"For you make me glad by your deeds, O Lord –" (v. 4)

For Reading and Meditation:     Psalm 92:1-15

How does contemplation of God 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." The third 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 will 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 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 nostrums are on offer in today's Church to help those who are 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.

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 see that not merely as an opinion but as a conviction. In Jesus' Name. Amen.