The Day Of Trouble

Psalm 50:15 (NASB)
15  Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me."

The day of trouble abounds. There are so many suffering. Their faces flash across my mind. I agonize for them as I pray. Their pain has become my pain. Their sorrows my sorrows. The day of trouble abounds.

The word trouble in this verse means affliction, anguish and distress. What troubles you today? Maybe like me you can't sleep because you are troubled troubled by other people's troubles. Maybe you have your own troubles. The anguish is real. The distress is discouraging. Another meaning for the word trouble is tp be in a straight. To put that another way is to be in a tight spot. So tight you cannot see your way out.

Some troubles are easy to fix. When a child falls down and scrapes their knee it's easily fixed with bandaid. When that same child grows older bandaids seldom fix their troubles. I think of combat veterans facing PTSD. They cannot cope with all they experienced in war. Their minds are tormented night and day. They cannot find peace. Alcohol is used to dull the pain while helpless family members can only love and pray. A bandaid will not fix that. I think of those coping with the reality of divorce. Their day of trouble blindsided them. They never saw it coming. It has afflicted their heart as painful as multiple stab wounds from a knife. They ache willing themselves to get trough the days. The life has been sucked right out of them. While on one hand, they ache on the other hand, they are numb. They weep until they have no more tears to cry. The anguish is worse than death because their really is no closure. Some live under such intense financial pressure to make ends meet it feels the weight will crush them. No matter how hard they work the financial setbacks keep coming like strong straight line winds. Medical expenses. Endless bills. Unexpected expenses. The constant barrage of family members who need help. These setbacks cause a deeper hole that cannot be climbed. Some face disease. Cancer. Diabetes. Alzheimers. A once healthy body now afflicted ushers in new days of trouble.

It is easy to focus on the day of trouble. That is not what God calls us to do. We are exhorted to call on Him. The word call means cry out and to scream. When you have prayed every prayer you know to pray and things do not get better you cry out and scream for God's help like a needy child. That is what the day of trouble does. It reduces a person to a needy child.

I know there are some days of trouble no matter how hard your try you simply cannot fix. You need help. More importantly you need God's help. You need His miraculous intervention. You need His comfort and strength. You need His strong hand to reach down and pull you up and out. In those moments you can no longer pray eloquent prayers pleasant to the ears. You scream. All the raw pain bubbles to the surface and comes out in anguished ear piercing screams for God's help.

This is not a pretty sight. Desperate people pray desperate prayer in desperate ways. The tears are real. The sobs are heavy. The pain at times unconsolable.

This happened to me at a youth camp many years ago. We were facing our own day of trouble. Even though assigned to preach to students that week the pain lay just beneath the surface. I fought to keep it back. One night in worship and after the message I could not contain it any longer. I lay on my face and cried out to God. I mean that in the most literal sense. I cried my eyes out. I sobbed so much snot began pouring from my nose. All I could do was wipe my nose on the carpet as a fresh wave of tears overwhelmed me. Those tears were my prayer. I could not form words other than, "Please help me." People avoided me. Not one person came to pray with me that night. When I finally cried all the pain out I got up. A puddle of tears soaked the carpet and a puddle of snot the evidence of my encounter with God. The wife of a friend saw it and told me it was beautiful because I encountered God there.

I know some of you are at that point. The pain so real, the troubles so titanic, and the distress so disturbing you cry out, scream and call out for God's help. This might make others uncomfortable. Yet, for those who have battled their own day of trouble and been moved to cry out in desperation, they will empathize. They know and understand what you are experiencing. They pray with you and for you.

Now, what does God do in response to such desperate praying? He rescues. He delivers. He helps. Does He always rescue? Just this past week a police officer died working an extra shift to provide for his family. Prayers for his protection did not rescue him in the day of trouble. This week another got bad news from a biopsy. Another spouse walked out on the marriage. Calling out to God for help did not change the diagnosis or deny the divorce. A single parent stressed by financial straights got more bad news from another unforeseen expense as they fall further behind in a ditch they cannot get free from.

I hope you will pay close attention as we try to answer that question and bring this to a close. Does God always rescue? I say emphatically GOD ALWAYS RESCUES HIS CHILDREN. It may not always be in this lifetime. Eternity in heaven is another way God rescues. One thing I have learned over the years is that some of God's best servants did not escape the day of trouble. Joseph didn't. Moses didn't. Elijah didn't. David didn't. Neither did Naomi, Esther, Jeremiah, Job, Daniel, Peter or Paul. They all faced afflictions, anguish and distress. Their stories and writings have fueled the faith of Jesus followers for centuries.

Some people love Jesus so much they willingly suffer joyfully to honor and glorify His name. They treasure Jesus more than trouble free lives. They press through the pain. They weep through the nights of weeping. They endure the endless days of troubles all for the glory of God. All so that they can boast in Him. Brag on Him. To show His glory to those watching both up close and from a distance.

Brenda and I have endured more than one day of financial trouble. Most of our trials over 28 years of marriage have been financial. Neither of us like it. We wish for carefree days of abundance. We now live in troubled days of lack at times. But.... God rescues us. I have spent the past near three decades bragging on God for the miraculous way He provides for my family. Some of the stories are so far fetched people have questioned whether they really happened. Like a $5,000 check showing up in my mailbox from a doctor I'd never met. Like groceries given to my family from a complete stranger after they read my book Behold The Faithfulness Of God.  Like thousands of dollars given to us over the yers at just the right time to make needed car repairs. Like the friends who came to visit from a former church who brought a $7,000 check at just the time I needed tires on one of our vehicles. Like the times when we needed down payment money to purchase a house and God sent it in answer to prayer from people in ways that astounded us. Like the precious saint who sends us a monthly gift so we can make our house payment now. Like the doctor who has not charged us for treatment on multiple occasions. Like the multiple vehicles given to us over the years. Like the provision given to hold the Kermit Shake The City Revival meetings. All for the glory of God. I get to brag on Him. We get to testify about His faithfulness. None of that would have been possible if we did not have some days of trouble.

Over the years I have preached from personal experiences about days of trouble and how God helps. I have written more articles like this all to encourage people to keep trusting God. I would have no authentic voice to do so if we had not survived many days of trouble ourselves. All these years later I can still say I trust God in the days of trouble. Sometimes you would not want to be present for our prayer meetings. They are filled with raw emotions but in the end God rescues us. For that I glorify His name.