Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 94:19

"In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my soul." — Psalms 94:19 (ASV)

In the multitude of my thoughts within me your comforts delight my soul – The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate render this, “In the multitude of my griefs within me,” etc. DeWette renders it, “Bei meinen vielen Sorgen,” “in my many cares.” The Hebrew word, however, properly means “thoughts.” The idea seems to be that in the great number of thoughts which passed through his mind—so many of them perplexing, anxious, and burdensome; so many of them vain and unprofitable; so many of them that seemed to come and go without any aim or object—there was one class that gave him comfort. These were the thoughts that pertained to God.

In those thoughts he found calmness and peace. However much he might be disturbed by other thoughts, yet here he found rest and peace. In God—in His character, in His law, in His government—he had an unfailing source of consolation; and whatever trouble he might have from the cares of life, and from the evil imaginings in his own mind, yet here his soul found repose.

God was an unfailing refuge, and meditation on Him and His perfections made the mind calm.

How many thoughts pass through our minds in a single day or a single hour! Who can tell from where they come, or by what laws they are linked together! How many of them seem to have no connection with any that went before! How many of them seem to be thrown into our minds when we would avoid them! How many are vain and frivolous; how many are skeptical; how many are polluted and polluting! How many thoughts come into the mind that we would not disclose to our best friends for anything in the world!

How few of us would walk about if we were conscious that all whom we meet could look into our hearts and see all that is passing there! What a consolation it is to us that they cannot see it! What a world of confusion and blushes this would be if, in the streets of a crowded city, or when one person meets another anywhere, all that is in the heart were known!

And yet, in this multitude of thoughts—so empty, so foolish, so sinful, so vexing, so skeptical, so polluting—there are others. There are thoughts of God, of Christ, of heaven, of hope, of faith, of love, of benevolence; thoughts within us when the divine promises come to the heart and the prospect of heaven warms the soul. These give comfort; these fill the soul with delight. Happy is the one who can find in their heart, amidst the multitude of thoughts within them, those that pertain to God, to a higher life, to heaven!