A Present Help in the Time of Trouble
By Ruth McCane, Former Executive Director, International Women’s Ministries
After installing newly elected Women’s Ministries officers, Dee’s suggestion to short-cut a thirty-mile trip home was convincing. It was very dark, but we felt far removed from the race riots in Atlanta . . . until ten miles from the church the car stopped dead. We knew we were in trouble and we prayed. One streetlight beamed down the boarded glass-front buildings. Any attempt to start the car while Dee made a SOS call from a nearby phone booth was futile.
With doors locked and my window barely down, our emotions heightened when a pickup truck parked at our back bumper. A young adult hippy emerged. When his efforts to assist failed, he said he’d stay until help came. Many minutes later, a long black car rolled up to our front bumper. Four leather-clad, football-type men stepped out and moved to my window. One asked, “What’s wrong?”
“We’ve telephoned for help!”
“Release the hood,” he said. With the snap of his finger a jumper cable was brought which started our car from their battery. As they drove away, the relief we felt cannot be compared with what looked like certain calamity. The hippy followed us back to the church parking lot and then drove away into the night.
We were reminded…God uses whom He will. Our “present help in trouble” came through Emmanuel (God with us) whose birth we now celebrate (Matthew 1:23, NLT).Gratefully we drove the thirty miles home in the pastor’s car which was returned the next day. A new alternator soon restored our car to usefulness.
Perhaps some have had a similar experience of being rescued or are now grappling with a frightening situation. These past months have been terrifying globally by a manmade economic disaster. The world seems to be in an economic tailspin as the world’s biggest banks and corporations are failing. The most powerful nations are in great fear. Why? It is because their refuge, strength and help are in their military and economic power and not in God (Exodus 33:15-19). These can disappear like mountains in Noah’s day (Genesis 8:5).
Have you felt this on a spiritual level as well? Have you experienced emotional, inner torrents of anxiety in circumstances which threaten to take away everything you hold dear within your heart? The battles of life make us realize we cannot handle things alone. The inner life struggles show us if we are left to ourselves, we will be lost forever (John15:4). God, in Christ is the true source of our confidence.
1. God is present to help in the time of trouble. Psalm 46 is a picture of the unrest and tumult in our world today. There’s times when the limits of our comfort zones are stretched beyond what we think are reasonable. The troubles of: 9-11, nations at war, the threats of terrorist attack, hurricanes, financial difficulties, health needs, losing a loved one, family challenges, job losses, job stresses, broken friendships, personal struggles with purity, morality, and discipline can fill one with fear. God’s promises are not revoked because of cares or by people’s or a nation’s sins. The reality of our faith in our ever-present God can be revealed and can conquer every debilitating fear (1 Peter1:5-19; 3:8-18, NKJV).
He is not an absentee God! David asked: Is there any place I can go to avoid Your Spirit? (Psalm 139:5-7, MSG). God promises to never abandon us (Hebrews 13:5, 6, NET); this awareness can bring us a gain much greater than the loss of our proud self-reliance (2 Corinthians 3:5). It can help us to understand, with a humble sense, our great need of a sure Anchor. Belief in God’s unceasing love and faithfulness gives us the hope needed (Lamentations 3:22-24, NIV). This is not only from reading the Bible or listening to sermons, but from our own living experience, to know His holy and righteous presence is indeed with us in trouble.
2. “The Lord is near to all that call upon Him…in truth” (Psalm 145:18). In the most difficult of circumstances, we must believe what the Bible says! What the good God has done in the past is the pattern for His present help. We are involved in a crucial war between principalities and powers—the rulers of the darkness and spiritual wickedness in high places. If we neglect being alone with God, we may lose the battle, even though He wins the war. Don’t envy the wicked. Their day is coming, Trust the Lord. Maintain your integrity, Take delight in the Lord and your prayers will be answered (Psalm 37:1, 4, 13, 25, PP). “When they call on Me, I will answer; I will be with them in trouble. I will rescue them and honor them (Psalm 91:15, NLT).
3. Be aware of the very presence of the ever-present God (Psalm 46:8-11). His present help is always perfectly timed, and magnificently suited to our needs. (a) Nothing will be able to separate us from Christ’s love (Romans 8:39). God hears the prayers of His distressed children and delivers them from troubles (Psalm 107:6, 13, 19, NET);(b)Day or night we can boldly enter the Holiest (the very presence of God) to receive His grace and mercy for help in our times of need (Hebrews 4:16; 10:19, LB); (c) WE GIVE THANKS that He will intervene and release unanticipated strength never imagined; (d) His rules remain just. When praying, “Lord, I don’t know what to do,” we need to sincerely ask, “Holy Father; through Your Word give me wisdom to examine myself to see what You want me to change.” Are Your commands my delight? Do we ask the Holy Spirit for spiritual insight? When crying with ALL of our heart, “Lord please answer!” can He trust us to obey His statutes? (Psalm 119: 143-145, NIV; Psalm 37: 6, KJV). If this be true, then we can rejoice because Christ is being proclaimed (Philippines 1:12, 18-20).
4. Be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:13), be silent in the presence of God. (Zephaniah 2:13). This is not a call of preparation for worship, but of impending judgment. God will be exalted. All the earth will bow before Him. For those who do not, it’s a command to reflect on the horror of all who fall into the hands of an angry God (2 Chronicles25:2, NRSV). David, a man after God’s own heart, prayed, “Search me O God.” Perhaps the clearest evidence of fallen nature is in the quickness to point the finger at others when we ought to examine ourselves. As His children, we, too, are accountable to God (Romans 14:12). To lead people to Christ, His abiding presence must be recognized in us. “And this is what He has promised us, eternal life.…And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He is revealed we may have confidence and not be put to shame before Him at his coming”(1 John 2:25, 28, NRSV).
Remember: “The Lord almighty is with us. Lo I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20; Psalm 46:7, 11). Hold on to these truths! Think on these things!
