THE BLESSINGS OF TROUBLE

ISAIAH 26:1

A. "LORD IN TROUBLE HAVE THEY VISITED THEE, THEY POURED OUT A PRAYER WHEN THY CHASTENING WAS UPON THEM"
  1. This is a most revealing acknowledgment:
    1. Of the blessings of trouble
    2. Troubles becomes a great incentive to visiting the Lord'
  2. They are a very effective teacher:
    1. When they teach us to pray
    2. Those who are in trouble have no difficulty in finding words to tell the Lord of their great need of help from above B. THE BLESSINGS OF TROUBLE
  3. Troubles - what are they?
    1. Instances of distress
    2. Turbulence or great disturbance
    3. Being in great difficulty
  4. Our present life is beset with many troubles:
    1. "Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward" - Job 5:7
    2. "Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble" - Job 14:1
    3. "For al his days are sorrows and his travail grief; yea, his heart taketh not rest in the night" - Eccl. 2:23
    4. At times it appears that the righteous have more trouble than those who care not for God; that is what David thought - Ps. 73:1-21
  5. Troubles are blessings in disguise:
    1. This seems hard to believe, because when we think of trouble, we associate punishment with it
    2. We think that God has forsaken us and that we shall be subject to trouble to make our life very miserable
    3. But Paul writes that trials of chastisement comes to us because God loves us - Heb. 12:5-11
    4. When parents chasten their children they do it because they love them - Heb. 12:9-10
    5. Gold and silver are very precious metals and they are sought very much; but both of them must pass through the refining fire to bring out their true luster and separate them from the dross that cleaves unto them C. LET US NOTE SEVEN SPECIFIC BLESSINGS WHICH ARE THE FRUIT OF TROUBLES
  6. They make us conscious of our won weakness or helplessness:
    1. "Give us help from trouble; for vain is the help of men" - Ps. 60:11
    2. "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man" - Ps. 118:8-9
    3. Cried out Paul, "O wretched an that I am" - Rom. 7:24
    4. Said Jesus, "For without me ye can do nothing" - John 15:5
  7. They bring us to visit the Lord as our text tells us:
    1. "But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, He was found of Him" - 2 Chron. 15:4
    2. "They cried unto the Lord in their trouble" - Ps. 107:6, 13, 19
  8. They truly teach us the art of effective prayer:
    1. how often have we heard some people say, "I do not know what to say to God in prayer"
    2. But when trials come, when trouble surrounded them, their prayers just poured out; there was no lack of words to make known their distress unto the Lord
  9. Troubles help us to lean on the Lord and not on our won useless devices:
    1. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding" Prov. 3:5
    2. "Trust ye in the Lord forever; for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength" - Is. 26:4
  10. Trouble makes us conscious of having to be on guard at all times:
    1. This is a most important lesson to learn; for Satan is ever on the move to get us into trouble - I Pet. 5:8-9
    2. Said Jesus, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak" - Matt. 26:41
  11. Troubles purify our lives:
    1. "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction" - Is. 48:10
    2. "He shall sit as a refiner" - Mal. 3:3
  12. Troubles are a blessing in disguise, and we will in due time thank God for them


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