THE Lord Jesus said, in the days of His flesh, that “men ought always to pray and not to faint,” and the Apostle Paul, as an inspired teacher, pressed home the same important truth when he exhorted the Thessalonians to “pray without ceasing.” Prayer is a divinely-appointed means of grace. It is not confined to an audible form, but may be exercised in the secret recesses of the soul, as an expression of the desires of mind and heart. Prayer is therefore a means of grace that admits of constant exercise, and, as the soul’s needs are unceasing, so there is abundant scope for continual supplication before God. There are seasons also, such as days of trouble, when special earnestness and urgency in this exercise are called for. The Psalmist was of this mind, for in the 86th Psalm he declares, “In the day of my trouble, I will call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me.”
It appears, however, from the Psalm before us, that the people of Israel were ready to get remiss in the matter of prayer. The Lord here complains in a solemn manner of them that, while they were diligent enough in bringing up the sacrifices of bullocks and goats to His altars, they were not attentive to the spiritual exercises of His house. They vainly imagined that the multitude of their material sacrifices would fully satisfy the divine claims and secure their own safety. But they were grievously mistaken, and so are all they who act in a similar manner still. “Man looketh at the outward appearance; God looketh upon the heart.” He exhorts them here to do three things, which they had culpably neglected—“Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows to the Most High; and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” True prayer, in the highest sense, is the fruit of the Spirit’s work in the soul of man, and none will call upon the name of the Lord so as to secure their eternal salvation, but those who obtain “the spirit of grace and supplication” from above. Still, prayer is a subject of exhortation, and its exercise is pressed home as a matter of duty, which teaches us that it is in the pathway of the observance of this divine ordinance that we may expect to get the Spirit from on high. You are not to wait until you are sure that you have the Spirit before you will call upon the name of the Lord, but you must call upon His name in order to obtain the very Spirit by whom alone you can rightly or spiritually perform any commanded exercise. Let us, further, remember that there is a natural obligation resting upon every creature under heaven to acknowledge and worship his Creator, and the sinner who neglects this to the end will find out his serious guilt at last to his endless confusion (Acts xvii. 22). “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”
In considering the words of our text for a short time in dependence upon the Spirit of truth, let us observe—
I.—Certain days of trouble;
II.—The exhortation to call upon the Lord—”Call upon me;”
III.—The promise of deliverance—”I will deliver thee”; and
IV.—The fruit which is to follow—”And thou shalt glorify me.”
I.—Let us notice certain days of trouble.
These days I shall consider under two main divisions for the present purpose, namely, personal and national days of trouble.
i. Observe, then, Personal days of trouble.
(1) There are, first, days of common tribulation.
Both the righteous and the wicked experience those days. Man as a sinful creature is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward, though every member of the race does not suffer in exactly the same manner or measure. Some persons are much more deeply afflicted than others. The common troubles of life consist mainly in such things as the loss of health, the loss of friends, and the loss of temporal means. Some are laid up a long time on beds of sickness and pain. They know what it is to lose the precious boon of health, and to spend many wearisome days and nights under bodily trouble. Others are deeply afflicted by the loss of friends. Many of those who were near and dear to them, have been removed, by various causes, from their society, or cut away by the hand of death, and they are left sad and desolate. Others, again, have been deprived in providence of the means of their temporal subsistence, and have come to know the pinch of poverty and want. Some indeed are acquainted with all those forms of trouble in their individual experience. It is to be remarked that these common afflictions are taken notice of by God, and many are the words of counsel and instruction that are addressed in the Scriptures to afflicted ones, and that are fitted to lead them, if they have ears to hear, to the heavenly fountain of help and consolation. One thing is certain, that these painful trials are so many voices proclaiming the duty and privilege of calling upon the name of the Lord. “Call upon me in the day of trouble.” Happy are those who are enabled to “hear the rod, and him who hath appointed it.” Such may come “to glory” even in tribulations also, “knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience, experience, and experience, hope.”
(2) I observe, secondly, certain days of spiritual trouble.
