The Lord Is A Stronghold In The Day Of Trouble

  By Rich Carmichael

    A brother in Christ living in a very troubled country shared the following words in a recent letter to the Herald office: "We are living in harsh conditions, difficult unimagined situations, but we have our trust in God. We spend days without food, we have no source of any income but that can not change God, He is God and He will remain God." How good is this brother’s reminder that no matter how great our difficulties, we can always trust God. Nothing can change Him. He alone is God and He will always remain God.

    One of the many passages in the Bible that draws attention to the confidence we can have in the Lord, even in the most desperate of circumstances, is Psalm 46: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations He hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; He burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah."

Our God Is Sovereign and Omnipotent

    In the Herald prayer room we have the words of Psalm 46:10 displayed prominently on the wall: "Be still, and know that I am God." How comforting and reassuring it is to those of us who look to the Lord to remember that He is sovereign over the world and the affairs of man. Though nations may rage, they are as "a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance" by the Lord (Isa. 40:15). When He utters His voice, the earth melts. He "reduces rulers to nothing…. Scarcely have they been planted, scarcely have they been sown, scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, but He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the storm carries them away like stubble" (Isa. 40:23-24). The Lord asks the question, "To whom will you liken Me that I should be his equal?" (Isa. 40:25). The answer, of course, is that God has no equal. He alone is God over the universe, and God over our lives.

    How blessed is the truth for all of us who belong to Him that "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge" (Psa. 46:7, 11). We can wait in confident expectation before Him; we can trust Him at all times and pour out our hearts before Him because He "is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble…" (Psa. 46:1; 62:5-8). No matter how great the enemy against us may be, no matter how great our difficulties, our God is greater.

    Even if the earth beneath us gives way, we know that underneath us are His everlasting arms (Deut. 33:27). If the waters begin to rise around us, we know that He sits enthroned over the flood (Psa. 29:10) and He is able to draw us out of many waters (Psa. 18:16). If we become overwhelmed and call out to Him, He is able to lead us to the rock that is higher than we are (Psa. 61:2). If we face anxious times, we can lay our needs before Him, and He is able to grant us His peace which surpasses all understanding, peace which guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7).

Our God Gives Us Strength

    If our strength begins to fail, we can rely upon the Lord to grant us new strength out of His unfailing strength: "…Hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Even young men shall faint and be weary…But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint" (Isa. 40:28-31). His arm is not too short to rescue us, nor does He lack the strength to deliver us (Isa. 50:2). He is faithful to stand with us and strengthen us and protect us from the evil one (2 Tim. 4:17; 2 Thes. 3:3). His power is unlimited, and He is able to strengthen us with all power according to His glorious might so that we can have great endurance and patience (Col. 1:11). We can do everything through Him who strengthens us (Phil. 4:13).

    The Lord is not only omnipotent, and therefore able to help in all situations, but He is also omnipresent, and therefore always available to help. As David declares, "If I ascend to heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the dawn, if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Thy hand will lead me, and Thy right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to Thee, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to Thee" (Psa. 139:8-12). Even if we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we need fear no evil, for the Lord is with us, and His rod and staff comfort us (Psa. 23:4). He Himself has promised, "‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,’ so that we confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid…’" (Heb. 13:6).

    We are living in an hour when many individuals, nations and religions are in rebellion to our Lord Jesus Christ, and as the conflict between good and evil intensifies in these last days, we may well face greater trials and troubles. How important it is that we learn more of what it means to quiet ourselves before the Lord, to rest in Him, to listen for His voice, and to depend upon His shelter, His strength and His ever-present help. "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him" (Nah. 1:7). 

(quoted from Herald of His Coming, October 23, 2010 edition)