Real Comfort for the Soul

PSALM 94:19

We do not know who was the composer of the 94th Psalm. The contents makes us think of the time when Jerusalem was destroyed. Some commentators have heard the Prophet Jeremiah’s voice in this psalm. We hear in it a prayer that God will exercise His wrath over all ungodly people. And at the same time the poet admonishes the righteous to submit themselves under God’s disciplinary hand, for he says, “Blessed is the man whom Thou chasteneth, O Lord.”

Who and what the Lord will be for His people is expounded in verses 17–18. When his heart was filled with all sorts of oppressive thoughts, the Lord showed the poet that He rules over all, over everything. That’s why we hear him exclaiming, “In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my soul.”

The realm of our thoughts is an unknown world in which so much is going on. To separate our thoughts from our life is impossible. Sinful thinking is often the beginning of sinful acting. How many sinful, impure thoughts can arise in one moment within our hearts! Do not think that our sinful thoughts are noticed less by the Lord than are our sinful acts. May the Lord keep us from sinful thoughts and deeds.

Now we read here that the composer’s thoughts were multiplying in his heart. Multiplied thoughts within our heart can be caused by many varied circumstances of our life. Sometimes Asaph’s thoughts brought him into a labyrinth of riddles. The question arose in his heart, “Is there knowledge in the Most High? Does God know what kind of circumstances I am in? What is the real purpose of serving God?” Oh, what terrible thoughts can occupy the hearts of God’s people! Children, young people, have you ever thought for what purpose you attend church, catechism classes, and school? How often our thoughts are very hostile towards God and His precious word!

Sometimes, because of life’s circumstances, even God’s people’s thoughts can be multiplied. When the Lord sometimes hides His friendly countenance, it seems as if their heart is like a broken-down city, a city without walls. Then a mighty stream of foul transgressions prevails over them from day to day. When the power of sin, and our corrupted flesh get the upper-hand over the thoughts of our heart, it deprives our soul of rest and peace. When the Lord wants to discover to us more of who and what we are, when He is breaking down in our soul that which He had been building, or, when He plucks up that which He once had planted in our hearts, our thoughts are multiplied. If the Lord did not encourage and comfort His people at such times, they would fail, in fear and woe. And now this is what the composer of this psalm was experiencing. From his side it seemed as if he was cut off from everything, but God’s comforts delighted his soul.

There is so much in this world that exhausts and wearies our hearts, but there is also very much whereby we try to comfort ourselves. However, all of this is only of a temporary character. As long as we remain unconverted, we try to comfort our souls with drinking to the full the cup of earthly comforts, till we shall have to drink the cup of God’s eternal wrath.

It is entirely different with God’s people. Sometimes they are not only refreshed physically, but also spiritually. No, this kind of refreshment cannot be given by men to men, but it is the most high God Himself whose rich comforts refresh the soul in its greatest needs, in the greatest attacks of Satan, world, and sin, and in the heaviest oppressions. These are the foretastes of what they shall once enjoy eternally. No, God’s people cannot live anymore without these most blessed comforts for their soul.

We read of Jeremiah that he wept; his eyes ran down with tears because the Comforter that should relieve his soul was so far away from him. What a blessed place for God’s people when their waiting may be changed into glory, when the Lord takes off their sackcloth and girds them with gladness! All evil and sinful thoughts are then banished. Oh, how sweet are their meditations of the Lord! The composer of this psalm is not talking here about comforts applied to him by men, but of those that he had received from Him who searches the thoughts of his heart. God knows perfectly what His people’s overfatigued soul stands in need of, because of the thoughts and intents of their hearts. He comforts in all circumstances. When they, like David, walk through the valley of the shadow of death, His comforts will delight their souls.

What a comfort for a convicted, condemned sinner when in the opening of God’s Word he sees the possibility to be saved! What a comfort, when he by faith may take hold of the fulfilment of God’s promises, and that only in Him, the Lord Jesus Christ! “For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him amen, unto the glory of God.” There is One who knows all of the thoughts of His people and who knows how and what kind of comforts can relieve them. It is only Him, i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ, who was afflicted in all their afflictions. This is why God’s people must look forward to receiving sweet refreshments for their soul, and to release their ties with this world to attach them more to heaven.

Dear reader, we would like to ask you if you know what it means to be delighted with God’s comforts among the multitude of your thoughts. May you realize that this sinful world, which is condemned because of our sins, can never be able to grant us an abiding comfort. God’s Word says so rightly, “There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.” Thoughts can be multiplying in God’s people, probably even at this very moment while you are reading these words. Know that the Lord will relieve you soon with His comforts, but only at His time. Then your heart will be abundantly filled, which is what Isaiah said, “The desire of our soul is to Thy Name, and to the remembrance of Thee.”

Rev. J. Mijnders is pastor of the Gereformeerde Gemeente (Netherlands Reformed Congregation) at Veenendaal, the Netherlands.

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