The first of these that falls to be mentioned is the day of conviction. “When the Spirit is come, he shall convince the world of sin; because they believe not on me.” Thus spake the glorious Head of the Church, when He was about to depart as to His bodily presence and “to go unto the Father,” and every soul who has “tasted that the Lord is gracious,” has had experience in more or less degree of a day of conviction. All such have had a day of trouble, an account of their past and present sins, sins against law and Gospel, and their danger as a consequence of being lost for ever. A second day of spiritual trouble with which God’s children are well acquainted, is the day of conflict with indwelling sin. When a soul passes from death unto life—from a state of nature to a state of grace—by faith in Jesus Christ, he enters into the enjoyment of peace of conscience and peace with God. But he is not generally long in that happy condition, before he begins to realise that there are two principles in his heart—sin and holiness. “The flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Many painful days of conflict with the old man “who is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts,” are his portion in this present life. The third day I notice is a day of trouble from Satan’s temptations. The great adversary does not generally disturb those who, being asleep in spiritual death, are securely settled in his arms, but he shoots thousands of his fiery darts at those who have fled from his embrace to Christ the Saviour “of that which was lost.” He uses also many subtle forms of temptation with a view to lead them into sin and to do what is dishonouring to the name of the Redeemer; and, alas, he sometimes succeeds in his purpose, but it is only for a season. The poor believer may cry, “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, for though I fall, yet shall I arise; though I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.” The fourth and last day of trouble I shall mention is a day of the Lord’s fatherly displeasure. “He hides his face, and they are troubled.” Sometimes for secret reasons that are only afterwards known, but often for their own deliberate sin, the Lord takes away the light of His favourable countenance from His people. He removes their souls far from prosperity, and gives them to experience in their consciences drops of His holy anger. They seem to see all the threatenings of His word levelled against them, and they feel utterly unable to lay hold of any of the promises. This is a day of sore trouble in their wilderness journey, but still it does not usually last long, though felt long enough by the poor soul. “In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer” (Isaiah liv. 8).
2. We must pass on now to notice some special days of national trouble.
These days, though referred to as national, are in an important sense also personal. The troubles of the nation ought to be, if things were right, the troubles of every one of its subjects.
(1) I observe, first, under this head, that days of national backsliding are days of trouble.
They are not so to all persons. In fact, the opposite seems to be the case with the majority. The multitude often rejoice in the backsliding steps of a nation, as if they were steps of enlightened progress. It is clear enough, however, that both in Church and State we have departed from the purity and faithfulness of other and better days. We have gone backwards. Both Church and State are opening wide the arms of a false charity to the emissaries of the “Man of Sin,” and giving them unwarrantable advantages which, if the Most High prevent not, will yet work grievous havoc in our country. Ritualism and Rationalism have led the larger representatives of the visible Church among us far from the paths of truth and righteousness. A false gospel is preached from the pulpit, while a dead formality prevails in the pew. The State has become imbued with the spirit of infidelity; the sovereignty of Christ is not acknowledged, and His word is lightly esteemed. Gross materialism seems to dominate the thoughts and lives of the general mass of the people. For many years past, national backsliding has been a source of much mental trouble to those whose eyes are enlightened and who love the truth as it is in Jesus Christ.
(2) Observe, further, that days of national suffering are days of trouble.
At the present moment we are face to face with these days. There are three great scourges which the Lord, in righteous judgment, sends upon the earth—famine, pestilence, and sword. We have reason for thankfulness that we have hardly known, as a nation, what famine and pestilence mean, and comparatively little in recent times of the scourge of war, but at present we are engaged on the Continent of Europe in a conflict more terrible than anything of the kind we have hitherto met with. I am fully convinced that our cause is a good one—the cause of justice, honour, and peace, as against tyranny, greed, and brute force—and that we shall ultimately obtain the victory, but all the same we are to suffer as we have suffered already, chastisement at the hands of the Most High. Many precious lives have perished on the field of battle.
Now, these days of national suffering are days of trouble in a very special way to those who fear the name of the Lord. They cannot but tremble at the signs of the Lord’s indignation against the nations. They feel deeply concerned about the souls of those who go forth to battle, thousands of whom are quite unprepared for death and judgment. They are also troubled at the prospect of the suffering and loss inflicted on many families by the removal of men in the various relations of life—husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers. If these trials do not visit their own homes—they may do so—they desire, according to the command of Christ, to “weep with them that weep.”
II.—Let us now observe the second general head, the exhortation to call upon the Lord—“Call upon me.”
