I Found Trouble.
Psalm 116:3 (NKJV) “The pains of death surrounded me, And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow.”
Believer, you are not exempt from trials, but you have sufficient grace for any trouble. God’s choicest love letters are sent in black–edged envelopes. The envelope frightens us, but if we know how to break the seal we will find riches for our soul. Great trials are the clouds from which God showers great mercies. Frequently, when the Lord has an extraordinary mercy to send, He employs His rough and grizzled horses to drag it to our door. The smooth rivers of ease are usually navigated by little vessels filled with common commodities, but a huge ship loaded with treasure crosses deep seas.
Learn from David’s experience. “I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord: ‘O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul’ ” (Ps. 116:3–4). When the sorrows of death surround you, pray! When the pains of hell grab you, pray! When you find trouble and sorrow, pray! Everything else that prudence and wisdom suggests is to be done in a time of difficulty, but none are to be relied on by themselves. “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jon. 2:9), whether it be salvation from troubles or salvation from sins.
When you have done all, trust in God as though you had done nothing. “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain” (Ps. 127:1). In all things pray. Rest assured that if at this moment you are in the same dilemma as David, prayer will bring you out. Prayer is the universal remedy subduing every disease. Prayer unlocks the treasures of God and shut the gates of hell. Prayer extinguishes the violence of flames and closes the mouths of lions. Prayer overcomes heaven and bends omnipotence to its will. Just pray, believer, and, in the name of the Well–Beloved, answers of peace must be given.
— Charles Spurgeon
