“The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” Psalm 46:7
Dear reader, you have been given many precious promises in God’s word and you can put your confidence in them and your trust in Him.
But what do you do when trouble rears its head, suddenly?
How do you respond or even cope when a storm comes out of nowhere to upend your life, and threaten your peace – and sometimes, everything you have held dear?
When trouble so overwhelms you that you cannot think straight, much less to remember the word of God to hold onto, or even to pray, remember this: God’s help and presence at all times, including when you could not possibly believe that He knows what you are going through, is what Jesus has promised to provide.
The Apostles of Jesus sat at the feet of Jesus for three amazing years of miraculous works. In those years, they saw the blind receive their sight (by a word spoken, or through some other action performed, by Jesus); the mute received the ability to speak, lepers were cleansed, and the dead raised to life. They accompanied Jesus to Bethany where He raised to life, Lazarus, who had been dead for four days and had been buried. They were with Jesus when the whole world went crazy, waving palm branches and proclaiming Jesus to be God’s promised Messiah as He entered Jerusalem.
Exciting times!
They had left all to follow Jesus, and the eminence they had attained among the people was a fair reward! They were inner circle, a place to be coveted.
On the night of the Passover, that year, they sat down to enjoy the Passover meal with Jesus.
Then unfolded trouble, starting with Jesus’ troubling words: that He was leaving them.
“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.” John 13: 33
To be sure, this was not the first time He had told them that he would be killed, but who would believe this? He who had shown dominion over death, how could they believe that anyone could kill Him?
But this time, the significance of what He was saying finally got to them, for He spoke soberly and there was a sense of finality that portended doom. As He ate the bread at table and drank the wine, He told them it would be His last on this earth, and asked that they carry on the practice in His memory. This was a cataclysmic moment!
I can only empathise with the trauma it produced in the Apostles, for suddenly the life they had lived for three years was declared to be over. They had all left their own homes (including wives), and livelihoods (fishing, tax collecting, among others), because they believed He was the Messiah who would establish a kingdom on this earth, and they would walk in the corridors of power in the new Jewish Kingdom.
But by Jesus’ dinner announcement, it was clear that everything was over, and the end was nothing like the glory they had anticipated and for which they had given up everything they held dear and near for three whole years.
That was trouble indeed, for their lives, their dreams and their hopes were all upended. What was more, Jesus told them that they could not go with Him. In their confusion, Thomas asked “Lord we do not know where you are going…”
In response to Him, and to Phillip who asked to be shown the Father, Jesus introduced the Person of the Holy Spirit as the One who would take His place on this earth, empowering the apostles from within, to undertake the work of witnesses of His life, death, and resurrection, for the salvation of the whole world.
What Jesus promised His Disciples in John 14: 18 was: ”I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you”.
This promise of Jesus is an echo of what God said to Joshua, who was freshly bereaved, mourning the loss of Moses his leader and mentor, as He commissioned Joshua to finish what Moses had started:
“As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you or forsake you” Joshua 1: 5B.
Were these assurances for the Apostles and Joshua only?
In Psalm 46:1, the psalmist describes the depths of calamity that may overtake any person. In graphic terms, he speaks of: “…the earth giv[ing] way, and the mountains fall[ing] into the heart of the sea”.
The assurance contained in Psalm 46, is that the Lord God of Hosts is with us, as our refuge from the storms of life, and as an immediately available helper in the time of our trouble.
What I am saying is that there are times when you will need resources outside of yourself even to remember the word of God or to pray; when everything is bleak and there appears to be no help anywhere in your situation. In that time of trouble, you may feel you are sinking, and you cannot seem to find an anchor.
But you do have an anchor, which is firm, strong, secure, and available. The resource is Jesus Himself.
If you have accepted Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross and have received the salvation He offers, then, know that key among His promises is that He will be with you.
Jesus promised His disciples that he would be with them even after He had left them, by coming to them in the person of the Holy Spirit. In His words:
“And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another [a]Helper, that He may abide with you forever.” John 14:16
The Holy Spirit has been given to us to provide comfort to us, to give us guidance, to teach us, to succour us, and to help us in our time of need.
I have experienced the comfort of the Holy Spirit at critical times in my life. When at a low point the only prayer I could utter was “My God”, the peace that came when I felt agitated, and the people who ‘randomly’ showed up to remind me of His word, and to lift me up, were all the design and help provided by God through His Spirit.
Not long ago, in a time of grave difficulty when my heart was troubled, I didn’t know how to pray. So, I simply cried out for the Lord to hold me and let me feel His embrace.
By the close of day, something remarkable had happened: an unexpected visit from an acquaintance who came to give me a hug, for no apparent reason, along with words of comfort, amazed me then and continues even now, to fill me with wonder. Without providing detail, I assure you that it was an out of the ordinary experience which I could never explain or forget.
So, I have first-hand experience of His comfort, even the physical comfort I had asked for. Just as Jesus promised, He is right beside you in any and every trouble.
Proverbs 18:10 promises: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower. the righteous run into it and are kept safe”.
And as Psalm 46:11 promises, “The Lord of Hosts…is our refuge” [from every storm].
As Jesus promised His Apostles (and us), He has not left us without comfort. Note that one name for the Holy Spirit is The Comforter. Comfort is what He will give to you in your trouble. He is also The Helper. So look up; look within. You are not alone in your trouble.
Perhaps this scripture best sums up His help in time of trouble:
“Who stood up for me against the wicked?
Who took my side against evil workers?
If God hadn’t been there for me,
I never would have made it.
The minute I said, “I’m slipping, I’m falling,”
your love, God, took hold and held me fast.
When I was upset and beside myself,
you calmed me down and cheered me up.” Psalm 94:16-19 (MSG)
He is right beside you, with you, in you.
Cheer up. As the Shunamite woman who had just lost her son said to the prophet Elisha:
“It is well.” 2 Kings 4: 26B
And indeed, because of God’s presence, and HIS promised help, it really is!
