Psalm 94:18, 19

"When I said, My foot slippeth; thy mercy, O LORD, held me up. In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul."

We have many thoughts in a day. We think about what we are going to wear. We think about the route we will take to get to work. We think about the day's projects. And there are myriad random thoughts that go through our mind. The temperature outdoors, the play of a favorite team, the colors in flowers are a few examples of the things about which we think. As this verse says, there are a multitude of them. They can cause a wide range of emotions. The remembrance of being taken advantage of by someone can cause the same anger to arise. Or, thinking about spending time with family can bring joy. According to this verse, the thoughts that bring delight are the thoughts of God's comforts.

Since God is eternal, so are His comforts. The Bible is full of verses that speak of His care for His people. He promises to never leave them. He promises that He never lies (in fact, lying is the one thing that it is impossible for God to do). Verse upon verse is a comfort to us.

The rest of Psalm 94 speaks of the prosperity of the wicked. This is a theme that is raised often in scripture. For it certainly appears that the wicked prosper while true Christians suffer. Psalm 94 goes a step further to show that the suffering of the true Christian is often because of the wicked. The writer of the psalm, being among those who are God's, starts the Psalm by asking God when He will take matters into His hands. By the time verses 18 and 19 come along, though, the writer sees that he is still in the mighty hands of the merciful God. Despite the events to which he alludes in the previous verses, the writer ends by acknowledging his place as God's man.

The multitude of thoughts expressed in the first few verses of Psalm 94 give way to the comforts of verse 18. And so it is with God's ways. He is neither flashy nor pushy. But one glimpse of His comforts sweep away all thoughts of the ways of the world, and the suffering of life, and brings delight to the soul of the one that is His. May we never lose sight of His comforts!

HJK