I started to say we have here a “prayer promise” for those hard times.

That’s true insofar as it goes, that statement. But Psalm 50:15 is much MORE than just a promise. It is a command from God! A STARK COMMAND!

Let me show you.

“Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee.” Psalm 50:15, an exhibition of the Power of Almighty God! Short … and certainly sweet!

How simple, this little Verse!

And yet how helpful!

Plus … how very TRUE!

“Call upon Me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee.”

The verb “call” is spelled “qara” in Hebrew. It’s the first word in the Hebrew sentence, the verse, by the way. Lending it great importance in the grammatical syntax there. It’s the “power” word of the whole sentence!

If we don’t “call,” God just might not “deliver!”

But as I’ve already indicated, “qara” is further framed as an “imperative” verb. It is expressing a demand, a requirement, a mandate! An “order” from our great God … “call upon me!”

The sentence has a short “cause-and-effect” sequence, too.

IF WE CALL (the cause) … GOD WILL DELIVER (the Effect)!

Wow!

And yes, this is clearly a promise, based on the character of the Lord Himself. (God absolutely cannot lie, Titus 1:2 tells us. And Hebrews 6:18 adds that it is “impossible” for God to lie!)

All that is left is for us humans (who are often in trouble) to practice, exercise the promise!

Oh yes, “trouble” is “tzsrah,” meaning the “distressful, tight, cramping, anguish-filled” places and times of life. (“Tzsrah” is actually from a root verb that hints “everything is squeezing in on you, from all sides, and all at once!) This leaves open the possibility that this “trouble” can be widely varied! Whatever heartache YOU are experiencing this moment!

Then comes the “verb” that is our God’s Responsibility … “will deliver.” It’s spelled “chalatzs” and is only used 44 times in the whole Old Testament! It means “to rescue,” as with an armed guard! At times it can even mean “to arm” the sufferer, so he or she can fight his or her way out of the situation! Plus, the verb is in the “Piel” stem, meaning God energetically handles this mode of delivery! Powerfully so!

Mercy!

Hallelujah!

Oh, one more thing this morning.

God does want to be thanked when He sends such deliverance!

He deserves to be glorified!

The full verse: “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” Psalm 50:15, surely the least we can do … GLORIFY our loving Heavenly Father! (Glorify, “kabad” in Hebrew … letting God know how verey “heavy,” how “weighty,” how “important” He is in your life!)

What a verse, Psalm 50:15!

By the way, it is parallel to another “Call upon Me” promise in Scripture. “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Jeremiah 33:3, and yes … God is still the One talking!

I sincerely pray these Biblical thoughts will HELP someone reading here today!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Most of you are familiar with the story of Job, the great Old testament Patriarch. How he, apparently very wealthy, was visited with calamity and loss, suddenly and unexpectedly. And you remember how well he responded, especially at first, to his distress!

“And (Job) said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” Job 1:21

Today’s Text, today’s Lesson, part of it anyway: “THE LORD GAVE.” Then … “THE LORD HATH TAKEN AWAY.”  (Yet Job still worshipped God, not becoming bitter) “BLESSED BE THE NAME OF THE LORD!”

Now do be aware that most of the Book of Job focuses on the time period after “THE LORD TOOK AWAY” all Job’s dearest possessions (including family, all of his ten children).

So far, there’s not much “encouragement” in these lines!

But in Job chapter 42 … “THE LORD GAVE AGAIN!”

Did you hear me? “THE LORD GAVE AGAIN!”

“So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters.” As I said, Job 42:12-13.

Yes, the Lord Who had taken away … gave again!

There is the encouragement!

Dear friend, struggling over some kind of loss … it well may be in your case too … the Lord will give again!

I am reminded of a line in John 2:10, after a certain wedding party had foolishly depleted their supply of wine … and Jesus created more! “Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.” The BEST was saved until the LAST, because Jesus was present! (Keep Jesus in the middle of your problem!)

Suffering reader here today … God may have something “better” just around the corner!

A quick illustration: Elijah was supported during a long famine by a babbling book and some flying ravens! (Read here: “And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.” 1 Kings 17:6)

But soon came trouble, loss … “It came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.” Yes, Elijah in dire straits (again), his comfort now being taken away!

(The Lord gave. The Lord took away!)

But next … almost immediately … “And the word of the LORD came unto Elijah, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.” God brought a widow lady into the Prophet’s life, one that knew how to cook! You can smile, if you’d like!

I’d say … better than the raven-provided food!

So once again, characteristically … The Lord gave. Then the Lord took away (the brook dried up) … then (as usual) the Lord gave again (with the last state being better first)!

Hallelujah!

If this does not encourage us …

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Either could be catastrophic!

Water en force, a veritable flood!

Or raging fire, helplessly out of control!

And yet these are the two very “foes” God mentions in a precious little verse of Scripture … Isaiah 43:2, from the pen of a ready writer!

