“I showed before him my trouble.” (Psalms 142:1-2)
“I cry out to the LORD. I beg the LORD to help me. I tell him my problems;I tell him about my troubles. .” (Psalms 142:1-2, ERV)
Exactly what the trouble of the psalmist was it is impossible for us to say. His trouble was clear, very bitter, hard to swallow. An overwhelmed spirit was the result. A determined resolve to tell the Lord his problems was borne of this anguish. Talking to Jesus as a Friend the solution. The automatic response.
We may also infer from what the Bible says about Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor 12:7 ) that there is a lot we don’t know about it. There is much we cannot know about our own trials. Our pain. Our grief. Let alone anyone elses. Paul’s thorn in the flesh predicament suggests that some things are always confusing. Jesus says
“You don’t know what I am doing now. But later you will understand.” (John 13:7)
Under The Cloud.
We are all under a cloud. We now live “under the shadow of The Almighty.” (Psalms 91:1, ERV) Left to us as a mystery, we are then free to apply this “thorn in the flesh” idea to ourselves. Meaning, the vagueness of the Bible is often of a deliberate intention by the author. In order that we may be able fit ourselves within its words for every variety of human needs that we experience. We expect the vagueness. We act on the opportunity. We respond with gratitude.
God is a shelter, a refuge when we are afraid. The Psalmist felt that his faith in God as protector would carry him through all the dangers and fears of life. This should be a picture of our trust too. Trading all our fears for faith in Jesus. No matter how intense our fears. To do this we must “live” and “rest” with him (Psalms 91:1).
Don’t think there is a plan against you because the people say there is. Don’t be afraid of what they fear. Don’t let them frighten you!” (Isa 8:12, ERV)
Recall how Moses saw a thick dark cloud and he went right into the heart of it! Thats where the Bible said “God was.” (Exodus 19:9)
And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.(Exodus 20:21)
We entrust ourselves to the protection of Jesus. Pledging our daily devotion to Him, we always find that we receive what we need for each situation we are in.
Jesus said, “Let not your heart stay troubled.” Jesus was not contemplating some kind of exemption for His own followers. Jesus knew there would be troubles in their lives; what He enjoined was an untroubled heart. To an untroubled heart amid the thronging troubles of our lives is to be of the same practice of the psalmist.
Showing It Before Him
A courageous person does not show their troubles before all the world. They try to hide them and keep a smiling face for the purpose to not be a discouragement to others. To show before the Lord our troubles in the quiet moment, behind the closed door. That is one of the secrets for “the peace beyond understanding.” ( Phil 4:7)
The Comfort of Having a Friend to Listen
“I have not had a friend for over three years.”
An acquaintance I chatted with last night told me
“I am so lonely. I have not had a friend in over three years.
It was heart breaking to listen to this man say “I have no friends.” I found it very sad. I wondered what it would be like to not have a friend, let alone for three years.
In a special sense, one of the duties of friendship is to lend a listening ear.
The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, the LORD hath made even both of them. (Prov 20:12)
It is an incomparable comfort. When troubles are depressing us to the point where we must have someone in whom we can confide, to sit with us. We could call this comfort a beginning for that “peace that passes our understanding?” (Phil 4:7)
We are born for adversity, There is opportunity and blessing in every trial. While a helping hand may be a blessed thing, (Prov 3:27) a helping heart is often better. We say far more by listening than talking.
If we have someone to open our hearts to we experience the comfort of Jesus. The certainty of perfect understanding, total trust. One of the choicest gifts of human life. Rich or poor. Comfort is welcome. How often we bring comfort by only listening!
The Almighty LORD will teach me what to say, so I will know how to encourage weary people. Morning after morning he will wake me to listen like a student. (Isa 50:4, GW)
There is one major way to listen when talking. And that is by asking questions. This is how one “listens like a student.” (Isa 50:4)
Anyone can live with “good courage.” (Deut 31:6). Discover relief of their trouble. We pour it all out, if only for an minute, into God’s listening and sympathetic ear. Into God’s loving heart.
“Be strong and of a good courage. Fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, He it is that goes with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. (Deut 31:6)
Now it was that very easing which David found in God. David showed before God his trouble. He was honest. David did not brood on it in solitary bitterness. Here we see a King. Laying it very quiet before God. No. David’s trouble did not disappear. The trouble didn’t disappear any more than the thorn of the Apostle. David gained a sweet serenity of spirit which made him capable of bearing anything. David talked to God like he would a friend.
And, indeed, that is the real victory of faith and of all who have quieted to wait on God. It may not banish all the trouble, but it always brings the power to bear it in calmness and serenity. There is a deep-rooted feeling in the heart that if we are God’s, we ought to have exemption. From being “under the shadow.” Yet this is where God is. This is where God puts us many times for our own best good.
Troubles That Afflict The Faithless Soul.
People who do not know Jesus are not averted by Christians who are faithful. (Mat 5:45) The sufferings of God’s beloved Son proclaimed that this is so. Everyone, the justified and the unjust suffers similar calamities and blessings. David was not protected from life’s troubles, nor was Paul, or our Blessed Savior. David knew, in all its bitterness, what a thing of trouble our human life may contain.
King David’s victory.
