There's Something About Trouble

By John Stallings


Horatio Spafford was a man who knew a lot about trouble. He lost his only son, 4 years old, to pneumonia. He lost much of his wealth in the Chicago fire.

Someone suggested it would help him & his family if they went to England to hear a preacher in revival there. Spafford got tickets to take his family to England by ship but at the last second he had business to come up so he sent his family on ahead.

On the way the ship the family was on collided with another ship & Spafford lost all of his three daughters. His wife sent him a telegram with two words—Saved Alone!

On the way to England to be with his wife he told the captain to let him know where his daughters had died. After Spafford saw the place, he went to his room & wrote the now famous words;

When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul.

Some people have the notion that being a Christian means no more trouble.

However it doesn’t take them long to learn that’s not the reality. Jesus said; - In the world ye shall have trouble: but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.—John 16:33. Life is filled with an infinite variety of trouble.

There’s imaginary trouble; trouble that is just conjured up in the mind. But even so, stressing over imaginary trouble robs us of the strength to face real problems. Worry, in a manner of speaking could possibly be productive if we knew what to worry about; but then we never know, do we? Worry might not be so destructive if we could do it intelligently.

The greatest minds who ever lived have said at the end of long lives; - “Most of the things I worried about never happened.”

Then there’s yesterday’s trouble. Some people like the past better than the present. It’s obvious because they dwell in the past in their thought life. We can’t cause the past to turn out differently no matter how much time we spend rehashing it. It’s O.K to go over things that have happened to us but we must put a time limit on the rehash & move on.


There’s also tomorrow’s trouble. If we spend too much time worrying about tomorrow we lose our ability to deal with the present. Jesus said;-Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matt. 6:34.
I love Ira Stanphill’s song with the following lines;…. many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow & I know who holds my hand.

One thing we can be sure of; life will bring to all of us our share of trouble. Paul reminds us in Romans 8:34, that trouble can’t separate us from the loving care of God. What is needed in trouble is that we hold onto hope & stay upbeat even when we’re being beat-up. God spoke through the Psalmist & said, -Call upon me in the day of trouble & I will deliver thee & thou shalt glorify me. Usually trouble has a way of moving us toward God.

Paul & Silas prayed in the prison at midnight & God sent an earthquake to set them free. - Acts 16:25. - When things get darkest people will always pray & when we pray we can expect God to show up.

In Luke 12:49 Jesus said, I am come to send fire on the earth. You probably haven’t heard a sermon on that lately because it’s one of His least popular statements. This message never even made it to the top ten because people don’t like to think of following Christ as fire & trouble.

I believe the fire Jesus speaks of can be likened to a welders fire; a fire that binds things together. A welder’s fire isn’t destructive but constructive, creating things that are useful. Trouble will make you & me either bitter or better. The same fire that melts the wax hardens the clay.

Job 5:7 says,--yet man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. Someone said that a short descriptive definition of life would be; “they were born they had trouble & they died.” That might be a tad negative especially for we who are Christians because to us life has a more positive meaning. But the point is; life is neither all good nor all bad for any of us, it’s just life. Stop & think about it; how could we expect to have a full participation in something as dynamic as life & never run into problems. Jesus certainly understood trouble because it was His constant companion from cradle to grave.

SOMETHING ABOUT TROUBLE BRINGS US CLOSER TO GOD.

In Psalm 46:1 the Psalmist said;--God is our refuge & strength, a very present help in the time of trouble.

This verse isn’t just a promise, it’s a commentary on the very nature of God. There are times when we all feel like God has gone on vacation in Key West & forgotten our phone number. We feel the heavens are brass & don’t have that sense of closeness to God that makes us feel secure. Notice in this verse that God isn’t just present when trouble comes, He’s very present. Not only is He very present He’s a very present HELP in trouble. If you’ve ever stood by the bedside of a dying loved one, or been knocked off your feet by a doctors diagnosis, you understand that verse.

There are times when we may feel God is far away. In truth there are times when God will hide His face temporarily to test us so we can see if our faith is working. We’ve all been there when we just can’t “feel God.” But there is one thing of which we can be sure & every Christian who ever lived can testify to it; God will always be a very present help in times when we’re crushed by life’s pressures. God isn’t only going to be there, He’s going to help us!

God isn’t going to just be with us, He’s going to be under-girding & lifting us up so that when it’s over we’ll look back & say of a certainty, we couldn’t have made it without Him.

