In The First Place

 

 

Did you know that God has an objective in allowing troubles to come your way?

He is after something in your life.

He is wanting to channel all of your expectation of help so that it comes from Him alone.

It all boils down to one word - Trust.

Who will you trust - God or yourself?

 

Troubles! Troubles! Troubles!

How would you depict them?

 

In 2 Corinthians 1:8-9, the Apostle Paul described them as such - "...pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves..."

 

David portrayed his times of trouble in this manner -

 

Psalm 4:1 - "...I was in distress..."

Psalm 18:18 - "...in the day of my calamity..."

Psalm 40:2 - "...an horrible pit..."

Psalm 116:6 - "...I was brought low..."

 

Think about what these servants of the Lord actually experienced.

 

"...pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life...had the sentence of death in ourselves..." - Have you ever felt greatly weighed down by a calamity where it was even beyond what your natural strength could bear? Did it feel so excessive and intense at times that you knew at any moment that you would faint, give up, or simply die from it all? This is exactly what Paul encountered.  

 

When David said - "...I was in distress..." - he meant that he was so confined that he felt as though he was in a "prison" of some sort. What is pictured here by these words is an army trapped in a narrow passage - surrounded and hard pressed by the enemy. Have you ever felt this way?

 

He described a specific time of great trial as his "day of my calamity." It was a troublesome time when his enemies attacked suddenly and powerfully - intercepting his way...while using all kinds of crafty devices to destroy him. Have you ever faced a "day of calamity" in your life?    

 

There were times when he was plunged - so to speak - into the depths of misery whereby he felt as though he was hanging, swinging, or wavering in his faith like a pendulum, a swing, or a bucket in a well. Like the slender branches of a weeping willow tree which seemingly sweep the ground, he was "brought low" by his affliction and trouble. All of his strength was sapped out of him - leaving him feeble, weak, and sick. Are you there today?

 

What could be worse than the "horrible pit" that he described in Psalm 40:2? This was a deep and dark cavern, prison, dungeon, or abyss that echoed with the sound of wild beasts or roaring waters. In this lake of misery, there was never any hope of being rescued. It can be likened to any calamity or trouble which leaves you despondent, desolate, and despairing of any escape or deliverance. Have you been in a "horrible pit" where all you could hear was the loud, resounding sounds of the enemy's tormenting lies telling you that you are never coming out of your particular trouble alive?

 

Why does the Bible relate such instances of severe trials and testings?

Why does the Lord God allow His servants to experience troubles of such magnitude?

 

The answer can be found in the words of the Apostle Paul as recorded in 2 Corinthians 1:9 - "But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God Which raiseth the dead."

 

Paul's tribulation was so violent and overwhelming at times that he felt as though there was no escaping death. In fact, "the sentence of death" refers to the judicial response or verdict that his persecutors arrived at in saying that he must die. He was a man condemned to die. There was no escaping it - except for God!

 

"But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God Which raiseth the dead."

 

The Lord brought His servant to the place of utter despair in order to teach him not to rely on himself or human aid but in "God Which raiseth the dead" - the One Who can perform the absolute impossible.

 

According to all probability, Paul was destined to die. But he was not to trust in his own strength or ingenuity in order to escape such a "sentence." He was to throw himself entirely into the hands of the Almighty Who would exert such power in rescuing him that would be likened to one being raised from the dead.

 

God does not want you to trust in yourself - or any other, for that matter.

 

He wants you to focus all of your attention on Him - the One Who is able to raise you from the death of your circumstances. He wants to reveal His"arm" to you, but you keep getting in His way by leaning on "the arm of the flesh."

 

God can even raise the dead. Can you?

Then why are you trying to solve your own problems?

 

Do you have the power to raise the dead?

Do the ones to whom you are running for help have that power?

Then why are you trusting in them when you could be trusting in the One Who has all power in heaven and in earth?

 

Who was it that delivered David while in his troubles?

 

Psalm 4:1 says - "Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness:Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress..."

In Psalm 18:18, he gave this testimony - "They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay."

In Psalm 116:6, he gave all of the glory to God in saying - "The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and He helped me."

Finally, in Psalm 40:1-2, he definitively expresses the source of his help in saying - "I WAITED patiently for the LORD; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit..."

 

Notice that there is not one time when David mentioned his great armies or another source of help or deliverance other than the Lord Jehovah. 

 

In Psalm 31:1, he clearly stated his origin of expectancy - "In Thee, O LORD, do I put my trust..."

Then, in Psalm 31:8, we find one of the results - "And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: Thou hast set my feet in a large room."

 

Once again, we see the same pattern of trust in Psalm 116:16 - "O LORD, truly I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, and the son of Thy handmaid; Thou hast loosed my bonds."

 

Who prevented him from being given over to the power of his enemies?

Who was the One Who broke his fetters and set him free?

Was it another man...another great warrior like David?

 

Absolutely not!

 

It was none other than "God Which raiseth the dead."  

 

Why are you in a heap of troubles right now?

 

It may be that God wants to show His mighty power on your behalf.

However, in order to do that - He must get your focus off of yourself and another man.

 

Allow those troubles - that you are confronting - to bring you to the end of yourself.

When you have reached that place, you will then have an encounter with God - yes, the very One "Which raiseth the dead."

 

Let go and let God!

It's not just a quaint saying.

It's a command.