By Tope Banso
IT TROUBLES THE LORD TO SEE YOU IN TROUBLE!
“It troubled the LORD to see them in trouble, and his angel saved them” (Isaiah 63:9a Contemporary English Version).
Often times, when children of God are facing some life challenges and there is no deliverance in sight, there is the temptation to feel that, maybe, God does not care. They could reason that after sessions of prayer and fasting, He should have intervened! This is an age-old feeling.
When Job experienced silence from God nearly throughout his trials, he said many things, expressing his negative feelings. He even accused God of persecuting Him (Job 19:22). God only spoke to him towards the end of his trials.
Job said, “My complaint today is still a bitter one, and I try hard not to groan aloud. If only I knew where to find God, I would go to his throne and talk with him there. I would lay out my case and present my arguments. Then I would listen to his reply and understand what he says to me. Would he merely argue with me in his greatness? No, he would give me a fair hearing. Fair and honest people can reason with him, so I would be acquitted by my Judge” (Job 23:2-7 New Living Translation).
Job was a man God said was blameless and upright, and one who feared Him and shunned evil. Yet, evil befell him. He felt deserted by God; he had lived his life to please Him.
He said, “I go east, but he is not there. I go west, but I cannot find him. I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden. I turn to the south, but I cannot find him. But he knows where I am going. And when he has tested me like gold in a fire, he will pronounce me innocent” (Job 23:8-10 New Living Translation).
When Jesus was on the cross, about the night hour, shortly before He died, He cried to God with a loud voice, saying, “‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” (Matthew 27:46 New King James Version). Jesus, the Son of God, felt forsaken!
But God neither abandoned Job nor Jesus. He was with them in their afflictions. He identified with them in their troubles. Maybe you’re going through some challenges or troubles at the moment, and you feel deserted by God. You could even be wondering if God has started cooperating with the devil against you!
No. Light has no fellowship with darkness. God has not abandoned you. Saul persecuted the church, but Jesus asked him in Acts 9:4 why he was persecuting Him. In other words, Jesus, the head of the church, was being persecuted when the church, His body, was.
The Israelites were in Egypt for 430 years. A king came to the throne who did not know Joseph, one of the Israelites’ ancestors (Exodus 1:8). He saw the Israelites as a threat and began to afflict them. They cried to the LORD for deliverance.
The LORD said, “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them” (Exodus 3:7-9 New King James Version).
God saw their afflictions; He identified with them in their sufferings. Isaiah 63:9a says, “It troubled the LORD to see them in trouble, and his angel saved them” (Contemporary English Version). The New Century Version says, “When they suffered, he suffered also. He sent his own angel to save them.” The Bible records in Exodus 14:19; 23:20, 23; 32:34; 33:2 and Numbers 20:16 that an angel led the Israelites.
Whatever you’re going through now, God is concerned about you, just as He was concerned about the Israelites. He didn’t just pity them; He intervened in their situation. Deuteronomy 1:31 says in the wilderness the LORD carried the Israelites, as a man carries his son. In your present wilderness journey, He is carrying you, too. He brought the Israelites out of Egypt with His Presence and His mighty power (Deuteronomy 4:37). He’ll do the same for you.
It troubles the LORD to see you in trouble! He will intervene on your behalf. “You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are His personal concern” (1 Peter 5:7 Phillips). He rescued Peter from the prison (Acts 12:1-19). He will rescue you, too. He was with the three Hebrews in the furnace of fire and saved them (Daniel 3:13-30). He will save you. He delivered Daniel in the lion’s den (Daniel 6:16-23). He will deliver you also.
Paul said he was delivered out of the mouth of the lion and the LORD would deliver him from every evil work and preserve him for His heavenly kingdom (2 Timothy 4:17-18). The LORD shall deliver and preserve you, too. “The righteous face many troubles, but the LORD rescues them from each and every one” (Psalm 34:19 New Living Translation).
It troubles the LORD to see you in trouble! But it wasn’t the first day the Israelites cried to Him in Egypt that He intervened. Therefore, never give up on God as you pray to Him, and await your deliverance. Just as the LORD did for the Israelites, He will bring you out with a mighty hand, and redeem you from whatever constitutes the house of bondage or the hand of Pharaoh in your life.
The LORD says, “I will return her vineyards to her and transform the Valley of Trouble into a gateway of hope” (Hosea 2:15 New Living Translation). Don’t lose hope. You’ll experience restoration and transformation. You won’t be washed away by the tide of life’s challenges. The LORD shall still the noise of the seas of life’s troubles, even the noise of their waves (Psalm 65:7). Peace, be still in Jesus name!
If you’re not born again, repent of your sins today and accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour. Whoever comes to Him, He will by no means cast out.
PRAYER POINT: O LORD, deliver me from all my troubles.
This is wisdom for living, and it’s worth sharing. Please share.
(For over 250 in-depth and insightful messages by Banso, visit: www.cedarministry.org).
T. O. Banso
Cedar Ministry International, Abuja, Nigeria
cedarministryintl@yahoo.com, cedarministryng@gmail.com
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