GOD WATCHES US LIKE A HAWK WHEN WE’RE GOING THROUGH TROUBLE.

There’s something about trouble that causes God to hover near us & make certain that we know He’s there. Our trouble gets His attention. Christ’s affinity with trouble brings Him near His children in troubled times.

There’s a popular secular “love song” that I hear once in a while that has this line; ---You left me just when I needed you most. But God doesn’t operate that way. Like the old Hymn says;
Jesus is near, to comfort & cheer, just when I need him most.

PAUL WAS NO STRANGER TO TROUBLE

Paul said:-That I may know Him & the power of His resurrection & the fellowship of His sufferings…... Philippians 3:10

We hear a lot more these days about the power of His resurrection than we do the fellowship of His sufferings.

Listen to Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:8-9;-We are TROUBLED on every side yet not distressed: we are perplexed but not in despair: persecuted but not forgotten, cast down but not destroyed.

Listen again;-For when we were come to Macedonia our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side; without were fightings, within were fears.—2 Cor. 7:5

Listen to Paul again in 2 Cor. 12:7-9—And lest I be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelation, there was given to me a throne in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.

For this thing I besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from me.

And He said unto me, my Grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly will I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Listen to Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 1:8;--For we would not have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed above measure & above strength, insomuch that we despaired of life.
Then Paul continues in the 10th verse- that it was God who always delivered him from trouble.

In the 23rd Psalm verse 4, David tells us the same thing—yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow death I will fear no evil; for thou art with me: thy rod & thy staff they comfort me.

Listen again in the 91st Psalm 11-12—For He shall give His angels charge over thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands lest thy dash thy foot against a stone.

SOMETHING ABOUT TROUBLE PURIFIES US

1 Peter 4:12-13 says;-Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing has happened to you; But rejoice that ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that when His glory shall be revealed ye may be glad with exceeding joy.

We shouldn’t be surprised when God gives us a test now & then; its standard operating procedure for God.

JOB IS THE POSTER BOY FOR TROUBLE IN THE BIBLE

Job is the quintessential example of how God uses trouble to purify us. Job said; But He knows the way that I take & when He hath tried me I shall come forth as pure gold. Job 23:10

Job is “pulled through the knothole backwards” time & again but at the end we see him restored & made stronger. He knows in his heart that God isn’t trying to kill him, but is purifying him.

SOMETHING ABOUT TROUBLE STRENGTHENS OUR CHARACTER

Joseph is one of the two men in the Old Testament about whom not one negative word is spoken.[Daniel is the other one.] If you’ve read Joseph’s story, you’ll know that it’s nothing short of remarkable. The Bible account of his story starts as a teenager & continues until his death at 110.

Joseph was truly a beloved & favored son- but a hated brother. From his youth he had trouble that would have killed most people emotionally if not physically. He was sold into slavery by his brothers, & later imprisoned on a trumped-up rape charge. From approximately the age of seventeen to thirty, not much good happens to Joseph.

Because of his strong godly character & God’s faithfulness, Joseph lived to see deliverance & promotion & was ultimately placed in high command as Pharaoh’s personal confidant & Prime Minister.

Instead of letting trouble destroy him, Joseph’s trouble strengthened him & he was catapulted to greatness. Trouble forged Joseph into one of God’s giants.

When I was thirteen I got an inexpensive guitar for Christmas & started teaching myself to play. As you probably know, anything with strings is by nature a continuous maintenance instrument because the strings will loosen. I’ve threatened a few times to tune my guitar & have it welded so the strings can’t change. When strings get loose, the instrument is out of tune & incapable of bringing forth anything but sour sounds.

Tuning a guitar is a very tedious exercise because the strings are fragile & break easily. What must be done is to slowly turn & twist the string & little by little add pressure until its tuned. Pressure is what puts the potential for music in the strings. If you take a guitar & loosen all the strings you get nothing but a sickening noise. But the right amount of pressure will make the instrument usable. No pressure, no music.

When tuning a guitar your imagination will sometimes tell you the strings are saying, “Ouch!” You can almost hear them saying, “stop hurting me, stop twisting.” To tune a guitar properly you have to be a little ruthless especially if it’s a new string because to get it right a lot of pressure has to be applied.

It’s the same with our lives. If we never are put under pressure we lose the edge that makes us useful. Of course God knows just how much pressure we can take. It’s not God’s objective to break us down, that would render us unusable. He’s an all-wise father & He knows our frame.

