In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul. 

Psalm 94:19 

David had anxieties. According to our text, he had a multitude of them. If we know the stories of David’s life with all his deeds of bravery, we may be surprised that he had many anxieties and even more that he would speak of them openly. In the psalm before us, he seems to be most concerned about evil people doing evil things. He is concerned about the triumph of the wicked. He wants to know who will rise up for him against the evildoers. As he comes to the portion of the psalm from which our text arises, he says, ‘Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul would soon have settled in silence.’ He says, ‘If I say my foot slips, Your mercy, O LORD, will hold me up.’ When David was most filled with anxiety, it was the comforts of God that made the difference. Those comforts delighted his soul. David’s comfort was in Christ. In the 23^rd Psalm, he said of Christ, his Shepherd, ‘You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.’ Christ was the answer for David’s anxieties. Christ is the answer for our anxieties. We may have them by the multitude, but Christ is the answer for them all. He is our King, our Shepherd, our Savior, and our ever-present friend. Jesus never fails. 

Our Gracious Master and our God, 
we rejoice that Christ is the cure for all our anxieties. 
We praise You that He is our Shepherd, 
who goes with us through every dark valley. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul. 

Psalm 94:19 

David had anxieties. According to our text, he had a multitude of them. If we know the stories of David’s life with all his deeds of bravery, we may be surprised that he had many anxieties and even more that he would speak of them openly. In the psalm before us, he seems to be most concerned about evil people doing evil things. He is concerned about the triumph of the wicked. He wants to know who will rise up for him against the evildoers. As he comes to the portion of the psalm from which our text arises, he says, ‘Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul would soon have settled in silence.’ He says, ‘If I say my foot slips, Your mercy, O LORD, will hold me up.’ When David was most filled with anxiety, it was the comforts of God that made the difference. Those comforts delighted his soul. David’s comfort was in Christ. In the 23^rd Psalm, he said of Christ, his Shepherd, ‘You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.’ Christ was the answer for David’s anxieties. Christ is the answer for our anxieties. We may have them by the multitude, but Christ is the answer for them all. He is our King, our Shepherd, our Savior, and our ever-present friend. Jesus never fails. 

Our Gracious Master and our God, 
we rejoice that Christ is the cure for all our anxieties. 
We praise You that He is our Shepherd, 
who goes with us through every dark valley. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off.

Psalm 94:23

Not every story has a happy ending.  The realities of life teach us that.  The psalmist has wrestled mightily with the prosperity of the wicked.  He has apparently smarted under their oppression and suffered as the result of their affliction.  God has given him comfort as well as insight into the final result.  He has been able to see the end of the wicked.  This is consistent with what we know of God.  We must embrace a whole God, a whole Christ, and a whole Bible.  What that means, in real terms, is that some people will encounter Christ as Savior, and others will encounter Christ as Judge.  For some the ending is good.  For others the ending is dire.  All of the rest of Scripture bears this out.  Christ describes the Last Judgment Himself in Matthew 25.  John describes it again in Revelation 20.  The Book of Revelation is replete with scenes that demonstrate Christ bringing on the evildoers ‘their own iniquity,’ and cutting them off ‘in their own wickedness.’  We preach Christ as the loving, merciful Savior.  In order to preach all the counsel of God, we must also present Him as the Judge of all the earth, Who will do right.  What He does is good in terms of love, mercy, justice and truth.  While there is yet opportunity, look to Christ as Savior, that you do not encounter Him as your Judge.

Our Holy and Just God,
we rejoice in Your Mercy as well as in Your Truth.
We praise You that You will do that which is right,
according to Your Own Holy Character.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law?  They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood.  But the Lord Is my defense; and my God is the rock of my refuge.

Psalm 94: 20-22

‘For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity,’ thus we read in Psalm 125.  God understands our limitations.  He knows how much we can endure and for how long.  Therefore, although He will test our faith, and allow us to endure trials, perhaps at the hands of wicked people, He knows when it is time to bring those trials to an end and to give us respite.  In the case of the writer of Psalm 94, who has been struggling with the prosperity of the wicked, and apparently suffering under their oppression, God graciously brings him to the place of understanding by being his ‘defense’ and ‘refuge.’  This is the ultimate landing place for all of the people of God in all ages.  Most specifically this brings us to Christ, Who has ever been the great Defender of His people.  One of the most striking scenes in the life of Christ, was when He faced the mob in the Garden of Gethsemane and said, in reference to his disciples, ‘If therefore you seek me, let these go their way.’  Christ placed Himself between His people and the wicked.  He does so in situation after situation in order to accomplish in the lives of His Own all that will do them good.  Today, we rest upon Christ, Who is our ‘defense’ and ‘the rock of my refuge.’

O, Christ, our Great Defender,
we rejoice that You stand between us and our enemies.
We praise You that even when they do their worst,
You will turn it to our good and Your Glory.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning