“When the cares of my heart are many, Your consolations cheer my soul.” (Psalm 94:19)
The first thing that hit me in this verse is that the Psalmist used the word “when”, not “if”. Jesus spoke of this when He warned us that, “…in the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). So the first thing we learn from this short verse is that no one is exempt from hard times. Jesus had them, and we will have them too.
What classifies as a “cares of the heart”? The Hebrew word for that phrase is <śarʿapîm>, which means disquieting thoughts – thoughts that take away your peace or tranquility, thoughts that disturb or alarm you. I don’t know about you, but that can happen to me any day of the week. Apparently it happened in the life of the Psalmist too, so we need not get down on ourselves when we find ourselves in this frame of mind.
So we know from this verse so far that we will have thoughts that can alarm us, that can block the peace of God reigning in our hearts. The Psalmist had the feeling of “no peace”, but he didn’t stay there. He had a feeling, but didn’t allow the feeling to have him. So what do we do? The answer is found in the second phrase of this short verse.
“Your consolations cheer my soul.” When I hear the word “consolation”, it always brings up the mental image of someone on a gameshow losing the game and receiving a consolation prize (haha). I’m sure that’s not exactly what the Psalmist had in mind here. In Hebrew, the word “consolations” <tanḥûmôṯ> means compassion, comfort, consolation. Let’s look at each of those descriptions of consolations.
- Compassion is a sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it. It’s not just feeling sorry for someone; it’s taking action to help relieve the weight of what they’re carrying.
- Here’s what we know about God’s “compassions” – they never fail (Lamentations 3:21-23).
- Comfort is a strengthening aid in the time of trouble or worry; something that gives relief or encouragement. What I notice about that definition is that comfort doesn’t remove me from the troubling situation, but instead it strengthens me in the midst of it.
- Here’s what we know about God when it comes to “comfort” – He is the God of all comfort. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). That little word “all” (<pas> in the Greek language) packs a punch – individually, it means each, every, any, all, the whole, everyone, all things, everything; and collectively, it means some of all types in compass and extent. Whatever your need is in any given situation, God is.
- Consolation is to alleviate the grief, sense of loss, or trouble of something. Again I notice nothing about a change of situation, but rather being given emotional relief and encouragement in the midst of it. The Spirit just brought to mind the old saying, “misery loves company”.
- Here’s what we know about God when it comes to “consolation” – He goes with me, He will not fail me, He will not forsake me (Deuteronomy 31:6).
What does “cheer” of the soul look like with skin on? The Hebrew word for “cheer” <šāʿaʿ> means to smooth over, to please. Picture with me – a small child, having experienced a troubling or hurtful situation, runs to his mama and finds comfort there. She strokes his hair and whispers encouraging words of reassurance of her presence with him. This is exactly what God can do for us (Isaiah 66:13). There’s an aspect of this Hebrew word that we don’t want to miss – the verb tense is imperfect – which means this action of “smoothing over” is continuous, incomplete, open-ended.
Here’s what we know about God.
- His compassions never fail.
- He is the God of all comfort.
- He is with me.
- He will not fail me.
- He will not forsake me.
Here’s what we know about ourselves.
- Troubling times will come into our lives.
- Those times have the potential to steal our peace, disrupting our lives.
- When those times come, we have a choice to make.
- It’s possible to have a feeling without the feeling having us.
- I can choose to shift my focus away from my troubling feelings/thoughts.
- I can choose to fix my eyes on Jesus instead and on the future that awaits me.
- If you are in Christ, this life on earth isn’t all there is.
“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of faith,
who for the joy set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and has sat down at
the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2).