“Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”
As surely as we live there will be a “day of trouble.” This text gives us one solemn prospect and three solemn promises pertaining to the day of trouble. The Lord wants us to be aware of all of life’s exigencies and of His availability in them. Let’s see what the text promises. First, there is always the prospect of trouble. No one lives a trouble-free life. We are always going to face troubles of some kind. This is not a lovely prospect and seems negative in outlook, but is nevertheless true. There can be personal troubles that cause us to be depressed. There can be family troubles that can cause us great distress. There can be troubles at work that make our jobs more stressful. There can be troubling people who come in and out of our lives, causing us to have a problem loving them.. (You could probably name some right now. lol [maybe]) Someone has written that “life is alternate shade and sunshine.” This is true. It would be nice if trouble warned us before it came, but it seldom does. We could handle trouble better if we could always anticipate it. Alas, that cannot be done. We just need to be aware that we will have to face troubles of all kinds in this world. What can we do about these inevitable troubles? We usually try to handle them ourselves based on our own expertise. When we do this we usually get into deeper and deeper trouble. The Lord gives us the answer: Second, there is always the privilege of prayer. In the text written above, the Lord said “call upon me in the day of trouble.”Jesus said, “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) When we belong to Jesus, He is never out of range for us. I once read that, “The Lord is in hearing distance all of the time.” This is true, though in the midst of trouble we sometimes forget it. The hymn is true that tells us: “O, what peace we often forfeit, O, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” We need to pay attention to those words that we sing and really think about what they mean. In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul reminded us to “pray without ceasing.” In Luke 18:1 we read: “And (Jesus) spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint.” No one can take the privilege of prayer from us. Third, there is always a promise of deliverance. The language here is definite: “Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee.” He did not say, “I might deliver thee.” His deliverance is certain. There are at least two ways that the Lord delivers us in the day of trouble: (1) He delivers us from the trouble. (2) He delivers us through the trouble. Either way we are delivered. Bro. Joe
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“If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.” John 15:18
“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.” 1 John 3:13 I began thinking about this subject while reading the book of Ezra. I suggest that you read this book and see what I mean. The Jews who returned from captivity to rebuild the temple had a lot of opposition from their enemies. Then I thought of the two texts that I have printed above. Jesus promised that if we follow Him, we will have opposition; therefore, it should not surprise us that those who do not know Christ as Savior oppose us. A cursory reading of Christian history will verify that. The question is what should our reaction to this opposition be? First, we should not allow opposition to rob us of our commitment to our faith. Satan loves to use opposition to intimidate us. He tried to use this ploy in Jerusalem in the days of Ezra. He used this ploy in the earthly life of Jesus. He used this ploy against the disciples, who were under mandate to spread the word about Christ in spite of opposition. Jesus never covered up the fact that His followers would have opposition, but He also reminded them, and us, to stay faithful to Him regardless of what the world says. I will admit that opposition to the gospel has grown more adamant over the years. Things are different now than they were when I entered the ministry in 1960. So the temptation is to accommodate the world and turn our backs on the gospel. At all costs, we should not let the world intimidate us with polls of the acceptance of sin, or opinions by people who are famous who disagree adamantly with the gospel. The best advice is to endure, endure, and endure. Second, we should not allow opposition to rob us of the love that we are to have for all people. I have to admit that when I read some of the things that increasingly bold atheists say and write about the gospel, I grit my teeth and really want to “get at’em.” But it would be bad for me to allow opposition to cause me to hate. Take a look at what John wrote about the matter in 1 John 3:14-15: “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loves not the brethren abides in death. 15. Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life dwelling in him.” The word “brother”could be interpreted as meaning “brothers in Christ.” However, if we will look at what Jesus tells us to do, it will not matter how we interpret “brother” here: “You have heard that it has been said, You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy. 43. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you.” (Matthew 5:43-44) To give in to hatred is to compromise the gospel. We need to remember that. Third, we should not allow opposition to rob us of the facility to forgive. We need to remember what Jesus’ reaction was to those who crucified Him: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34) Furthermore, in the Lord’s Model Prayer, Jesus taught: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12) In verses 14-15, Jesus added: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive you.” It is not a compromise to forgive people who oppose your faith from your heart. It is compromise if we do not. There is no way to escape opposition to the gospel in this world. This is seen in the life of Jesus and the early Christians. It is also a reality today. The main thing for us to do is maintain the integrity of our faith, not succumb to the world through compromise of our faith or of our love and forgiveness. Bro. Joe (I brought this one out of the archives from August 28, 2014. Presently the old Couch Potato has a bad case of writer's block. I hope that you will enjoy this article from the past. It encouraged me today and I hope it encourage you.)
