"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. He is also abundantly available for help in tight places. Blessed are we when we realize that our safety and protection lie not in riches or armies but in Jehovah alone!" - Believer's Bible Commentary
Trouble! Something about which we are all familiar!
How would you define trouble? Most would define it as difficulties...problems... public unrest...disturbance...a state or a condition of distress, pain, disease, affliction, annoyance, anxiety, ill health, or need.
How would you describe trouble? Most would describe it as something or someone - mischievous, wicked, malicious, vicious, or perilous.
Theodore Roosevelt said this about it - "If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month."
Groucho Marx gave this comment - "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies."
Domhnall Gleeson (Irish actor, director, and writer) offered this thought - "Life is difficult for everyone; everyone has bad days. Everyone has trouble in their life, because it doesn't matter how rich you are: Sickness and trouble and worry and love, these things will mess with you at every level of life."
Turning to the Bible, the Lord Jesus said in John 16:33 - "...In the world ye shall have tribulation..."
The Apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:1 - "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof..."
No doubt, no one is exempt from trouble!
Where do you turn to when it comes your way? Who do you run to for help?
The Bible gives that answer.
David said in Psalm 46:1 - "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."
"a very present help"
Could there be words found that are more comforting than these?
Not only is God a "help, " but He is "a very present help" at that.
When David mentioned "trouble" here, he was covering all that can come upon you which would give anxiety or sorrow. He was referring to some storm of an outward or inward trial...enemies that may rage without...or sin that may rouse tumults and fears within.
"a very present help"
He was picturing God as an exceedingly, emphatically true "help" - aid or assistance.
God is found to be such and has always proved Himself to be such.
He is a sure "help" -
...a superlative "help"
...a present and speedy "help"
...a very accessible "help" - easy to find, at hand, always near, and not far to seek
...a "help" sufficient
...a "help" accommodated to every case and exigence
"a very present help in trouble"
He is a sure "help" - found to be powerful and effectual in straits and difficulties. He is found an exceeding "help" in all kinds of "trouble." He is found by experience to be all that He promises - all that you will ever need.
Faith in God assures "help" in"trouble."
David knew what "trouble" was, but he also knew that God was "a very present help" in it.
How do we know that?
Throughout the Psalms, we see him crying out for God's "help" whenever he was facing times of great difficulty.
Psalm 12 was one such case.
The age in which he was living could be depicted as the following - good men were becoming more and more rare...few were conspicuous for their righteousness ...the wicked were abounding...society was waxing worse and worse...lies, flattery, insincerity, and lust were prevailing...and fears were on every side.
Indeed, David painted a dark picture of a depraved society where the wicked were in power, and consequently, the righteous were being oppressed.
Amid this evil epidemic, he knew that there was only One he could turn to "in trouble."
With his soul oppressed by the degeneracy of his society, and knowing that there was no human help available (all other helps and helpers failed), he cried out to God with one word - "Help..." (Psalm 12:1)
Did God hear David's cry? Did He come through for him? Did He prove Himself to be a powerful and effectual "help" in straits and difficulties?
Indeed, He did!
Psalm 12:5 confirms this when it says - "For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him."
Then, in Psalm 3, we find David in "trouble" again. Verses 1-2 describe his situation in this way - "LORD, how are they increased that trouble me! many are they that rise up against me. Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God."
Here we find him in imminent danger - surrounded by numerous enemies - "...ten thousands of people, that have set themselves against me round about." (Psalm 3:6)
What did he do? Who did he run to for "help in trouble"?
His enemies were mocking him - telling him that there was "no help for him in God." In other words, that God would not come through for him as "a very present help in trouble."
How did David respond?
He knew better. He knew that God was a sure "help" - an exceedingly, emphatically true "help" - One that would be found to be very powerful and effectual in straits and difficulties. God had always proved Himself to be such. Therefore, David could easily confide in Him.
No matter what his enemies were saying , he cried out to God - "Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God..." (Psalm 3:7)
Did God come through for him?
We find that answer in David's utterance of praise - "...for Thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; Thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly. Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: Thy blessing is upon Thy people." (Psalm 3:7-8)
Lastly, in Psalm 54, we find David encountering "trouble" once again. This time, we find him sore pressed and in imminent danger of being taken and destroyed by "strangers" and "oppressors." (Psalm 54:3) In his distress, he calls upon the LORD for "help" - "Save me, O God, by Thy name..." (Psalm 54:1)
Did God prove to be - "a very present help in trouble"?
Indeed, He did!
Psalm 54:4 and 7 answer that question with David's own words - "Behold, God is mine helper...For He hath delivered me out of all trouble: and mine eye hath seen His desire upon mine enemies."
Now be assured of this - the very God Who proved Himself time and time again to David as "a very present help in trouble" will do the same for you!
Are you facing some sort of "trouble" at this time?
What about the future days?
No matter what comes your way - "There is help for you in God."
In your time of "trouble," do like David did and cry out to Jesus - "Help, LORD"... "Arise, O LORD" ..."Save me, O God, by Thy name."
Like David, you will always find Him to be "a very present help in trouble."
May God Bless His Word,
Connie
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. (Isaiah 54:17)
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