Our God is faithful to them that put their trust in Him. He does not allow His obedient children to lack or suffer afflictions or be tormented by the enemy. He instructed the faithful ones to call on Him in the day of trouble and He will give attention to their needs. He fights the battle of those that trust Him and gives them victory over their enemies. Whatever He decides are carried out at the appointed time. He proved this to Pharaoh, the King of Egypt, when taskmasters were set over the Israelites to force them work for the Egyptians without pay.
When the Israelites cried unto Him, with eagle’s wings He intervened and delivered them from that house of bondage. God does great exploits that at times; it is beyond the imagination of his people. The Bible reports one of the interventionist exploits of the Lord in Luke 7:12-15: “Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her. 13: And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, ‘weep not.’ 14: And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, young man, I say unto thee, arise. 15: And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother.”
The young man was already dead and being carried to the cemetery for burial, there was no hope of his living on this earth again and the only thing the mother and the sympathisers around her could do was to cry. Their cry could not bring the young man back to life, but when our Lord Jesus Christ arrived and came in contact with the people carrying the corpse to the burial ground, His timely intervention restored the young man to life. It was a restoration of lost hope to the mother and all the people around her. The same scenario played out in the case of Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary.
In this development, Lazarus has been buried and had been in the grave for four days. According to Martha, the body would have begun to smell at that time, but our Lord Jesus ordered them to remove the stone that covered the grave. With loud voice He commanded Lazarus to come forth and he came out bound with grave cloth. Christ instructed the people to lose him and let him go. To Martha, the expectation was to meet with her brother, Lazarus, on the resurrection day, but Christ’s quick intervention brought the unexpected reunion with the brother. God is ever ready for timely intervention in the day trouble.
Some Bible students have postulated that the restoration of Lazarus to life was a mock examination for our Lord Jesus Christ in preparation for His own resurrection that was to come. God loves His people and will always come to their rescue in time of trouble. In every situation call upon Him, He will answer you.
In the lead scripture above, it is written, though the earth be removed, mountains carried into the sea, the water roars and is troubled, shakes with swelling we should not fear because God is amid of all these and will deliver us. We only need to put our trust in the Lord and serve Him in holiness and righteousness. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him from them all.
It must be clear that serving God is not a bed of roses because trials, temptations and persecutions must arise, but God will not allow them to persist. Apostle Paul has this encouragement to all Christians in 2Timothy 3:11-12 saying: “Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me. 12: Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
When persecution comes out of righteous dealings, we should not fear but bear it in expectation of the divine intervention, which is sure to come. God will always hear and answer the cry of the afflicted in the Lord. King David as a young man, and crowned king of Israel suffered persecutions including attempted assassination by King Saul simply because of his exploits in the war between the Philistines and Israel.
In all that, God was his protector. Based on experience, he has this to tell people in similar circumstances in Psalm 40:1-3 saying: “I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 2: He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. 3: And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”
In any situation you find yourself, do not lose hope in the Lord; have strong faith in the Lord. God has always told His children to call upon Him in time and day of trouble and He will answer and we will glorify His name. Wait for the Lord, He will see you through. The first person pronoun ‘I’ represents Our Lord Jesus Christ, the suffering Messiah who was obedient till death. The Psalm begins with the joy of Christ in resurrection. He has been in the horrible pit of the grave, but has been brought up. He has a new song for His resurrection testimony. As we continue to identify with our Lord Jesus Christ in His works, death, resurrection, and even in evangelism we will always be delivered from every horrible experience we may find ourselves in the course of serving the Lord, as well as in our secular activities.
Malachi 4:6 says: “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.” The book of Malachi is talking about our Lord Jesus Christ who will come to bring peace into the world by making the children of the world to love one another. He will bring sanity into the world or there will be curse on the people. The Book of Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, ends with the word ‘curse’, while the book of Genesis reveals the entrance of curse into the human family. The curse still persists.
The first book of the Bible, Matthew begins with our Lord Jesus Christ, who came to remove the curse Gal.3:13-14 says: “Christ hath redeemed us from curse of the law being made a curse for us (for it is written, cursed be upon everyone that hangs on a tree). 14: That the blessing of Abraham might come upon the gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we receive the promise of the spirit through faith. ”
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the instrument that God is using for reconciliation between man and Him, as well as for intervention into the affairs of man, especially in times of trouble. What trouble are you into? Be rest assured that God will intervene and deliver you. He is the Almighty God, the Omnipotent Jehovah, the Self-existent God, the uncreated creator, who has no beginning or ending, who sees in the secret and in the open. He asked Jeremiah in Jer.32v27: “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh, is there anything too hard for me?
Nothing is too hard for God. As the creator of all things, who or what can resist him? Isa 43 v 10-13 says: ‘”You are My witnesses,”’ says the Lord, and My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, nor shall there be after Me. 11: I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no saviour. 12: I have declared and saved, I have proclaimed, and there was no foreign god among you, therefore you are My witnesses, ‘says the Lord,’ that I am God. 13: Indeed before the day was, I am He; and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand; I work, and who will reverse it?”
The above chapter and verses should be an encouragement to all that are in one trouble or the other. God’s assurance is that He will work and no one can reverse His work. That trouble you are into, God is set to set you free, so rejoice and know that as long as God is with you, no trouble can overcome you.
May be as you are reading this message now, you have not given your life to Christ, if you are in that situation, you are still an enemy of God, and He cannot intervene in your trouble when you are in enmity with Him, so reconcile with Him now by embracing Jesus Christ as your Lord and saviour; confess your sins before him and forsake them, He will forgive you and give you power to become a child of God. Remember you are not the owner of your life. Heb 9:27 says: “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” So, amend your ways and surrender your life to Christ before it is too late.
