Psalm 91:15
He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him, and honor him.
This is an absolute promise from God and it means that when you were in trouble, God was with you. Whether or not you were aware of his presence, He was with you. He has promised to rescue you from your trouble. He has said it so he will do it. We have only to believe and receive it.
We do not receive with our eyes though; we receive with our hearts. We don’t look with our eyes to see what God will do or what he is doing. We receive with our hearts despite the way the circumstances around us appear. No matter what someone says about the circumstances the truth is in God’s promises. You cannot convince me that our Father is not present in my time of trouble. Nothing you say will persuade me. That is what it means to be fully persuaded by God’s promises. We choose to believe God’s promises over any other evidence that anyone can present. God said he is with us in our time of trouble and that settles it.
Just this weekend I was with someone who has been challenged. Some weeks ago her husband fell asleep while driving and their young child was in the car with him. He crossed over into oncoming traffic, crossed back to his side of the road, went into a ditch and flipped the car. He had to be cut out of the car and the child seat is a total loss. Both the father and the child are afraid to get back in a car. I asked her how she would explain to her child that God is looking out for them and protecting them. In response she showed me the photographs of the damaged car. Without the Lord they would both be dead instead of banged up. She has an understanding that God didn’t cause the accident. She also knows how bad things would have turned out if He had not shown up on the scene the instant they needed Him.
Her recent experience is why you can’t look with your eyes or your reasoning to discern God’s presence and help in the time of need. One with less discernment and less wisdom could easily conclude that God was not with her son and husband on that fateful day but her heart knows the truth and she cannot be persuaded otherwise.
Thanks be to God who is with us every day and who answers every time we call, who is always with us in times of trouble; the God who rescues and honors us.
