The Lord Our Comfort, Psalm 94:12-13, 17-19

¹²Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord, and whom You teach out of Your law; ¹³that You may grant him relief from the days of adversity, until a pit is dug for the wicked.

¹⁷If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence. ¹⁸If I should say, "My foot has slipped," Your lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up. ¹⁹When my anxious thoughts multiply within me, Your consolations delight my soul.

     It is written that whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and He scourges every one whom He calls a son. Thus the man whom the Lord chastens is blessed, for he has been assured that he is indeed a child of God. The New King James Version reads, "Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O Lord, and teach out of Your law..." We are blessed to have the Creator of the universe teach and instruct us, correct and rebuke us in order that we might remain on His paths of truth and righteousness for our own benefit. It is that the man whom the Lord chastens or instructs who is blessed. It is not the chastening or instructing that causes a man to be blessed so much as it is the Lord who is doing it. Our magnificent God, who possesses all power, all might, all wisdom, and all knowledge, is instructing and chastening us! Blessed is that man whom the Lord instructs!
     When we heed the chastening of the Lord and His teaching and instruction, when we take to heart the meaning of those things which He has told us in His word, we find rest from the days of adversity. We may feel as though our foot is slipping, that we are about to fall-- but indeed the love of God holds us up and sustains us (for whom the Lord loves He chastens and instructs). To continually put off the word the Lord has spoken to you, to ignore His chastening and despise His correction-- to do so brings turmoil and unrest, confusion and a lack of peace. There can be no peace without the forgiveness of sin, without your guilt having been removed by our God of mercy and grace. Thus to do the opposite, to obey His voice and follow His corrections, brings rest and peace.

     If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence-- If God had not helped me, had not chastened me and delivered me, I would have dwelt in a place of silence, of not being led my God and being alone and without His presence to cheer and to guide.
     Having been living in sin, living a life of superficial devotion to God, having somehow compromised little by little until I was in the place of not listening to what He was speaking to me and not taking to heart the words He spoke, and now having been freed from such a place by His mercy and His awesome grace, I can look back and say, "If the Lord had not been my help, my soul soon would have dwelt in the abode of silence". If the Lord had not chastened me, corrected me, and instructed me with His word, I would surely have been left in silence, in a destitute place where I would not hear His voice, not sense His presence.

     But when I said, "My foot is slipping!", His lovingkindness, His mercy and grace, His abundant love and affection lifted me up and comforted me. When my anxious thoughts multiplied in my head, His comforts, His consolations delighted my soul.
     When, after the Lord had corrected and chastened me, and after He had instructed me by His word and brought my feet back to His paths of righteousness, when I am bombarded by the enemy to look back, or tempted to forget to listen to God, to try and work things out in my mind instead of being still and laying them before the Lord's feet, before the cross of Jesus Christ, when my anxieties multiply within me and I feel as though my foot will slip and I will fall, helplessly and hopelessly into a place of being forever forsaken, He, He, comforts me with His love, with His presence surrounding me.
     He assures me, "I will never leave you nor forsake you," and that while I was yet a sinner, He died for me, how much more will He not correct me and keep me in the place of righteousness? It is His blood, His sacrifice which first saved me, and His blood and His sacrifice which still saves me. When I start to become anxious, He tells me, "be anxious for nothing, but everything by prayer and petition, with thankfulness, present your requests to God, and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus." He calls me, "Be still, and know that I am God." He reminds me to take every thought captive to Christ and come and sit before Him and tell Him everything that's on my mind, in my heart, everything that is burdening me. And when I sin, He doesn't want me to sit and mourn over it or beat myself up over it, but rather to simply come to His throne and confess it to Him, not holding anything back-- for He knows it already, and freedom is found when we release it to Him, give it to Him.

     Yes, it has been a week of refreshment from the Lord! What I've learned is to stop and sit before Him, tell Him everything, confess to Him everything-- everything good, everything bad-- and to not just be a hearer of the word, but a doer of the word. He who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be belssed in what he does (James 1:22-25). Truly, to be a hearer and not a doer is to deceive oneself! And deceived I was. Jesus said, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," (John 8:31-32). And whom the Son sets free is free indeed!