Read Psalm 94
Featured Verse: Psalm 94:19
“When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul. ”
When our children were small, they would sometimes come to my wife and me in a huge upset—tears, wailing, the whole nine yards. It might have been the result of a skinned knee, a snatched toy, a bad dream or any number of other earth-shattering events. From the child’s view, the world was coming to an end, but from our perspective as parents, their cause for concern was no big deal, and the solution was never beyond our resources to rectify.
Of course, all parents experience that with their children—it is just a universal role moms and dads are called to play. But it is also universal that as adults, we forget what we know to be true for our children and we will often get in a huge upset over things that happen in our grown up world—a bruised ego, a blocked desire, a broken dream. And sometimes we get foot-stomping mad, or we get profoundly sad, or we start being bad—or all three.
When our children were losing it like that (in Psalm 94:18, the writer said, “when my foot was slipping”), we would pick them up and say something like, “there, there, little one, it’s going to be okay.” We would comfort their pain, dry their tears, kiss their ouwee and send them on their way with the knowledge that things were going to be okay. And each time, our consolation worked wonders to restore peace and confidence in their little world.
I suspect you know where I am going with this by now. From our view, the world sometimes seems like it is coming to an end. At times, it feels like our feet are slipping, that we are loosing our grip, that we don’t have the wherewithal to hold it all together much longer. But how do you think God sees our situation? Of course, his perspective is much like ours as parents with our children—only multiplied by indescribable love, unlimited wisdom and unmatched power to the nth degree.
I had a couple of disappointing things happen in my world yesterday—people who let me down, those who didn’t share my perspective on a challenge, a situation that made me foot-stomping mad. And like the psalmist, I found anxiety rising within me by the end of the day. I didn’t handle it too well.
This morning, I feel better. Not because the situation is any different than yesterday; it is just that today, I am running to my Father. And I am going to take my ouwee to him and get nice and comfy in his arms. I am going to let him hold me and soothe my aching heart until I absorb his perspective and see my world from his vantage point. And I know exactly what is going to happen: His consolation will bring joy to my soul.
It works every time!
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