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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJabez Burns Sermons: 862. Psa 108:12. Help in Trouble
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Psa_108:12. Help in Trouble
"Give us help from trouble; for vain is the help of man."—Psa_108:12.
Our text contains a very striking and affecting prayer. It is one, too, that all will be called on to offer at one time or another. Happy is it when sorrow leads to prayer, and affliction to a more devoted and spiritual life. Trouble is sometimes borne in sullen moroseness, and with a rebellious spirit towards God. Sometimes it is accompanied with fretfulness, and impatience. Sometimes persons contend with it in a spirit of self-sufficiency, and rely on their own arm. Sometimes in trouble human aid is chiefly sought; but how much better to cherish the spirit of the text, and go at once to the divine throne, and say—"Give us help in trouble." Besides, trouble—whether sanctified or not—will often be our portion; whether willing or not, we must bear it; and whether we go to finite sources or not, it will often baffle all our efforts for its removal, except by the divine aid. So that reason as well as piety unites in the sentiments of the text. Then, instead of being turbulent and unresigned—instead of leaning on our own strength, and instead of seeking the aid of fallible beings like ourselves—let us at once invoke the gracious help of God our Father, who can sustain in troubles, or deliver us out of them; or so overrule them, that they shall be placed first in the inventory of our choicest blessings.
Observe then in our subject,
I. A very common experience. "Trouble."
II. A very certain resource.
Prayer to God. "Give us help," &c.
III. A very evident truth.
"For vain is the help of man."
Observe then,
I. A very common experience.
"Trouble."
Now the word is very comprehensive. It may include,
1. Bodily trouble.
Sin has sown the seeds of disease in the human system; and the result is a fearful harvest of pains and maladies, and physical suffering. Every part of the body is now vulnerable and frail, and liable to disorder, derangement, and disease. Sometimes these bodily troubles are severe, accumulated, and continued; often they are incurable by human agency. The Psalmist speaks of troubles of this kind which bore heavily upon him:—"In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; my sore ran in the night, and ceased not; my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak."—Psa_77:2-4.
How melancholy the condition of the patient Job! "So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me. When I lie down, I say, when shall I arise, and the night be gone? And I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day. My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope."—Job_7:3-6. Then there is,
2. Family trouble.
Family enjoyments are all fragile and mutable. Change is written on every aspect of the social circle. Parents, children, and friends, are all liable to affliction and death. They are all depraved. Often enemies of God and rejecters of the gospel. How great and trying may be the troubles arising from these sources! Bereavements often darken the dwellings of the righteous. How Job felt this, in reference to the storm that swept over his dwelling, and left him childless in an hour! How Abraham mourned over Sarah—Jacob over Rachel—David over Absalom; and others who were removed from the family circle! See the sisters at Bethany, overwhelmed with distress, at the death of Lazarus, their brother! But bitter as this cup of family trouble is, yet is it not more distressing to have rebellion against God in our families? To see displayed the workings of religious contempt,—the bitter hate of carnal hostility to God and to his service. Yet the best of men, and the most devoted of parents, have thus suffered. So did our first parents when their first-born was an envious hater and murderer of his brother. So did Abraham suffer. So Jacob most severely. So Eli and David, and many others. And so it may be with you; for this is still a very general experience, even of godly parents. Besides,
3. There is church trouble.
The ark of God may be in exile. The house of God in ruins. The cause of God in adversity. The church may be low spiritually, or be persecuted, or abandoned by its former friends. And hence, how great and intense a trouble this is to the pious children of God. How most deeply did David make God's cause his own. God's house, and ordinances, and people, were his delight. He says—"I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem." He declares how he is concerned for its peace. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions' sake, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good:" Job_7:6-9.
And how feelingly and devotedly did good Nehemiah feel for the city and temple of God. Hear the tender plaints of his soul; and hearken to his earnest supplications to God. "And it came to pass when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven. And said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned."—Neh_1:4-6. And how his grief affected his health and countenance as he attended to his official duties as cup-bearer to the king. "Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, and said unto the king, Let the king live forever; why should not my countenance be sad when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?"—Neh_2:2, Neh_2:3.
So also did Jeremiah pour out his soul in reference to God's cause. "Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her: the Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob that his adversaries should be round about him: Jerusalem is as a menstruous woman among them. Behold, O Lord, for I am in distress; my bowels are troubled, mine heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled: abroad the sword bereaveth, at home there is as death."—Lam_1:17, and Lam_1:20. And again, how he weeps and prays. "Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, till the Lord look down and behold."—Lam_3:48-50.
Now such an experience is not uncommon to those who are laboring to extend religion, and where sterility and deadness pervade the visible kingdom of Jesus.
We notice,
4. That there is heart-trouble.
Religion begins with it. For weeping for sin, and brokenness of heart, precede the comforts and joys of salvation. It is often the result of our negligence and formality, and relapses into sin. How much mental anxiety and spiritual distress is caused by our backslidings and moral aberrations. Often doubts and fears cause us trouble: often alarm and anxieties as to perils do this.
Now, these mental and moral troubles of heart are often most painful. So the godly in all ages have acknowledged it. Other troubles can be borne when the mind is serene, and the heart strong, and the graces vigorous; but a depressed soul, languid emotions, feeble graces, moral dreariness and winter withering all things, must be most painful to the devout servant of God. Hence the forcibleness of the lines:
"O that I new the secret place
Where I might find my God!
