The Blessing Of Trouble
We stood for opening prayer. Brother Crawford read from 2 Chronicles 15: 1-7.
I don’t have to describe trouble to you. You’ve probably already explained yours to someone since you’ve been here today. Trouble is something that we always have more of than anyone else to whom we talk. If we talked about our blessings as much as we talked about our troubles, things would be different.
We are so quick to see our troubles. For example, imagine if I held up a yellow legal pad with a large blue dot in the middle of the page. What would you see first? The blue dot? The yellow legal pad? We sometimes even plan on having troubles. We worry so much about something that may happen, that it does.
The Bible says “sufficient unto the day is the evil there of,” Matthew 6:34. Job says that “man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.” You know, a lot of trouble can be avoided. Proverbs 21:23 reminds us: Who so keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles. But our troubles can be a blessing in disguise.
Joseph is a good example of trouble as a blessing in disguise, he was sold into slavery by his brothers. What was meant for evil, God meant it for good. We need to learn that when troubles come most of it is to be a blessing and we need to praise God for it.
When trouble comes, it makes us turn to God. “But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them,” 2 Chronicles 15:4. Isaiah says “We are all like sheep and our sin leads us astray and away from God.” If it had not been for some trouble that came into our lives, we may not have been saved, in church or ministering to someone. What trouble caused you to turn to God?
Charles Spurgeon said “Great hearts can only be made by great troubles.” Many people get saved because of a death in the family, or maybe a trouble in your life has led you back to God where you left him. Trouble makes you trust in the Lord. Psalms 87:7 “In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer.”
When you have no place to go, trust in the Lord. Dr. Bob Jones Sr. asked his church if anyone had a praise. An old man stood up and said: “I’m old and lost my wife to death, my children are all grown and left my house, I can’t take care of myself. I live on a fixed income. All I have left is Jesus.” He sat down and then stood back up and said, “but that is all I ever needed.”
Charles Spurgeon also said, “severe trouble in a true believer has the effect of loosening the strings of his soul earthward and tightening the anchor hold of his heart heavenward.”
Everything I’ve learned has been from my troubles, Paul said of this thorn in his flesh. He had to give it to God and let Him take care of it.
Trouble enlarges us. Psalms 4:1 states “Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness; thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.” When the pressure or trouble is on us, God can enlarge us and make us stronger and better.
All the great Bible characters that we know, for all the good that was in their life, had a great deal of trouble in their life also. For example: Paul and his thorn in the flesh, Jonah and the whale, Abraham was to sacrifice Issac, Ruth, her family died and she went with her mother-in-law, Naomi.
Dr. Spurgeon was voted out of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland. He was not hurt over it, because of God he was greater than all those that voted against him.
John Wesley wasn’t allowed to preach in the church where he was a member, yet he stood out by the cemetery and preached and drew a larger crowd than inside the church.
God says to you during your trouble, it may hurt you but I won’t harm you. “If the mountain was smooth, we couldn’t climb it.”
Dr. Spurgeon said “None of us can come to the highest maturity without enduring the summer heat of trials. The sycamore fig never ripens, if it is not bruised, the corn does not leave the husk without threshing, and wheat makes no fine flour until it is ground. So are we of little use till we are afflicted?” Why should we be so eager to escape such benefits?
We would love to see you at First Baptist Church in Pineville.
Please come join us, Sunday school is at 9 a.m. immediately followed by Morning Worship at 10 a.m. The Nursing Home Ministry meets at McDonald County Living Center in Anderson at 2:30 p.m. every other Saturday. WMU meeting is the second Tuesday, June 13, at 1:30 p.m.
Remember as you read you Bible this week, it is to be a mirror not a telescope.
If you have no home church of your own, we would love for you to join us at First Baptist Church off the Northeast Square in Pineville. Just behind the US Bank. No friendlier, downhome church can be found in the four -state area. Please check out our FBCP Teen Group Facebook Page.
All Bible Verses are from the KJV, The King James Version of the Holy Bible.