Do Not Forget the Comforts
In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul. (Psalm 94: 19)
My wife, Bobbie, had a stroke after our morning church service on October 6, 2002. It happened at church, and when I got to her, I wasn’t sure she was alive. She regained consciousness, and the paramedics got her to the hospital. While I was standing beside her gurney in the ER, she spoke these words to me: In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul (Psalm 94: 19).
I didn’t recognize it as a verse of Scripture, and I asked her about it. She told me the reference and said she had run across it in her Bible reading just a week or two back and had memorized it. Even though she does not remember the conversation, that verse of Scripture got us through a month of hospital stay and her doing the hard work of learning to walk again.
All of us, eventually, experience multitudes of anxieties. Job knew what he was talking about when he said, “Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble” (Job 14: 1). The psalmist also knew what he was talking about. When those full of trouble days come our way, we have a way to get through them.
Your comforts delight my soul provides the way through the dark days. Do not forget the ways God brings comfort to your soul. Maybe a particular song gives you strength when you struggle. Perhaps a favorite verse of Scripture comes to mind when life is hard. A good friend may have just the right word when it seems like the multitude of …anxieties is about to overwhelm you. Do not forget those comforts!
You can hold onto them by doing two or three simple things. You can share them with others when you recognize them. Talking about them will settle them in your mind, and God’s Spirit will bring them back when you need them. You can also hold onto them by writing them down. Journaling has many benefits, but helping us remember God’s work in our lives is one of the best. You have a way to go back and review the last month, the last year, the last several years. Finally, choosing to thank God for those comforts will help fix them in your heart and mind.
All of us need God’s comforts. They sustain us during the full of trouble days. Let God’s comforts delight your soul when anxieties try to rob you of your peace in Jesus. Rev. John Strain recently retired from the Senior pastorate of First Baptist Church of Toms River and is a contributor to the Keswick devotional, Real Victory for Real Life
Keswick, America’s (2012-12-13). Real Victory for Real Life Volume 2 (Kindle Locations 3200-3230). . Kindle Edition.
Daily Bible Reading: Job 5-7; 1 Corinthians 3
Quote of the day: Peace of heart lies in perfect resignation to the will of God. What you need is true simplicity, a certain calmness of spirit which comes from entire surrender to all that God wills, patience and toleration for your neighbour’s faults, and a certain candor and childlike docility in acknowledging your own faults. Francois Fenelon
Bible Memory: Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promises; then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word. Psalm 119:41-42
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