When You’re In Trouble
First Responders Sunday
Psalms 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Intro: In preparation for this special day, I asked myself the question: What do law enforcement, fire, and paramedics all have in common? The answer is simple – their job is to help their fellow-man. Their job is to be available to respond to the needs and concerns of people that are hurting, people that are in danger, people that need representation, people that need defending, people that need protection and assistance.
What a very commendable life vocation! We all greatly appreciate every single one of you and your commitment to your life’s calling – that of lending a helping hand to someone in need.
Bottom line – there are hundreds of thousands of public servants just like yourself that get up every day and work hard to make this world a better place. All without the parades of the sports heroes, all without the publicity of the gang riots, the turf wars, drug lords, crime syndicates.
Today is your day – we all say a great big THANK YOU!
Bottom line – we know who to call when we need help.
We know who to turn to when we have a problem and need assistance from well-trained professionals.
BUT – I want to know this – WHO DO YOU TURN TO WHEN YOU NEED HELP?
God is our best source of help because of:
A. His Availability
· Vs. 1 – he is a very present help
· Vs. 5 – God shall help…and that right early (faster time than any FIRST RESPONDERS TEAM in the world!)
B. His Authority
· Vs. 6 – he uttered his voice, the earth melted
· Vs. 7 – the LORD of hosts is with us (military terminology)
· Vs. 8 – what desolations he hath made in the earth
· Vs. 9 – he breaketh the bow, cutteth the spear in sunder, he burneth the chariot
Speaks of God’s military prowess and power
C. His Assurance
· Vs. 10 – be still, and know that I am God
· Vs. 11 – The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge
We don’t have to worry if He’s available.
We don’t have to worry if He can handle the problem.
We don’t have to worry if He’s willing to help us.
We can have assurance this morning that God is willing and able to help us – no matter the problem.
The Psalmist David said:
· Psalms 9:9 The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.
God is a VERY PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE.
There’s just the troubles that comes with being born.
· Job 5:7 Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
· Job 14:1 Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
Let’s be honest.
Just living on earth comes with a certain amount of trouble.
The first thing that happens when you’re born is somebody you’ve never met slaps the day-lights out of you.
And life just goes downhill from there!
Welcome to Planet Earth!
When you’re little, you have to contend with trouble like crashing your bicycle, falling out of bed and the dog eating your homework.
When you become a teenager, you have to deal with your girlfriend leaving you for another guy and not enough money for a Big Mac.
Adults have trouble finding a house, getting a loan, paying our bills, and on and on we could go.
It’s called life. And life is full of challenges. Some people have more than others.
Family troubles. Financial troubles. Friend troubles. Physical troubles. Life is full of trouble.
But that is not what we are preaching about this morning.
The trouble we read about in Psalms 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” is far more serious than a flat tire or our cat up a tree.
This is talking about real trouble.
I started looking at the word TROUBLE in the Bible, and found it mentioned often.
· TROUBLE – 109 times
· TROUBLES – 12 times
· TROUBLED – 68 times
· TROUBLETH – 10 times
Total: 199 times
I want to look at just three areas this morning where we have trouble.
I. Trouble from the Decisions of your Life
Sometimes, the trouble we are in is a result of our own rebellious decisions.
· Proverbs 13:15 Good understanding giveth favour: but the way of transgressors is hard.
When a person makes foolish choices or makes decisions contrary to God’s will, they bring trouble upon themselves.
God will judge. He will chasten. He will scourge. He will bring trouble in our lives because of sin.
Achan had sinned and God judged Israel by a defeat at Ai.
· Joshua 6:18 And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
· Joshua 7:25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the LORD shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones.
God had withheld rain for three and a half years.
1 Kings 18
· 17 And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?
· 18 And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim.
II. Trouble from the Deprivation of Leadership
2 Chronicles 15
· 3 Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law.
· 4 But when they in their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.
There are many people today that think that not having anybody over them would be the ideal life. It isn’t!
There are people that hate rules, they hate authority, and they hate anybody telling them what to do.
The problem with that is this – without God, without wisdom, teaching, instruction and rules, chaos ensues.
· Proverbs 4:19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
III. Trouble from Disregarding the Light
A person that hears the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ and disregards it will be in a lot of trouble.
Their trouble will be significantly more than a flat tire, or a low credit score.
Their trouble will be an eternity away from God in a lake of fire.
Of all the troubles found in the Bible, there is no greater trouble than being in trouble with God.
Turn to Acts 16.
There is a story in Acts 16 where the Apostle Paul and Silas were preaching the gospel.
A woman that was possessed with evil spirits got delivered through the preaching of Paul and Silas.
It changed her life. It turned her life around. She stopped telling fortunes and stopped a life of sorcery.
Her employers weren’t happy about it. The caught Paul and Silas and dragged them to court.
Notice what they said.
Acts 16
· 19 And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace unto the rulers,
· 20 And brought them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly trouble our city,
They were exceedingly troubled. That young woman was NOT troubled.
She had heard the message of salvation and received it. Her life was changed.
They, on the other hand, were more interested in making money, and it troubled them.
They threw Paul and Silas in jail.
And notice the effect it had on the jailer in verses 23-27.
He called for a light. He got a different light.
He got the light of the Gospel. And he believed it. And he got saved.
And guess what??
· Psalms 34:6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
Conclusion: Will you let God help you this morning with your trouble?
· Psalms 34:17 The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
This cry was not just a cry of discomfort and a cry of pain.
This was a cry of turning to God for Salvation – for Deliverance.