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him; but I will maintain my own ways before Him.” I do not want to leave the impression that Job went through all that Satan put him through with no complaining at all. He was a good man, but, like all men, he was not perfect. But one thing is clear in the Book of Job, and that is that Job did not deny God, nor did He waver in his faith. If we put ourselves in Job’s place, we can’t even imagine how we would react. Of course, Job was not happy during his trial. He did not face it, always smiling, always positive, but he did face his trial in faith and trust in God. He teaches us to trust. What do I mean? Job trusted God in spite of personal loss. Think of all Job lost. He lost possessions. He lost all of his children. He had been proud of his children and was concerned that they live good lives. Now they were all dead. He lost the respect of his wife who told him to “curse God and die.” That was hardly a statement that showed that she supported Job in his predicament. What would be worse than losing the respect of the person with whom you had ten children and a seemingly happy home– until tragedy struck? Job lost the respect of his community. He had been a leader among the people, and the people had great respect for him and hung on his words. Now even the youth were making fun of him. Worst of all, Job’s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, lost respect for him because they thought that he had committed some great sin and was being punished by God. They were never told that Satan was doing all of the nasty work. But through it all, Job held on to his trust in God. Job 23:10 is a good example: “But (God) knows the way that I take: when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” Job trusted God in spite of personal afflictions. Today we would say that Job had lost his health. I guess one of the most painful things that can happen to us is to lose our health. When we are afflicted we will react either positively or negatively. An old cliché reminds us that when we lose our health “we will become bitter or we will become better.” In the final analysis, Job became better. If we will put ourselves in Job’s place, thinking of all that he lost and of the pain and misery that he went through, we will say that we do not know exactly how we would react. Either one of the things that happened to Job would be traumatic, and that’s putting it mildly. We can’t put ourselves in Job’s place, but we can stay close to the Lord, pray and read His word, etc. in order to prepare ourselves to face the contingencies of life. Job trusted God in spite of the fact that God was silent. Throughout most of the book of Job, God did not intervene in Job’s difficulties. In fact, God never explained to Job what had occurred between He and Satan. Through it all, Job had to hear the false accusations of his great sins. God did not come to Job’s defense. He did in the end, and his friends had to pay for their cynical advice, but not until Job had come through the worst and had “come forth as pure gold.” We need to learn from Job that though God is silent, He is not absent. He has promised to go with us through all of the things that we encounter in life. He will not shout, but He will be present and He will do what we need for Him to do. Rejoice! Bro. Joe Verse 1- “And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
Verses 7-8 – “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith. 8. And Stephen, full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among the people.” After the ascension of Jesus, and the sending of the Holy Spirit, great things were happening among the Christians in Jerusalem. In Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost, three-thousand people were added to the church. This made a total of 3,120 Christians. People continued to be added to the church, in spite of the fact that Jewish authorities tried to put a stop to it. What the devil could not do through persecution, he tried to do through internal church problems. (See, church problems did not start with us. lol) The verses between Acts 6:1 and 7-8 tell of a problem that arose between the Greek widows and the Jewish widows. The Greek widows in the church accused the apostles of neglecting them in the daily administration of the food, and that they favored the Jewish widows. This caused a great stir and was leading to a rift in the church. As a result seven godly men were chosen to oversee the distribution. What happened after this trouble is interesting, and we can learn from it. They dealt with the situation in a mature manner and solved the problem. With the problem solved revival broke out. What happened after the trouble? “The word of God increased.” This meant that the devil’s attempt to stifle God’s word did not work and the church got back to the word of God and began to take it more seriously. It means that Christians talked about the word of God wherever they were – at home, at work, in the streets and in worship services. This is how the word of God spreads. When we are not waylaid by a silly problem, we can get the word of God to people. The word of God is not just a “church thing.” We do not just deal with the word in church programs like Sunday School and worship services. We need to live it and talk it each day. If the word of God had been just a “church thing," to these early Christians the word of God would not have increased. This is not to denigrate what we do in church, rather it is to see that we should spread what we do in church to the community at large. That’s what happened in Jerusalem after the trouble. These believers demonstrated Hebrews 4:12: "For the word of God is quick (alive) and powerful and sharper than a two-edged sword." “The Number of disciples multiplied in Jerusalem.” Today we would say that they evangelized Jerusalem. This evangelistic effort brought great dividends to the Jerusalem church, for “the number of disciples multiplied greatly.” When the church thwarted Satan’s efforts of division, caught on fire and began to take the word of God seriously and to share it with unbelievers, people began to take the church seriously. Doesn’t this tell us something? The work was so complete that even “a great company of priests were obedient to the faith." This would have been a difficult group to reach with the gospel, for they would have to give up their livelihood, and their standing in the community to become Christians. We think that there are people in our community who cannot be reached, but if we eschew the devil and get serious about our faith, nothing is impossible. The “Greek widow” problem could have been a devastating blow to the Jerusalem church. It was not devastating, because they dealt seriously with the problem, solved it and got on about the real business of the church. Do you get it? Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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