When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.”– Psalm 94:19
I have a question for you.
Who cheers you up?
Okay. Now a few more questions …
Why does this person cheer you? Are they funny? Light-hearted? Have a positive outlook? Always smiling? Do they routinely offer encouraging words? Does it seem as if when the cares of your heart are many, they cheer your soul?
I hope you have someone in your life who is like that.
I hope you are that person for someone.
Maybe you are thinking, “No one would list me as cheerful”. That can change. But first it has to happen to you. You need to be cheered.
God’s Word says that He can be that cheer-giver for us even in the midst of our many cares. Perhaps that is where you need to start. Allow Him to cheer you so that you may cheer others. This reminds me of a few verses in the Bible that contain this idea.
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 1 Corinthians 1:3-5
Wow. That is pretty cool. It starts with us praising God for the compassion and comfort He has shown to us. Then, we can comfort others. I don’t want us to pass over the words “so that we can”. Do you see God’s plan? He comforts us so that we cancomfort others. He extends compassion and comfort to us and then we are to go and comfort others.
How are you doing with this?
Are you meditating on God and all of His attributes, and allowing Him to cheer you up? Are you considering all He has done and is doing, and your spirit is being lifted? Are you walking away from your times of devotion being well-cheered and ready to share it with others?
I must admit this has been hard for me to do lately. I am really sharing all of this with myself mostly, and God, true to form, is cheering me up. He is also giving me marching orders to get out there with my wagon full of cheer and start sharing it with others.
I am about to go do rounds on my cell block now. Before I go, I am going to ask God to load up my wagon. I have a lot of guys to see.
For Jesus,
Rob