I'd spread my wants before his face,
And pour my woes abroad.
I'd tell him how my sins arise,
What sorrows I sustain:
How joys decay, and comfort dies,
And leave my heart in pain."
So all joy seems fled, and all hope ready to expire under heart-trouble:
"But O! when gloomy doubts prevail,
I fear to call thee mine;
The springs of comfort seem to fail,
And all my hopes decline."
How true the proposition grounded on the text, that trouble of some kind or another is the Christian's common experience.
But notice, our subject reveals,
II, A very certain resource.
That is, betaking ourselves to God in prayer.
Observe here,
1. The resource itself. God.
Now, just remember, that he knows all our troubles. Then, that he can deliver from them; or he can sustain us under them; or he can make trouble a blessing of the very greatest magnitude. He also is a resource at hand, and not afar off. He is ever graciously disposed to help and comfort his people. Moreover, he has invited us to come to him in every trial and time of sorrow; and he has given us great and precious promises, adapted to every season of affliction and suffering.
But notice,
2. How the resource is available.
By prayer. As in the text—"Give us help from trouble."
Now, the prayer need not be lengthy, or arranged, or fine, as the text proves; but it may be very short—a mere fragment. But it must be the prayer of conscious need. We must feel our troubles, and implore relief by earnest prayer. We must long for the help we ask for, and fervently pant after it. And it must be the prayer of believing supplication. Not mere asking, but we must supplicate, and that in faith—faith in both God's ability and willingness—faith, too, in the appointed medium of all our mercies—the Lord Jesus Christ, our living Advocate and Intercessor. And our prayer must be that of humble hope. We must expect the deliverance,—lift up our eyes and hearts to God, and wait for the deliverance. We must look for it as a watchman looks for the morning. And withal, our prayer must be the prayer of patient submission. Not to dictate to God about the way or the period, or the instruments of our deliverance; but be passive, and leave all the processes of the help to God alone.
Observe, such is the resource of mercy for the soul in trouble. Now, while God is our help in trouble, he will be inquired of, and sought after; and hence prayer is the medium of our success. For he has said—"And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me."—Psa_50:15. "He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honor him."—Psa_91:15. So he has expressly assured us by his servant. "But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee."—Isa_43:1, Isa_43:2. And he has given us the most solemn assurance of his presence and delivering mercy. "For he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me."—Heb_13:5, Heb_13:6.
But notice in our subject,
III. A very evident truth.
"For vain is the help of man."
Now, good men may give us wise counsel, and they may sympathize sincerely and tenderly, and they may pray for us, and thus be instrumental of good to our souls; but they can neither sustain us in trouble, nor sanctify our sorrows, nor deliver us out of our afflictions.
Observe,
1. They cannot control our circumstances. But God can: he alone disposes of the conditions of men—raiseth up or casteth down, enriches or impoverishes, sends prosperity or adversity, joy or grief. All events are at his disposal; so confessed Nebuchadnezzar. "And at the end of the days, I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation: and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?"—Dan_4:34, Dan_4:35.
2. They cannot drive back our enemies. Either those in the world, or our spiritual ones; but God can; he can enable us effectually to resist both, and to triumph over them. Hence sang David—"Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death. But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses."—Psa_68:19-21.
3. They cannot turn our afflictions into a blessing.
But God can: he is able "out of the eater to bring forth meat, and out of the strong to bring forth sweetness." He can make the fire to purify and not consume; he can cause the winds to scatter the chaff, while the grain abides, and is preserved. Hence the apostle shows the experimental profitableness of affliction: "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also; knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope maketh not ashamed: because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."—Rom_5:3-5.
4. They cannot deliver us from our troubles.
Look at Abraham on the mount with Isaac! Look at Jacob meeting Esau! Look at the Israelites on the way to the Red Sea! Look at Daniel in the den of lions! Look at the Hebrews in the fiery furnace! Look at Peter in prison—at Paul in the stocks! Now, in all these cases vain would have been the skill and power of man; but God did deliver each and all of them; and he will deliver those who put their trust in him. Then how complete and conclusive is the text, and how we should rejoice in the solace it affords!
Application
Then we call upon all in trouble to adopt it.
(1.) It is your duty to do so, because God has enjoined it—commanded it over and over again. But it is your privilege to do so; and what a privilege! How great, how blessed, how unspeakable! In adopting it, especially seek to realize it by faith—to trust to it without the shadow of doubting. (2.) How miserable the prayerless in trouble! What a sad and dreary spectacle! How mournful—how pitiable are these indeed! And then how great the advantages which religion presents, not only as to futurity, but even in the present life.
(3.) Be thankful for the help experienced. Let mouth, and heart, and life praise the Lord. Let your whole being magnify his name.
"I 'midst ten thousand dangers stand,
Supported by his guardian hand;
And see, when I survey my ways,
Ten thousand monuments of praise.
Thus far his arm hath led me on;
Thus far I make his mercy known;
And while I tread this desert land,
New mercies shall new songs demand.
My grateful soul on Jordan's shore
Shall raise one sacred pillar more;
Then bear in his bright counts above
Inscriptions of immortal love."