His Goodness in Times of Trouble

There is much heartache and trouble in this world. It comes to us in so many forms and for many reasons. The bottom line is that we have troubles because sin entered the world long ago. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and since that time there has been all kinds of suffering. All of creation suffers and groans because of sin.

It is because of the sinfulness of man that wars are started. It is because of sin that spouses are not content and commit adultery. It is because of the sinful desires in our hearts that we hate, envy, murder, lie, steal, are unkind, lack compassion and are selfish. A sinful heart causes a man to hit his wife, a child to rebel against his parents and woman to abort her child. Because of sin we break our covenant and divorce our spouse. Because of sin there is all kinds of suffering in this world.

We have troubles because we do not obey God. We do not obey God because our heart is deceitfully wicked all the time. Our hearts desire what is wants, when it wants it regardless of what God has said is good.

So is there any hope? Is there hope for the believer of Christ? Of course there is hope! David, in Psalm 27, reminds us that we do not need to fear, we can be confident in the One who will rescue us. Yes we will be rescued from the  troubles on this earth one day when Christ returns, but I also believe that David is telling us that we can also see the goodness of the Lord today. We can have hope in the midst of troubles. We do not need to fear.

To have hope, to see God’s goodness in times of trouble we need to…

…seek Him. We need to worship God, meditate on His word and sing praises to Him. (Ps 27:4-6)
…pray. Cry out to the One who does not abandon you, to the One who promises to help you. (27:7-10)
…walk in humility. Be teachable through the Spirit of God. Submit to His word, to His will. (27:11)
…wait. If we seek Him, pray and are willing to submit to His will then we must wait for the Lord to show us what to do next. It is the strong heart, who seeks the face of God, that can humbly wait. (27:14)

Just to be clear though, we can seek God, pray, walk in humility, wait upon Him and still have troubles. We will still experience suffering, pain and evil in this land. The difference is that the one who seeks God will not be consumed by it. They will remain confident in the Lord, knowing that it is He who will lift us up out of the pit of suffering so that we see His goodness. (Psalms 31:19-24)

Are you in the midst of suffering right now? Does it seem that your whole world is falling apart? Why not spend some time reading Psalm 27 and Psalm 130. Cry out to God. Pour out your heart to Him. Worship Him today through His word in spite of your circumstances, regardless of the pain you are experiencing. He promises to answer the one who truly seeks His face. (Matt 7:7; Deut 4:29; Jer 24:7)

'Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 'I will be found by you,' … (Jer 29:12-14a)