1. The first thing to be noticed is that it is the Lord Himself who here addresses this exhortation to the sons of men.
It is not any man or angel that is the speaker, but Jehovah. He is the one being in the universe who can give effectual help in spiritual trouble. “O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself; but in me is thine help.” He has made Himself known as a God who pardons iniquity and delivers sinners from going down into the pit, seeing that He has found a ransom. He sent His Son to save that which was lost, and where he begins the good work of applied salvation, He will “perform it till the day of Jesus Christ.” It is of the greatest importance that sinners who are in trouble about their soul’s salvation should consider that a gracious God in Christ is exhorting them to call upon Him for help and deliverance. He does not mock poor sinners with these encouraging addresses, but will be as good as His word. “It is not a vain thing to draw near unto God.” In like manner, the Lord is the effectual helper in all common or extraordinary troubles affecting the individual or the nation at large, and it is perilous in the extreme to disregard His gracious voice when He invites—yea, commands—us to call upon Him in the time of distress.
2. I notice here, secondly, that this exhortation is addressed to men in all places in society, and especially to the people of God among them.
It was originally addressed to ancient Israel in general. Let all who are in trouble at the present moment, whether at home or abroad, understand that the Lord is here addressing them—kings, rulers, generals, soldiers, sailors, and citizens. Let no one imagine that it bespeaks cowardice to call upon the Most High God. War is a serious business—the eternal destinies of thousands of human beings are in the balance—and it is only foolhardiness in the extreme for men to think that they can meet death or obtain the victory without the favour and help of God. Let the sinner who never uttered one sincere prayer in his life now begin to call upon the Most High, lest in a moment suddenly he be cut down to eternal destruction. But whoever is silent or not, let God’s people be very diligent at the throne of grace, seeking displays of God’s mercy and power.
3. The third thing I desire to notice under this head is the manner of this calling upon the name of the Lord.
First, let us remember that if it is to be prayer worthy the name, it must recognise the holiness of God as lawgiver and the grace of God in Christ as Saviour. It is not an absolute or abstract Deity that we are to call upon. Secondly, it must contain a real confession of sins—”All have sinned and come short of the glory of God”—and whether we are concerned about the soul’s salvation or about any providential trouble, great or small, we must be brought to see our sins in their enormity and guilt, and confess them with deep sorrow before God. They are the root causes of all our personal and national troubles. Thirdly, we must plead only the merits of Christ. “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,” but His righteousness is perfect and all-sufficient. It is not our prayers that are to purchase God’s favour. The appeal that the child makes to his parent for help does not purchase that help in any way. In all our cries at a throne of grace we must present the perfect merits of the Divine Redeemer who procured, by His obedience unto death, all the blessings of the covenant that shall descend upon the nations of the world. And fourthly, let prayer be pursued with earnest and unceasing importunity. Christ spoke several parables with a view to stimulate sinners to persevere in prayer. It is they who will not give up calling that shall be heard and answered (Luke, chap. xviii.).
III.—The promise of deliverance: “I will deliver thee.”
The Lord promises deliverance to the person who sincerely calls upon Him for help in the day of trouble.
1. Allow me to point out that there are two ways in which the Most High grants deliverance to those who cry to Him in the time of need.
There is first, the way of deliverance from the particular trouble with which they are burdened, or tossed; and there is secondly, the way of gracious support under the trouble. Though the latter may not seem at first sight a deliverance at all, it is oftentimes the better deliverance of the two, especially in common troubles. The greatest trial oftentimes in a particular affliction of a natural kind is the felt want of a spirit of patient endurance. The poor believer does not feel that he has grace to endure the trouble in a way that is of the glory of God and his own benefit; he is conscious of a rebellious, sinking spirit, and cannot rise above the affliction so as to regard it as a chastisement in love at the hands of a gracious God in Christ. Thus, when the Lord graciously sends forth His Word and Spirit in such a way as to produce the spirit of filial submission, and to enable him to see love in the bitter cup, he finds the sting taken out of his affliction, and rejoices as a bird that has escaped from the fowler’s snare. He is enabled to say, “It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.”
2. Observe, then, that the Lord holds out a promise of deliverance in either or both of these ways.
Certainly He has given definite promises as to deliverance from spiritual troubles. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” He has promised with absolute certainty that He shall deliver His people at last out of all their afflictions. But, on the other hand, He has not promised absolutely to deliver all who call upon Him from the common troubles of life. He shows His sovereignty in this matter, and such must be satisfied at times with the deliverance of gracious support or consolation in the midst of trouble. At the same time, we are encouraged to come with all our present temporal troubles, great or small, to Him at a throne of grace, and ask Him, if it be His good pleasure, to deliver us from them, and we can have the satisfaction then of knowing that if He does not grant our request, He has wise, gracious, and just reasons for not answering us as we desire. This itself is something better than man at any time can give us. However, let us not take a denial too readily from Him. He often delays to grant a particular deliverance to put our sincerity and love to the test, and to make us value the deliverance all the more when we get it.
