Originally posted: 11/18/2020
When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,
Your consolations delight my soul, (94:19).
Can you think of a timelier word for our soul? For we truly live in a time with way too many opportunities to multiply anxiety. Today, I need His Consolations; I imagine you do too.
And I wondered: Just how do our anxious thoughts multiply? The basic idea of multiplying is repeated addition. We have one thought and as we dwell on that, another thought comes, and as we fixate on those, more are added, and the process repeats until the sum total equals massive anxiety.
We can see the multiplication process play out in the opening verses. God, You’re the Judge; do something about the wicked! Add to it: How long before You do? Add to it: Dwell on their words. Add to it: Rehearse their actions. Add to it: Remember their blatant disregard for God. Add to it: Practice how they should be confronted.
Anxiety growing with each repeated addition of contemplation.
And in a moment of clarity, a change in direction happens, as the psalmist deflects his attention away from his own anxiety and toward Almighty God’s Consolations. And not only does the psalmist find soothing comfort, but there is an about-face in the demeanor of his very soul, all that he is in his inner being, his thoughts and feelings, are transformed.
And now rather than a Soul engaged in multiplying anxious thoughts, the psalmist is experiencing Delight. That is quite a metamorphosis. Only God’s Consolations can reverse the equation and convert multiplied anxiety into Delight of Soul.
Consider His Consolations that Delight Our Soul
- His Consolations Delight Our Soul as we are disciplined in His truth.
- Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord,
And whom You teach out of Your law, (94:12).
- Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord,
- His Consolations Delight Our Soul as we accept the relief of His Presence.
- That You may grant him relief from the days of adversity,
Until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not abandon His people,
Nor will He forsake His inheritance, (94:13-14).
- That You may grant him relief from the days of adversity,
- His Consolations Delight Our Soul as we trust His righteous judgment.
- For judgment will again be righteous,
And all the upright in heart will follow it, (94:15).
- For judgment will again be righteous,
- His Consolations Delight Our Soul as we recognize and trust His help.
- Who will stand up for me against evildoers?
Who will take his stand for me against those who do wickedness
17 If the Lord had not been my help,
My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence, (94:16-17).
- Who will stand up for me against evildoers?
- His Consolations Delight Our Soul as we are overwhelmed, not by our circumstances, but by His Lovingkindness.
- If I should say, “My foot has slipped,”
Your lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up.
19 When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,
Your consolations delight my soul, (94:18-19).
- If I should say, “My foot has slipped,”
- His Consolations Delight Our Soul as we turn away from our questions and run to Him as our stronghold and refuge.
- Can a throne of destruction be allied with You,
One which devises mischief by decree?
21 They band themselves together against the life of the righteous
And condemn the innocent to death.
22 But the Lord has been my stronghold,
And my God the rock of my refuge, (94:20-22).
- Can a throne of destruction be allied with You,
- His Consolations Delight Our Soul as we leave the fate of the wicked with Him.
- He has brought back their wickedness upon them
And will destroy them in their evil;
The Lord our God will destroy them, (94:23).
- He has brought back their wickedness upon them
How do we respond to His Consolations that Delight Our Soul?
His Consolations are there for the taking. Let us ask Him to prompt our response from His Word; for when we take hold of His Consolations by faith, they will Delight our Soul.
- Let us believe: His Consolations will Delight Our Soul as we seek His discipline and training in His Sanctifying Word of Truth.
- “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth,” (John 17:17).
- Let us agree: His Consolations will Delight Our Soul as we fully accept the relief of His Presence and let go of our fear of man.
- …for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” 6 so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.
What will man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:5-6).
- …for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,” 6 so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.
- Let us yield: His Consolations will Delight Our Soul as we trust His righteous judgment to rescue us.
- then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, (2 Peter 2:9).
- Let us be convinced: His Consolations will Delight Our Soul as we recognize and trust His help.
- Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need, (Hebrews 4:14-16).
- Let us expect: His Consolations will Delight Our Soul as we are overwhelmed, not by our circumstances, but by His Lovingkindness.
- But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, (Romans 8:37-39).
- Let us determine: His Consolations will Delight Our Soul as we turn away from our questions and run to Him as our stronghold and refuge.
- “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. 3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also,” (John 14:1-3).
- Let us realize: His Consolations will Delight Our Soul as we leave the fate of the wicked with Him.
- “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end,” (Revelation 22:12-13).
His Consolations that Delight Our Soul… they are there for the taking. Are we taking hold of all He has for us as revealed in His Word?
Today, let us ask Him to grow us in our faith through our time with Him in His Word, that anxiety would be stopped from multiplying and overtaking our thoughts. Rather, let us take hold of His Word of Truth, that it would be His Consolations that multiply and Delight Our Soul
When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,
Your consolations delight my soul, (94:19).