The Cry Of The Heart In Trouble

Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me Psalms 50:15.

God records things in the bible because He knows that no matter what, people are going to shipwreck in life. There will always be times when we seem to drift along uncontrollably as we search for answers. We long for the "good ole days" when life was sweet and easy; when we didn’t have to deal with any adversity. If we were to face the facts, we would see that the "good ole days" weren’t that good either. In fact, the good old days is what led to these bad ole days we’re living in now.

God wants us to be real. That’s what Psalms 50 is all about. God was not at all impressed with all the rituals, ceremonies and religious traditions that Israel performed. He was more concerned with the condition of their heart, which was not on Him. "What are you up to, quoting my laws, talking like we are good friends? You never answer the door when I call; you treat my words like garbage. If you find a thief, you make him your buddy; adulterers are your friends of choice. Your mouth drools filth; lying is a serious art form with you. You stab your brother in the back, rip off your little sister" Psalms 50: 16-20 Message.

It is so amazing to me how easily people come to church and sing, shout and pray. They put on such an impressive show that they would deceive the very elect. And all the time, they are the worse gossipers, liars, backbiters and whoremongers in the community. They will sing church songs in the choir on Sunday morning, and Saturday night they drink more liquor than a fish in water.

If we were to visit some these churches on a big "day" or a holiday, there would be more entertainment than the circus. One must wonder what it’s all about; whether anyone is made better by it all. God cares nothing for it.

But when we call on Him in the day our trouble, He hears us. There is meaning in our cry of anguish because it comes from the heart. It is not an empty formality or a vain traditional performance. It is a sincere song created by the pain we are living in, and when we cry out to God, He hears us.

I was in a denomination where every time we dismissed, we quoted Psalms 19:14: "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, me strength, and my redeemer". There was no faith applied to it; we were just repeating words. I don’t mean that as a criticism because it was a point of uniformity for dismissal. But there was nothing spiritual in it. We may as well have repeated the alphabet song.

But let me get in trouble and those same words come into my heart. There is something about a troubled heart that is different. We seem to understand that we aren’t as powerful as we thought. We realize that we are not immortal, and we aren’t Superman (or Batman). We come to understand that we are one helpless individual with nowhere to turn, no shoulder to cry on and no place of shelter. We are just messed up.

That’s when we cry "God save me, please help me". God sees spiritual life in such a cry, and He approves of it. That’s the kind of worship that God wants. Not laws, not dos and don’ts; not performance. But a real cry from the heart.

God’s delights when we cry to Him in the day of trouble. He enjoys it because it’s genuine. In the day of mirth and prosperity, many of our prayers are vague, shallow and rushed. We have too much other stuff going on to concentrate on worship and prayer. In fact, there are many individuals that except they get in trouble, they won’t seek God at all. They will continue in their hypocrisy. Therefore, God in His mercy allows adversity to come into their lives.

God knows when we mean what we say. And trouble seems to bring out that hidden part of us. No sham. No pretending. No performance. Just a heartbroken agonizing plea to God for help. When we say, "If you don’t help me God, I’m lost", that’s like worship to Him.

Trouble humbles our heart. We face the acute realization that God may not have been as impressed with our goodness as we thought. We realize that if we get anything from God at all, it’s by His grace. No matter how brilliant we perform our religious duty, or how churchy our church is, our greatest need is to seek God.

The person in trouble doesn’t care about any of those religious things. He is saying, "Lord help me, I cannot help myself. My only hope is that you will intervene. If you don’t help me, I’m done". If we are lonely, distressed, troubled, anguished and pushed aside, we must cry out to God. No one else can help us. He is our only hope.

We can turn our adversity to our advantage. Trouble is an opportunity that God uses to show us His grace. I understand that trouble doesn’t feel good, but when we experience God’s grace, then our soul will be refreshed in a greater way than if we never saw trouble. God takes our losses and turns them into gains. He takes our troubles and uses them for our good.

If you are in trouble, that’s your license to pray. It is the hour God has given you to make your appeal. "Lord, it is a day of trouble. I am in affliction; my case is urgent. Illness is threatening; I am facing bankrupt. Poverty is tightening its grip on me. You have given me this hour to call upon you because I am in trouble. Do not pass me by".

God said, "I will" deliver you. That’s His promise. In His grace He says, "I will". If a person tells you "I will", then we can hold them to that promise. When a person makes you a promise, He has placed himself in a position of command because he said "I will". He was free before he made that promise. But he is not free anymore. We have the promise and we have the grace. God must act according to what He promised.

I can’t tell you how God will deliver. That is up to Him. Daniel didn’t know how God would deliver him from all those lions. Joseph didn’t know how God was going to get him out of prison after he was accused of raping his master’s wife. They just placed themselves in God’s hands.

Notice that the scripture doesn’t say when He will deliver, and it doesn’t say how. It only says that "He will". It may be next week, or it may be next year. We are in a hurry, but God isn’t. God wants that trial to work all the good in us that it was intended; therefore sometimes it must go longer. But when it’s over, we will be as pure gold.

No matter how many troubles come our way, God will deliver us. He will either deliver us now or at some point in the future. Our part is to call on Him. His part is to deliver. And when it’s all over, God will be glorified.

By: Edmund Brown