3. Let me say, however, lastly on this point to every sinner to whom this portion of divine truth comes.
Are you in any trouble with respect to yourself or others—it may be great, perplexing, overwhelming trouble—it matters not how seemingly insurmountable it appears—make use of this word of invitation and promise. Call upon His name; look to Him as the one all sufficient, almighty helper and deliverer who for His own name’s sake can make a way through the sea and a path through the mighty waters; plead His own word; and you know not but you may get a most unexpected, surprising deliverance at His hand. He is the wonder-working Jehovah, “wonderful in counsel and excellent in working.”
IV.—Our last general head is the fruit that is to follow: “and thou shalt glorify me.”
The Lord here intimates that the person whom He delivers will glorify Him, or show forth His praise.
Possibly this word is fulfilled on a natural scale by people who never knew the grace of God in truth. They have been in some trouble; they have raised their voice in natural supplication, and they have been delivered, with the result that they acknowledge that the Almighty helped them in the time of need. Many people in the days of Christ “glorified the God of Israel” for His wonderful miracles, who were never truly born from above, and never spiritually served the Lord. Such, however, is not the kind of glorifying which is set before us in God’s word as the best attainment.
The best gift is the ability to glorify the Lord with a new heart and a right spirit, and a godly life becoming the Gospel. None can show forth His praise like those whom He has formed anew for Himself. They shall praise Him with all the faculties of their souls, and all the members of their bodies—all dedicated to His glory and service. Happy are these, then, who come out of their days of trouble with grace given them to “show forth the praises of him who hath called them out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter ii. 9).
I am reminded here of an incident which may be worth relating. On one occasion when travelling, I happened to meet an elderly gentleman who told me something of his spiritual history. He said that as a young lad, he was well brought up and was moral in his habits, but somehow he began to entertain the idea that he would like a little more liberty of life, and at last he decided he would join the army. He did so, and was with his regiment in India at or about the time that the Indian Mutiny broke out. At a great distance from home, and separated from all his friends, he began to feel somewhat lonely. His thoughts went forward to the prospect of conflict and probably death, that lay before him, and while meditating as to how he was to get though the trouble that loomed ahead, these words came strongly before his mind, “Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” He then said that he began to call, as well as he knew, on the Lord to preserve him and carry him safely through the struggles of the Mutiny. The result was that he was completely preserved amidst the whole stirring time, and suffered no injury. After the Mutiny was over, his regiment was sent up to a quiet place among the hills. Here he began to reflect upon the passage of Scripture which had come to him so wonderfully before he was engaged in actual conflict, and he observed that two parts of the word had been fulfilled—”Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee.” He had called, and the Lord had delivered. But now he was face to face with the last part, namely, “and thou shalt glorify me,” and when he examined his own heart, he said he did not find one drop of real gratitude or thankfulness to the Most High for all that He had done. This threw him into great concern and perplexity, and one day he went out to a solitary spot with his Bible and a volume of Flavel’s Sermons to seek deliverance from the wretched condition in which he found himself. There, he bore testimony, these words of Christ came home to his mind with a power which he hoped he would never forget in time or eternity, namely, “Without me ye can do nothing.” He then and there saw that without the grace of Christ he could do nothing in a way of glorifying God, and that at the same time there was grace provided in Christ sufficient to meet all his need. Here he found a door of hope and deliverance for which he felt abundant reason to praise the Most High as long as he lived. The incident, which I have related as accurately as I can remember, from the lips of one of “Havelock’s Veterans,” teaches a variety of lessons bearing upon our text, which many of us would do well to lay to heart. The Lord will be found faithful to His word and promise.
In conclusion, let me enquire: Are we putting Him to the test? Have we ever been in any trouble, temporal or spiritual? Have we called upon the name of the Lord for mercy, pardon, and salvation? Or are we still dead in trespasses and sins, utterly careless and prayerless? Let us take care lest, if we do not trouble ourselves now about the all-important matters of eternity, we may open our eyes in an unexpected manner in never-ending misery. He is still speaking to us from off the mercy-seat. We cannot possibly avoid meeting with at least temporal troubles, and if we have a spark of wisdom, we shall make these the occasion of obeying the voice of the Lord, when he says: “Call upon me in the day of trouble.” It would be well if all amongst us at the present crisis, high and low, were found calling upon the Lord for deliverance, help and victory, while confessing our sins, and seeking forgiveness. “For everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” May the Lord bless to us His Word!