The day of trouble. ( Psalm 77.)

Let us consider some thoughts from Psalm 77,written not by David but a person called Asaph, William Plumer says that this was a family name.Like many of the Psalms it is written at a time  deep distress,it is important that we hear that,and possible one of the reasons the Lord of trial,could be summed up in the words  of Charles Swindoll, ''We lean more on the Lord in difficult times, than times of prosperity''. It was Puritan Thomas Brooks who said,' that God drives us to himself by often scourging us with thorns'. Verse one reads,'I cried unto God with my voice,even unto God with my voice;and He gave ear unto me'. This prayer was both earnest and fervent CP  James 5 v17, and the good thing is, God heard him.  Verse two reads, 'In the day of trouble I sought the Lord', in Psalm 50 v 14- 15 we read, how certain things that can hinder our prayer, CP Matthew 6 v 14-15, unforgiveness towards others,Psalm 66 v 18 ,unrepented sin.and so when go we to God aright we have this wonderful promise,'Call on me in the day of trouble,I will deliver you, and you will honour me.'( Psalm 50 v 15)

                                                        Begone ,unbelief !

                                                        My Saviour is near

                                                        And for my relief

                                                       Will surely appear,

                                                        By prayer let me wrestle

                                                       And He will perform;

                                                       With Christ in the vessel

                                                        I smile at the storm'.

                                                          Words John Newton.

More ( Matthew 4 v 1 - 11 )

' More lovers,more drugs, more flirting,more poker, I wish I'd been naughtier', so read  the article in the magazine of one of our national newspapers.The writer goes unto spell out what that means,the person who wrote this is a female,and is tetraplegic, I suppose one understands why she may have written what she did,as a lady who is wheel chair bound, out of frustration.Her condition came through riding a horse    ,before that she appeared to live a pretty active life. The dear lady does not appear to be a Christian,I am a Christian,it goes without saying I am far from perfect,there are no perfect people,yet it something our dear Saviour says that we should aspire to,to set ones heart on, it should be our goal,( Matthew 5 48 ).The dear lady in her wish list,writes of the thrill of being naughty, she includes in it lust,being sexual deviant which means departing from the usual  or accepted standards, being rude,and taking drugs.She regrets that she did not indulge in these things.She goes unto write ,'Oh yes, I wish I had been more bad',she appears to ignore the misery in those things As long as we are here we will always have wrong thoughts, wrong desires,none of its very nice,none of its good. I continually pray that I may be a better person than I am,my goal is to be like Christ.

                                                                        A prayer.

                                          More purity give me,more strength to overcome;

                                          More freedom from earths stains, more longing for  home;

                                         More fit for the kingdom, more used would I be;

                                         More blessed and holy, more, Saviour, like Thee.

                                                             Words. Philipp Bliss.

                                        

A kiss of grace. ( Ephesians 2 v 8 - 9 )

 Don is one of the leaders of Stonebriar Community Church in Dallas Texas, he told of an incident in his life when he was a boy. One day while watching the cars going by,he had a childish mischievous thought,and he put it into action, He started throwing dirt at the cars as they passed by,but a car passed by,and the window was open, so when Don threw the dirt,it went through  the open window and hit a passenger.Don watched the car till it turned round and came back,so he ran indoors,his mother went to answer the knock on the door,there was the couple and they explained what happened.Don was called and said he was sorry, the couple very graciously,accepted his apology,returned to their car and drove off.When they had gone his mother turned to him and give him a kiss.Don described that kiss, as a' kiss of grace',instead of the deserved punishment, he was shown unmerited favour. So  it is when we come to Christ  and ask Him to be our Saviour, we receive a,' kiss of  grace',in the forgiveness of all our sins.

                                                  ' Amazing grace! how sweet the sound

                                                   That saved a wretched like me!

                                                   I once was lost, but now am found;

                                                   Was blind, but now I see.'

