Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."
Trouble is the most democratic thing in the world. It snubs no one. It's everyone's shadow. Job said people are "born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward" (Job 5:7). Every person born to this world experiences a bundle of trouble.
Trouble can send us into emotional wheel-spinning through worry. This makes things worse. Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it always saps today of its strength. Brooding over troubles means hatching despair.
God wants us to believe that some good can result from trouble. Troubles never come alone; God, although not the author of evil, always comes with them. We ask God to help us live with the trouble until we have learned the intended lesson and He takes it away.
God wants to help us in our trouble -- of that we can be sure. We know His love for us in Christ Jesus. He knows how to help us in our troubles, through our troubles, and out of our troubles. In this way our troubles turn into triumph. Instead of getting us down, they lift us up, for whatever drives us to God in prayer, in trust, and in confidence always brings victory in due time.
PRAYER: O Holy Spirit, help me to convert every care into prayer so that I may become better, not bitter, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
(Taken from "Words of Promise," copyright 1996, Concordia Publishing House (out of print). For information on other devotional materials, call 1-800-325-3040.)
Today's Bible Readings: Exodus 25-26 Mark 1:1-22
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