“When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul” (Psalms 94:19 ESV).
Is your heart burdened with many “cares?” Are you worried and concerned about many things? Have you been bottling up your distress within you? Why not open up to the Lord about it? For He has a multitude of “consolations” that can bring delight to your soul. Notice that the psalmist doesn’t say that the Lord takes away his cares. Yet he does say that the Lord gives him “consolations,” surely one to match every concern, so that his gloomy soul is made glad.
What are these comforts and consolations that the Lord gives? The psalmist doesn’t name them, perhaps because they are “new every morning” (Lam. 3:22-23) as the prophet Jeremiah observed. Or perhaps because the psalmist wanted to move us to look to God’s Word for ourselves. For in the Bible there is a promised divine comfort to match every human care.
Yet we must learn how to lift up our cares to the Lord in order to receive His comfort. As the apostle Peter wrote, “Cast all your care upon Him, for He cares for you” (1 Pet. 5:7).
PRAYER. Dear Father, we cast our cares, our worries and concerns, upon You. We leave them with You today. Apply your comfort to our souls. Replace our gloom with gladness and our worry with worship. Teach us to bring our burdens to You, not trying to carry them alone. Strengthen us for today’s journey now. In Jesus’ name, amen.