Psalm 50:15 And call on me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. One book charmed us all in the days of our youth. Is there a boy alive who has not read it? I am not ashamed to confess that I can read it even now with ever fresh delight. You remember how Robinson Crusoe was wrecked. He is left in the desert island all alone. He is smitten with fever. He is ready to perish. Now he begins to think, and opens a Bible which he finds in his chest, and he lights upon this passage. That night he prayed for the first time in his life. It is a text which I would have written in stars across the sky, or sounded forth with trumpet at noon from the top of every tower. Observe — I. REALISM IS PREFERRED TO RITUALISM. Note the content. How this is so. 1. Because there is meaning in it. There is none in ritualism when grace is absent. But when you call upon God in the day of trouble there is meaning, and God understands, and cares for it when all the pomp and show, and the gorgeousness of ritual are to Him as nothing. 2. There is spirituality in it, and worship in spirit and in truth is what God would have. 3. It recognizes God as the living God. 4. It is sincere. In prosperity we are apt to forget our prayers. Too many of us are like boys' tops, that cease to spin except they are whipped. Certainly trouble gives intensity to prayer. 5. It is humble. Too often we are over-satisfied with our own performances in the way of worship, but when in deep trouble the soul bows down then. 6. And there is a measure of faith in such prayers. When faith does, as it were, only cross over the field of the camera, so that across the photograph there is a dim trace of its having been there, God can spy it out, and He can and will accept prayer for the sake of that little faith. Next we have — II. ADVERSITY TURNED TO ADVANTAGE. God cannot deliver a man who is not in trouble: even Jesus Christ cannot heal a man who is not sick. Now, if you be in trouble, you have — 1. A plea from the time. This is the day of trouble. Your case is urgent. 2. From the trouble itself. It is so great. 3. From the command. God bids you pray. 4. From His own character — so great, so good. III. FREE GRACE LAID UNDER BONDS. "I will deliver thee:" thus God pledges Himself. The text is unconditional as to the persons. And God's "I will" includes all needful power which may be needed for deliverance. But we are not told exactly when God wilt do this. You are in a great hurry, but the Lord is not. When the gold is cast into the fining-pot, there it must stay till the dross is purged away. But promptitude is implied. He will deliver you in the best possible time. IV. GOD AND THE PRAYING MAN TAKING SHARES. Here is your share, "Call upon Me"; here is God's share, "I will deliver." Again, here is yours, You shall be delivered; and then, again, it is the Lord's turn, "Thou shalt glorify Me." Here is a delightful partnership. Who would demur to these terms? If God will pardon and justify us, adopt and sanctify us, and bring us home to heaven at last, shall He not have the glory of it? Even some divines will give man a little of the glory. Oh, that Dagon of a free will! How men will worship it! Go out henceforth, you saved ones, and tell what the Lord has done for you. An aged woman once said that if the Lord Jesus Christ really did save her, He should never hear the last of it. ( C. H. Spurgeon.) Parallel Verses KJV: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.WEB: Call on me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you will honor me." |
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