The testimony of all the saints who have learned to show their trouble before God. We see the inward peace that the world can never give and the darkest mile can never take away. (John 14;27) God does not save His children from that dark mile. He saves His children in that dark mile. (Micah 7:8)
Micah showed great faith in God both for himself (Mic 7:7) and on Israel’s behalf. (Mic 7:8-10) As he proclaimed that he would wait upon God. Knowing that God hears and saves when the help requested glorifies God.
There is light in every cloud.
Do you know when God dispatches them, And causes the light of His cloud to shine? (Job 37:15)
Whenever we show our trouble before Jesus, He shows His loving kindness to us. This is our Light. In many remarkable ways. Jesus will keep His people from an embittered heart. Jesus puts beneath them the everlasting arms. (Deut 33:27). Jesus makes people more than conquerors through Christ. (Rom 8:37)
God Cares
King David, like Abraham, had seen the day of Christ. His personal trouble was of concern to God. The Psalmist was comfortable in laying it all out before God. To “show it all before Him.” Hezekiah also found favor before God by doing the same:
Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers. And read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. (2 Kings 19:14)
The people of God are all one mind on this subject. Of one mind. (Zech 7:9, 1 Pet 3:8)
“This is what the LORD All-Powerful said: ‘You must do what is right and fair. You must be kind and show mercy to each other. (Zech 7:9, ERV)
So all you should live together in peace. Try to understand each other. Love each other like brothers and sisters. Be kind and humble. (1 Pet 3:8, ERV)
Throughout the Old Testament, The New Testament. The insistence was always on the majesty of God for true believers. The way believers treat one another shows God’s majesty the best. Nations would be of one mind about the majesty of God. Individuals would reflect this one mind. Like Abraham, Hezekiah, the Psalmist. The nations who sought Gods glory, formed God’s kingdom. In one example Psalms 63:2 David proclaims:
I have looked for You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory.
There is often a troubled and persecuted soul near us. In many nations. In many individuals. It would seem that most believe how the God of all the earth has a heart responsive to their own, personal trouble. They never dream it is a thing too petty for the concern of the infinite Jehovah. With a quiet confidence, like the psalmist, they showed it all before God. To Him who was the Maker of Heaven and Earth.
In that day people will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel. (Isa 17:7)
The wonderful thing is how this faith of David in the individual loving care of God is evident. It shows confirmation by David’s greater Son. It reveals God’s people, through God’s Word, defeating the forces of darkness.
“…By the blood of the Lamb and by The Word of their testimony.” (Rev 12;11)
Not a sparrow can fall without our Father’s notice and care. The very hairs of our head show how God knows. God cares. God has even counted them! If we, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto our children, how much more our Father?
Though you are evil, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! (Mat 7:11)
Though you are evil, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13)
Would it not be well to cultivate gratitude, and to offer grateful songs of thanksgiving to God? In response to our troubles? As Christians we ought to praise God much more than we do. We ought to bring more of the brightness of His love into our lives.
We should now acquaint ourselves with God by proving His promises. Angels record every prayer that is earnest and sincere. We should rather dispense with selfish gratifications than neglect communion with God. The deepest poverty. The greatest self-denial, with His approval. Is better than riches, honors, ease, and friendship without it. We must take time to pray. If we allow our minds to thrive on worldly interests. The Lord may give us time by removing from us our idols of gold, of houses, or of fertile lands. {GC 622.2}
By faith we look to Jesus. His joy and peace reflect from our own countenances. We should seek so to relate ourselves to God that our faces may reflect the sunshine of His love!
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace. (Num 6:26)
Each soul has an actual lived experience. led by the Holy Spirit. We may exert an uplifting influence upon others who don’t know the joy of Christ’s presence. Said David,
“Come and hear, all who fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul” (Psalms 66:16, 1 John 1:1-3)
In 1 John 1:1-3 John was an eye witness to Jesus’ life. John had lived with Jesus, having personal, physical contact with Jesus. He knew beyond any doubt that Jesus brings light and life. “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of humanity.”
Communion with God imparts to the soul an intimate knowledge of his will. But many who profess the faith know not what true conversion is. They have no experience in communion with the Father through Jesus Christ. They have never felt the power of divine grace to sanctify the heart. Praying. Sinning. Sinning. Praying. Lives full of malice, deceit, envy, jealousy, and self-love. Anything but God’s majesty.
The prayers of this class are an abomination to God. True prayer engages the energies of the soul, and affects the life. (2 Cor 5:17)
WE MUST TAKE TIME TO PRAY.
We should now acquaint ourselves with God by proving His promises. Angels record every prayer that is earnest and sincere. We should rather dispense with selfish gratifications than neglect communion with God. The deepest poverty. The greatest self-denial. With His approval, is better than riches, honors, ease, and friendship without it. We must take time to pray.—(GC 622.)
Anyone can thus pour out their wants before God. And feel the emptiness of everything else under heaven. “All my desire is before thee,” said David, “and my groaning is not hid from thee.”
“My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when must I come and appear before God?” “When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me.” (Psalm 38:9; 42:2, 4)
A Christian can see in that precious teaching, how someone could write in childlike trust:
“I showed before him my trouble.” (Psalms 142:1-2)