“When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.” Psalm 94:19(NASB)

My tea olive trees are blooming. Surrounding our property in several evergreen triplet sets, these beauties boast intricate white flowers that bloom at various times of the year. Even the slightest breeze brings with it the sweet, gardenia, jasmine-like scent that has an instantaneous calming effect on me.  I need that calm today. Today, I am pondering losses, sorrows and trials that have avalanched our family these last few months. My anxious thoughts, multiplying within me are like the creeping fern inching its way up the vulnerable tea olives, strangling the life of each branch, leaf and blossom. Left alone, the creeping fern will rob the tea olive of life-giving nutrients and the strength to continue into maturity. If I counsel my heart with Truth, especially when my mind and heart are flooding with cares and doubts, I, with the power of the Holy Spirit, remove the “creeping fern” from its stranglehold on my vulnerable heart. So, how do I counsel my heart, according to Psalm 94:19? If we read all of Psalm 94, we see the answer. The ESV Study Bible says the consolations in vs. 19 are the assurances that:

            ~God knows (vs. 9-11)

            ~God has shown His support already (vs. 17-18)

            ~God will surely judge (vs. 23)

Interesting to me is that both “anxious thoughts” and “consolations” are plural; both are numerous. So, I read the Word, saturating my heart, sitting until I’m satisfied in Christ’s sufficiency for me.  And I keep reading, even through tears, trusting that God will meet me there; believing His consolations will delight my soul.  Breathing in the sweet tea olive fragrance, I’m reminded of Christ’s sacrificial death as a fragrant aroma to God. Charles Spurgeon, who suffered often from bouts of severe depression, offers us encouragement in his exposition of the book of Psalms, The Treasury of David. Of Psalm 94:19, he says, “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 the wicked, to that sanctuary of pure rest which is found in the God of all comfort.”

Gospel hope indeed.

Prayer,

God, thank You that You are the God of all comfort. I offer to You all the anxieties that multiply within me. Thank You that You already know all about my thoughts; that You have shown Your faithfulness in the past and that You will bring peace to my troubled heart and turn my mourning into dancing. I choose to trust You Lord, renouncing all lies I’ve believed that have become counterfeit captains of my heart. You are my true joy, my only hope. In Jesus’ name, Amen.