A Difficult Lesson

Today I observe a variation on the theme of the "comfort and affliction" dyad - if I can use that term - that seems to be like a vine growing and connecting my reflections these past few days. Consider Psalm 94.

"When many cares fill my mind, your consolations cheer my soul." (Psalm 94:19)

Is this not a description of the human condition? Cares filling the mind. Where do these cares come from? Does the Psalmist suggest one possible source in verse 12? "Happy are they whom you instruct, O Lord", or in King James, "Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law." Not all cares surely, but all good chastening comes from the Lord.

The King James version has an even more modern-sounding description of this human condition:

"In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul." (Psalm 94:19)

The mind fills with a multitude of thoughts. Isn't that what each of us experiences every day? That in itself is a care and an affliction sometimes. We should consider how we can separate what is chastening and what is an unruly mind whipped about by worldly forces. We should learn to let the Lord calm the multitude of thoughts with his comforts. How difficult a lesson that is!