Triumphing in Trouble Times

TOPIC: TRIUMPHING IN TROUBLE TIMES
Main Text: 1 Samuel 30: 1-6
Memory Verse Text: 1 Samuel 30: 6
Trouble is no respecter of persons (Job 5:7; 14:1).  Maybe you are passing through a time of trouble now?  If so, there is help in the word of God for you. And if you are not in the midst of trouble today, here is ministry in advance which will prepare you for some future day, for trouble comes to us all, and it is a good thing when we know what to do in a time of trouble. 
Let us learn from the situation and attitude of David:

1. David’s trouble was very real.
How does your trouble compare with his?  Does yours have to do with some great loss in your life; is it connected with your loved ones; is it so great that you have wept until you have had no more power to weep?  How real our troubles are!  There is nothing imaginary about them, and it is not wrong to weep and to find relief in this way (John 11:35).

2. David was in trouble although he was a child of God.
Because we are Christians we must not expect immunity from trouble.  Think how much the Lord suffered (Hebrews 13:12), and how much the apostle Paul endured (2 Corinthians 11:23-30)!  Indeed, can you think of one true child of God who has not experienced something of the bitterness of trial and testing?  We are not to think that God does not love us when trouble comes across our path – 1 Peter 4:12.
3. The Lord permitted David’s trouble.
He allowed it to happen.  He permitted distress to come into the life of His child, just as He did with Joseph (Genesis 39:20); Jeremiah (Jeremiah 37:15); Peter (Acts 12:5-6); and just as He has with many of His servants today. 
4. David’s trouble was in a very real sense his own fault.
It seems clear that the Lord allowed trouble to come into David’s life in order that he might be corrected – Psalm 55:19. in the case of David, however, the rod was lifted to correct – not to destroy; to bring him back, not to drive him away for ever; to fit him for service, not to cut him asunder.”  God only permits the testings and trials of life for His glory and always for our good.

5. David’s trouble was really a blessing in disguise.
David enquired of the Lord; and any experience which drives us to the Lord is worth while - Psalm 119:67 The one thing that God is seeking in your life and mine is a complete surrender of ourselves to Him.  He wants us to love Him and His will, and to trust Him completely.

What did David do in his time of trouble?  He “found strength in the Lord his God.”  It is good to find strength in the Lord personally, but sometimes we need to help others to find this strength.   How can we do this?

1. Remind yourself that you belong to Him.  “David found strength in the Lord his God.”  Rest upon the assurance of this personal relationship.
2. Recall His past mercies – the wonderful way in which he has undertaken for you, led you, blessed you, provided for you and used you in the past (1 Samuel 7:12)
3. Turn to Him – in confession (1 John 1:9), and in petition (Psalm 34:6); humble yourself before Him and look to Him alone for deliverance (Psalm 69:17).
4. Enquire of Him Ask Him what you should do in your trying situation.
5. Obey Him David obeyed, he “continued the pursuit”.
6. Trust Him.  All God’s promises are made to us in order that we may take Him at His word and trust Him to fulfil in us and for us that which He has promised –  Romans 8:28; Philippians 4:19.
PRAYER NOTE:
Pray for grace to encourage yourself in the Lord as David did in all the troubled situations in your life presently.
Ask God to give you direction, and grace to be sensitive to His leadings and to obey His words.

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