TROUBLE USUALLY COMES JUST BEFORE GREAT VICTORY.

We’d be hard pressed to find in the Bible a more telling story about human nature than the story of the twelve spies sent into Canaan. In the reaction of the Israelites we find fear & bravery, timidity & courage, trust & mistrust, pessimism & optimism.

This story points to the truth about ourselves; for our human tendency is to recoil from things that have an element of danger in them.

Of course the twelve returned from spying out the Promised land & all of then admitted that the land was lush & filled with richness & plenty. “ It flows with milk & honey” they said, “and the fruit is plentiful.” The spies even brought some samples of the fruit to prove their point. The children of Israel had never seen anything like the size & lusciousness of such grapes.

These people had just been released from several generations of slavery. They were now a free people & thanks to God’s goodness they were home. But the truth is, these folk were still a fickle people whose faith could be easily shaken. So when they heard the reports of the size & strength of the Canaanites, they quaked with fear.

In actuality, all the sign posts were there to show the people of God how close they were to victory. They were on the brink of their destiny & their breakthrough. There will always be giants close by our victories to scare us off & sadly we too often give up right at the point of victory. Satan sees that we’re on the verge of winning so he throws every bit of pressure he can at us trying to get us to back up.

If you’re a sports fan you know that right at the end of a game the pressure is always the greatest. This is to be expected. At the end of the game the pressure is great because the outcome is about to be decided. If anybody is going to do anything- they’d better do it quickly, the game is almost over.

Before Jesus won His victory at Calvary Satan did all he could to stop Him from going all the way to the cross, because that was His mission, to die for our sins. When the pressure starts to build & everything seems to be going wrong, you’re getting close to something the devil wants to beat you out of.

SOMETHING ABOUT TROUBLE TEACHES US OF GOD’S INTEGRITY.

God gets closely involved with His “called people” during trouble. It’s in times of trouble that God gets a chance to be God in our lives. Listen to this powerful verse;

…you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, & ordained you, that ye should go & bring forth fruit & that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you ask the father in my name He may give it to you.- John 15:16

Isaiah 54:17 says,-No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper: and every tongue that shall rise against thee thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord & their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

God doesn’t promise that He’ll stop the weapons from being formed; He just says He won’t allow them to prosper against us. When God has chosen you, you can run but you can’t hide. He’ll find you! If you make your bed in hell He’ll find you there. God called Israel out of Egypt & sent Moses to bring them out. There wasn’t a chance that He was going to turn His back on them though it took forty years of wandering in the desert. Israel was His chosen people & though He dealt harshly with them at times He was always working with them.

SOMETHING ABOUT TROUBLE CAN BLIND US TO THE REVELATION OF GOD.

Something about trouble breaks us, molds us, & makes us into the person God wants us to be. John was marooned on the Isle of Patmos to be punished. But in his loneliest hours John penned for all of mankind “The Revelation of Jesus Christ,” that we so cherish today. When things seem to be at their worst, look for God because He’ll be near.

In Jeremiah eighteen, God took the prophet down to the potter’s house & he saw the clay marred in the potters hands. Sometimes God must work harshly with us to so fashion us that we might be vessels of honor in His hands. When God gets ready to work with us it’s a “hands-on” process. He sculptures & chisels us until He gets what He wants out of our lives.

Listen to the words God spoke through the prophet Isaiah;

But now thus saith the Lord that created thee O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel. Fear not for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine.

When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee: and through the rivers they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shall not be burned: neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Isaiah 43:1-3

JACOB’S TROUBLE

We’re entering the foothills of trouble; trouble like the world has never seen. As a matter of fact it’s called—“The time of Jacob’s trouble.” Jer.30:6-7. It’s also called The Great Tribulation, seven years of indescribable suffering. We’re getting so close to it now you can almost feel it in the air.

It will be a time more terrible than men can imagine. It will be a time marked by disruption, desperation, disaster, disobedience & desolation & will conclude with Christ’s second coming.

I just praise the Lord that Christians don’t have to fear these things.
The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is coming back to remove His church from the earth just before that awful time of suffering.

Are you saved & sure that you won’t be here for these terrible days? If not, all you have to do is come to Jesus by faith & He will save you. Having made that decision & commitment, you can trust God for protection when that day of trouble comes.


Blessings,


John