                                                         'John Newton'

                                        

Our deliverer . ( Psalm 18 )

 What we read in 2 Samuel 22 is repeated in Psalm 18 composed by King David after God had delivered him from his enemies ,and from the hand of  Saul,who sought to kill him. In 1Samuel 16,David was anointed by Samuel the prophet to be the new King of Israel, but before that was to come about, David would experience many difficulties,and dangers before that would be fulfilled.When God gives us a  promise often we have to wait ,there are so many examples of that in God's word.The promises are not instant coffee,David 's waiting time would be a time of learning  to depend on God in ways he would never have thought.God had much to teach David and much to treat us.Godly people are not self made people for godliness is a spiritual characteristic,it is the work of the Spirit of God.We are the clay,God the great potter is making us into what we should be,that is like Jesus.In this Psalm he recalls God's wonderful deliverances, and he gives Him the glory. It was Oliver Cromwell in June 14, 1645,who wrote a letter to the Speaker of the House of Commons, after a victory at the battle of Naseby- 'Sir, this is none other than the hand of God; and to Him alone belongs the glory, wherein none are to share with'.Let us all be quick to give glory to God at all times.

                                               'To God be the glory in all things.

                                           

The will of God. ( Romans 12 v 1 - 2 )

 Why did our Saviour come?,the answer is very simple ,to do the will of God, like Him, that is what is required of us.As a Christian of long standing I know that  there is what we could call the revealed will of God. That we are meant to be holy,sometimes that can become confused by what people call worldliness they don't always equate.We are called to be witnesses for Jesus,we are called to do good works as an evidence we are saved.I am seeking to make the point that there are things that we know is the will of  God.But there are times we may not know clearly what the will of God is for our lives.Believing that something is Gods will for us, we then pray to that end, and it doesn't happen. My first wife and I went to Bible college believing that we where called to be missionaries,it never happened. My dear wife died of cancer, I prayed that she would be healed ,it did not happen. I had to learn many lessons in my relationship with God ,it was a long process, still on going.I remembering hearing of a man  who believed God was calling him to serve oversea's, he sold everything,he and his family went to the docks  to get on a boat and that the fare would be paid. it wasn't, he had to go back and sort things out. It is only in  looking back on my life do I see more clearly what was God's will,remember the no, is just as much as important as the yes is,when it comes to the will of God,

                                               Thy precious will, O conq'ring  Saviour,

                                                Doth now embrace and compass me;

                                                All discords hushed, my peace a river,

                                                My soul a prisoned bird set free.

                                                     Words Lelia Nayor Morris

Twins. ( 1 Corinthians 13 )

Two of my grandchildren are twins,they are not identical,but they are close to each other . In the spiritual realm we do not have twins,all Christians are different,and what I mean by that is,Thomas was a doubter,Peter had obvious flaws,and so it goes,but they both loved our Lord .None of us are perfect, we are all at different levels of sanctification. J. C .Ryle writes the following,'Let it be noted that a man may have notable weaknesses and infirmities of Christian character, and yet be a disciple of Christ. We must not foolishly assume that all Christians are exactly like one another in details of character. We must make large allowances, when the main features are right'. We who truly know the Lord are fellow disciples, it is only when we get to heaven,will all the flaws in our personality be removed and be replaced by that perfect likeness of Christ. Until then we must make allowances for our fellow Christians,as they must with us.

Old age. ( Romans 8 v 38 - 39 )

 The psalms cover many aspects of life the seventy first Psalm, has mention old age, in fact it has been called,'The prayer of the aged believer'. It has no title but it has the ring of David with it , and as usual he writes of those who he classes as evil and cruel. Spurgeon  puts it like this,' the aged saint pleads against his foes'. In v 18 he prays ,'Even when I am old and Grey, do not  forsake me , my God', Of course God never forsakes us even in old age,John Newton wrote a hymn which begins with the words,'Begone unbelief', and the third verse reads,

                                                        'His love in time past

                                                         Forbids me to think

                                                         He'll leave me at last

                                                         In trouble to sink;

                                                         Each sweet Ebenezer

                                                         I have in review

                                                         Confirms His good pleasure

                                                         To help me quite through.

Yes the wonderful good news is this, God who is with us when we are young ,strong ,and healthy, will love us and be with us when we are old frail and weak. For He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us.( Hebrew 13 v 5)