delight it. Thy comforts delight my soul. That is, not only take away the present grief, but likewise put in the room and place of it most unspeakable comfort and consolation; as the sun does not only dispel darkness, but likewise brings in a glorious light in the stead of it.
I want to turn my attention more and more away from all the happenings in the world…all the “bad” news, and “fly to my true rest” and “hasten to the Lord; he has divine comforts, and these will not only console but actually delight me.”
