ONE of the greatest mistakes that we can make is to imagine that God concerns Himself with our big troubles only, that He neither notices nor cares about our lesser trials. Nothing could be further from the truth, nor is such a supposition scriptural, for in Psa. 1:15 God inspired David to write: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee” in Psa. 46:1,1<<To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth.>> God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. (Psalm 46:1) “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble”; and in Psa. 27:5,5For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. (Psalm 27:5) “In the time of trouble He shall hide me.”
Nowhere in the Bible do we read that God makes any distinction between what we call big troubles and little troubles; His sympathy is just the same for both; moreover, He cares for each one of us individually, and grieves for us in all our trials and disappointments.
There is no trouble which is too small or too insignificant to bring to God in prayer, none out of which He cannot deliver us, but on the condition that “we ask (Him) in faith, nothing wavering,” as Jesus said to His disciples: “If ye have faith nothing shall be impossible unto you” (St. Matt. 17:2020And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. (Matthew 17:20)).
Yet how often when confronted by minor trials we either accept them as great misfortunes, laying the blame on our “bad luck,” forgetting that nothing happens by chance, that everything is fore-ordained by God, Who is a God of love, and consequently “all things work together for good to them that love Him”; or else we brood and worry over them to such an extent that our health gives way under the strain.
A far better way is simply to “cast our burden upon the Lord,” and then trust Him for deliverance.
If we do so believing that “with God all things are possible,” we shall not be disappointed, for no matter what our particular trouble may be, God “is able to do exceeding Abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:2020Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, (Ephesians 3:20)).
Let me give you one instance, out of many, from my own experience.
One morning I gave my bearer a ten-rupee Treasury note, telling him to change it during the afternoon, so that he might have small change handy for the market next morning. (In India it is the custom for servants to go and buy the daily food between six and seven o’clock in the morning, and very few of the stall keepers can conveniently change Treasury notes at such an early hour.)
At about eleven o’clock that night he came to me, in great distress, to tell me he had forgotten until that moment to change the note, which he had put loose in the inside pocket of his coat, and now could not find it anywhere.
Late as it was, we searched everywhere in my flat where he might have possibly put it by mistake, but could not trace it. Just before getting into bed I told God about the loss, and asked Him to help us find the note, for with the exception of about two rupees, it was all the money I had by me until my allowance arrived from England ten days later, and having done so I fell quickly asleep, feeling sure that everything would come right the, next day: either the money would be found, or else God would “supply my need” in some other way.
Early next morning, as my bearer was wheeling his bicycle past the verandah to go to the market, he suddenly noticed a folded piece of paper lying on the ground, and from sheer curiosity he stooped and picked it up, and on unfolding it saw it was the ten rupee note he had lost.
It must have slipped out of his pocket when he took out some other things, and falling on the path, lay there undiscovered, in spite of the fact that several people had passed that way to reach some cottages at the further end of the compound.
Let us never hesitate for one single moment to seek God’s help in any trouble or difficulty, for although He may have allowed it to happen in order to test our faith in Him, He is nevertheless watching over us all the time, ready to help and deliver us, and the more we trust Him, so much the more shall we find that He is “able to save to the uttermost.”
Louise Gros.