In Times of Trouble
We are often so troubled that we cannot see:
For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me. Psalm 40:12
We are troubled because we ignore wisdom:
I called you so often, but you wouldn’t come. I reached out to you, but you paid no attention. You ignored my advice and rejected the correction I offered….
When they cry for help, I will not answer. Though they anxiously search for me, they will not find me. For they hated knowledge and chose not to fear the Lord. They rejected my advice and paid no attention to when I corrected them. Therefore they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes. For simpletons turn away from me- to death. Fools are destroyed by their own complacency. But all who listen to me will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm. Proverbs 1:24-25, 28-33
We are troubled because we hate discipline:
At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent. You will say, “How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction! I would not obey my teachers or turn my ear to my instructors. And I was soon in serious trouble in the assembly of God’s people.” Proverbs 5:11-15
We are troubled when someone we love hurts us:
After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”John 13:21
We are troubled by the selfish ambition surrounding us:
The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. Philippians 1:17
We are troubled when we think the vengeance is ours:
God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you. 2 Thessalonians 1:6
We are troubled by our own bitterness:
See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:15
We are troubled because we created our own snare:
As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it. Job 4:8
We are troubled when we seek things above God:
Troublemakers have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods you have not known). Deuteronomy 13:13
But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise, you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. Joshua 6:18
They lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place, and there it stands. From that spot it cannot move. Even though someone cries out to it, it cannot answer; it cannot save them from their troubles. – They cannot answer these things we seek. Isaiah 46:7
Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns. Jeremiah 2:28
We are stressed by the holes we dig for ourselves:
Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made. The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads. Psalm 7:14-16
I confess my iniquity; I am troubled by my sin. Psalm 38:18
We are troubled because our mouth got us there:
His mouth is full of lies and threats; trouble and evil are under his tongue. Psalm 10:7
Evildoers are trapped by their sinful talk, and so the innocent escape trouble. Proverbs 12:13
One whose heart is corrupt does not prosper; one whose tongue is perverse falls into trouble. Proverbs 17:20
The Lord experienced trouble:
“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.” John 12:27
God promises to be our help in trouble:
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Psalm 46:1
Hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught Psalm 55:2
Do not hide your face from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in trouble. Psalm 69:17
I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble. Psalm 142:2
He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. Psalm 91:15
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes; with your right hand you save me. Psalm 138:7
The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him Nahum 1:7
God uses our experience with trouble and stress to comfort others in theirs:
Who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 2 Corinthians 1:4
You will have trouble, but in the very end you will overcome it:
“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
Written and compiled by Willow Weston for Collide.
Click HERE for more Collide Resources.