August 6

2 Chronicles 29:18-31:10
Psalm 92:1-7
Proverbs 19:18-19
Romans 1:1-23

Quiet Contemplation
For You have made me rejoice, Lord, by what You have done.—Psalm 92:4

The contemplation of God humbles the mind, expands the soul, and consoles the heart.

How does it expand the soul? “The soul,” says one theologian, “is at home only when it is in God.” He meant, of course, that as the soul was made for God, it can only function effectively when indwelt by God. Contemplation of God is like breath to the soul; it inflates it and causes it to be fully actualized. “My body and my whole physiology functions better when God is in it,” said a doctor to me some years ago. I replied: “And so it is also with the soul, dear doctor, so it is also with the soul.”

Another benefit of contemplating God is that it consoles the heart. But how? It does so by focusing the heart’s attention on the greatness and goodness of the Eternal and also on His tender mercies and compassion. The more we know of God, the more we realize that when He permits us to pass through deep and dark waters, it is not because He is powerless to deliver us, but because a beneficent and eternal purpose is being worked out in that process. And what is more, we discover that God is not interested merely in working out His purposes in us, but in imparting to us a richer sense of His presence. In God there is a balm for every wound, a comfort for every sorrow, and healing for every heartache.

All kinds of remedies are on offer in today’s church to help the hurting (some of them more secular than sacred), but I know of nothing that calms the swelling billows of sorrow and grief as does the quiet contemplation of the Godhead.

Prayer
My Father and my God, forgive me if in times of trial and distress I look for comfort in the wrong places. You and You alone are able to meet my soul’s deepest needs. Help me to see this not merely as an opinion but as a conviction. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Further Study
Ps 145:1-21; Dt 32:1-4; 1Ch 29:10-13
How did David express the feelings of his soul?
How did Moses express it?

Every Day with Jesus Daily Bible – August 06
ministry.teksmith.net