When Anxious Thoughts Multiply
“If I should say, “My foot has slipped,” Your lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up. When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.”
Psalm 94 finds the Psalmist in a tight spot. The wicked are ascendant (4), the innocent are being condemned and slaughtered (5-6, 21), and God seems neither to see nor care (7). What’s more, under tremendous pressure, the Psalmist feels his feet are beginning to slip (v.18). He can’t take much more. If God doesn’t come soon, he fears he will slip into the grave where his cries for help will be silenced forever (v.17). As he sings, like a shaft of light reaching down, down in the darkness, the Psalmist experiences glimmers of comfort (17-18, 22). Full deliverance, however, is clearly still a future reality, locked in a realm only hope and faith can touch (1-3, 14-15, 23). Isn’t this always the case.
The fact such Psalms are in the Bible is instructive. You can expect to feel this way. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself needing these words, if you find anxious thoughts exploding in your heart. Don’t be surprised if your feet start to lose traction at the chasm’s edge. God has a song for you to sing even here. And God has treasures of the night to be gathered here. “Blessed is the man you chasten, O LORD, And whom you teach out of your law. (12)” Look carefully for them; they’re easily missed. You’ll rarely find them at daybreak, when deliverance finally comes.
· God is never on the side of the wicked, even when it seems like they are winning (20), even when it seems like everyone is backing the wrong horse (16). Paul felt like this you remember (2Timothy 1:15). Sometimes when we stand for God, we stand alone. This takes courage.
· God sees even when it seems He doesn’t. They eye’s designer has not gone blind (7-11). Don’t panic. He knows where you are and He knows what He’s doing.
· The darkness will not be forever. I am digging a pit for the wicked this very minute, God says, I’ll be through in a minute. Don’t panic (v.13). Just like wicked Haman and his gallows, and because I think He has a delicious sense of humor, God often uses the wicked to help Him dig their own graves. So fret not. The trap they’re laying is not for you at all. Just wait. You’ll see!
· This is very important for you to realize: I will not abandon you, God says. I never forsake My people (14). Hear me now: That does not mean you will never feel forsaken. But it does mean you will never be forsaken.
· In the end, the wicked always overreach themselves and wickedness always comes back to haunt them. Evil really is an eternal boomerang (v.23). What they throw in moment, comes back to haunt them forever. The wheels of history grind in a just direction (v.15).