Debbie and I were riding home from Church last night, from the Revival here in North Carolina. And she found this verse as I guided, drove us through the little city of Canton. We were searching for a verse that particularly promised God’s Presence in times of trouble.

This (from Isaiah) was NOT the verse she sought, but it “satisfied” my need nonetheless! (Hers ended up being in Psalm 139. “Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, THOU ART THERE: if I make my bed in hell, behold, THOU ART THERE. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; EVEN THERE SHALT THY HAND LEAD ME, and THY RIGHT HAND SHALL HOLD ME. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT ARE BOTH ALIKE TO THEE.” Verses 7-12, not bad either, in fact downright amazing! Yes, God is ALWAYS with us!)

But back to Isaiah 43:2, where God Himself is talking this time: “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 shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”

Not “if” thou passest through the waters … but WHEN thou doest so!

The inevitability of suffering, disruption … as human beings!

And it looks like things get worse in the verse, progressively!

We segue from “waters” to “rivers!”

But God here promises to be the Protector of His people … retarding their being drowned by the deluge and resulting flood!

“I WILL BE WITH THEE!”

“THEY SHALL NOT OVERFLOW THEE!”

Then comes the fire! (Ever notice how “problems” often come in “pairs”, or evdn “triads?” Look at the life of the Patriarch Job for example. (The old-timers used to say, “When it rains … it pours!”)

Yes, fire … every bit as deadly as the waters or rivers … and much more painful!

But God is the Consummate Fireman!

Guaranteeing … “THOU SHALT NOT BE BURNED!”

Even to this degree … “NEITHER SHALL THE FLAME KINDLE UPON THEE!” (The verb translated “kindle” can also mean “to eat up!)

What an invigorating Promise in times of flood and fire!

During the “uncommonly turbulent” or “blistering hot” times of life!

Read it again, Christian friend.

From God to you … today … “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 shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”

Wow!

I pray someone reading here today will find comfort, encouragement in what Isaiah has been commissioned to tell us, on behalf of Almighty God!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Moses direly needed God’s Help!

Leading the Jews from Sinai to Canaan.

So Moses wisely asked of the Lord: “Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way …” Which I take to mean … “show me the (right) way to guide Thy people, the correct route to pursue! Exodus 33:13, God being the Master Navigator!

“Show me the way!”

Logical prayer, I would say.

But, strangely, God did NOT specifically answer that prayer. Not then and there anyway. Not a word about the itinerary to follow!

Instead … God replied to Moses: “My presence shall go with thee.”

Wow!

GOD’S PRESENCE!

The Hebrew noun “paniym,” here translated “presence” also means “face” 390 times in the Bible! It is translated “face” 390 times in the King James Bible anyway.

God’s Very FACE will be with Moses and the Jews!

And that, in essence, is the heart of today’s Lesson!

When you cannot fine the WAY … be sure you have the PRESENCE of Almighty God!

Because if HE is by your side, you will never go astray!

I must say it again, “WOW!”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

And can we be assured we have the Lord’s Presence? Jesus to us … “And, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.” Matthew 28:20, a clear Promise!

Jesus again: “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Hebrews 13:5

Let me pronounce it a fact. We do have God’s Presence as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ His Darling Son!

Praise His Name!

Don’t know the way?

Look into His Face, enjoy His Presence!

 

Trials, troubles, and the like … yes, they are a part of life!

Job 5:4 even makes this remarkable statement about such difficulties: “Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”

Wow, sounds inevitable, doesn’t it?

But for the Christian, the Believer in our Lord Jesus Christ, “pressures” and “heartaches,” the “hard times” that come … have a unique significance!

These “bumps in the road” are, in reality, send by God!

For our “good” and God’s “Glory!”

Most often God allows them (or designs them) to teach us or to mature us … or at times even to chasten us!

And God never wastes such “problems!”

He sends them to further develop us as growing Christians.

Peter used a clause that impressed me earlier this morning, about our trials.

“Though now for a season, IF NEED BE, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:6-7

I capitalized the clause.

“IF NEED BE!”

The verb “need” translates the Greek “dei,” if it is NECESSARY!

God sends us difficult times … BECAUSE THEY ARE ESSENTIAL … to accomplish some greater goal, some more glorious end, for our Christian pilgrimage!

“If need be!”

What are you enduring today?

What’s the “hurt” that so plagues you this week, this month, this year?

Does it help to know there is a God in Heaven, your Father in fact, who is watching as you suffer? And Who has only sent this trial because you NEED it?

It is as if you’re in the furnace of affliction … and God is carefully, lovingly watching … with His Almighty Hand on the thermostat!

You will only be “there” until some “need” has been met!

Also note the words “for a season!” There’s some help in this little phrase too!

It won’t last forever!

One more time, please read and ponder our Text today: “Though now for a season, IF NEED BE, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.”

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

When we don’t understand Him, we can still trust Him!