Consolation for my Anxious Heart

“When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, your consolations delight my soul.”

Psalm 94:19

My anxious thoughts can multiply at an alarming rate. One moment I am fine. Then one anxious thought enters my head and spreads like a virus, feeding on my fears and breeding like rabbits. It can happen so quickly, I struggle to fight back. 

I could try reasoning with my fears. I could tell my anxious heart all of the facts that I know in my head. But so much has changed in the last week, even my facts are having a hard time keeping up! They keep shifting, and like a building built on sand, my stability is shaken. Fighting fear with facts doesn’t work when I can’t find my footing and I’m fighting a battle on too many fronts. 

“When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, your consolations delight my soul.”

These words break through my anxiety and give me a moment to breathe. God, your consolation, your comfort, delights my soul. 

What is the consoling comfort of God? This little verse is nestled into a larger psalm that laments before God. Evil seems to be winning, the weak feel unprotected, the night appears to be dark. Then in the middle of it all, the psalmist remembers that the God who sees and knows and controls all things, has pledged his steadfast love to his people. He will defend us. He will not forsake us. The night will end and the morning will dawn. This fact breaks through and brings delight to the psalmist’s soul.

Are you waiting for this consolation too? Do your fears multiply with every news report, every virus update on social media? Are you alone and isolated? Afraid of the financial impact of this season? Whatever you fear, there is a consolation for your anxious heart. This man clung to the promises of God in the dark night of his soul. You and I have something even better, a greater weapon to drive away our fears. 

Centuries after this psalm was written, there was another man who was waiting in the darkness. His name was Simeon. He lived in Jerusalem during a time when it must have felt like God had forgotten his promises to his people. It had been 400 years since God had last spoken. As the Roman army patrolled the streets, did Simeon wonder, “Does God see our oppression? Does he care about us?”. Anxious thoughts would have surrounded him, threatening to overcome.

Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel (Luke 2:25). He was waiting for the One who would comfort the people of God, console them with his love and rescue them in his power. One day as Simeon waited in the Temple, he saw this Promised One enter in, not as a triumphant king, but carried in by his young mother. When Simeon saw the infant face of Jesus Christ, he gathered him up into his arms, and breathed a sigh of relief. His eyes had beheld the Consolation of Israel, and his soul was filled with peace. He had seen the salvation of God.

When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, the Consolation of Israel comforts my heart. I remember that Jesus was not afraid of illness or disease. He did not keep a safe distance from the sick, but touched the contagious leper (Luke 5:13). Jesus did not pull away from the grieving, the hurting, the lonely, the afraid. He knelt down to gaze into the face of the afflicted, comforting sad and discouraged hearts. He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows on his strong shoulders (Is. 53:4). I am consoled when I remember how much he cares of us. For me. For you.

But we need more than simply a God who cares, or this consolation won’t last very long. To have courage in the face of our fears, we need to know that our God stands as King over all things. The God who set a limit on the seas, has set a limit on this plague. It will go no further than he allows. Wherever it touches our lives, he will turn our sorrow into triumph and our tears into victorious shouts of joy. We have more than just a vague hope in some future relief. We have a name to cry out in the face of our fears. Nothing, not even death itself, can stop King Jesus from accomplishing his good in the lives of those who belong to him (Rom. 8:28). 

Your name is engraved on his hands, child of God (Is. 49:16). He has not forgotten you! He has already faced down hell for you, so he won’t abandon you now. Take courage, dear one. Step back and watch his perfect love drive out your fears (1 John 4:18). He has promised to be with you to the end. Not just the end of this present situation, but to the end of all things. Therefore, we will not fear.