GIVE US HELP FROM TROUBLE

When in serious trouble, have we ever felt that God has failed us or even forgotten us? This psalm reveals the nation of Israel in a situation like this. They were shocked and confused, like people in an earthquake, vv. 1-3. This was despite the fact that they had been given a banner, a rallying point, by God Himself. They are ashamed at having been defeated by such cruel and immoral nations as Syria in the north, Moab and Edom in the east, and the Philistines in the south-west. Indeed, David and his commanders found that, when dealing with one enemy, they were attacked by another from an opposite direction. So we have to face the world, the flesh and the devil.

“Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward”, Job 5. 7. This is as true today as in Job’s day. We might expect it, in view of the universality of sin; sin is acting in independence of the God of love and grace.

But God says, “call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me”, Psa. 50. 15. So the psalmist cries, “save with thy right hand, and hear me”, 60. 5. Then God speaks exultingly, vv. 6-8; He asserts His authority over Israel, over tribes east and west of the Jordan river, and also over the pagan nations around them. Moab and Edom are regarded as the meanest slaves, one to act as a washtub, and the other to be thrown cast-off sandals. Even the apparently impregnable fortress of the Edomites, still impressive for modern sightseers, presents no difficulty to the Almighty.

At times we, like Israel, must acknowledge that we have displeased God, and that He appears to have cast us off. But, reassured of His power and faithful love, we turn again to our Refuge and our Strength, praying, “Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man. Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies”, vv. 11, 12.

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us”, Rom. 8. 37.