Daily Devotionals

Bowen's Daily Meditations

Devotional: August 22nd

" Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." - Psalms 50:15.

There are some whose cry in the day of trouble God will not hear; those, namely, who, in the day of their prosperity, heard not the cry of the poor and stretched forth no helping hand to the afflicted, and thus gave good evidence that they had no ear for the voice of God. For in the guise of a poor man Christ stood at their door, time and again, knocking and asking for admittance; but they would not hear. In the day of their calamity, he will not hear their cry. To whom then is this promise given? To him who hath made the Lord his refuge, and taken the divine will for his guide.

How naturally does friendship say, " Should you fall into any difficulty, don’t hesitate to call upon me; I will do what I can for you." Ah, but these earthly friends, they are not always as good as their promises. A man does not seem so interesting to them when he is in trouble as when he is in prosperity his defects come out more conspicuously. And even when their affection remains unchanged, how poor is their ability.

God does not say to us, " You shall not know trouble." But he says, " Trouble shall come upon you in order that I may have a peculiar opportunity of signalizing my love toward you, and of exhibiting my power to sustain. And in order that you may have a peculiar opportunity of showing your love to me, your trust, your patience, your steadfastness. And in order that the world may see the wonderful understanding between God’s people and himself."

I will deliver thee. Who can doubt it when he calls to mind how this Deliverer endured, in Gethsemane and on Calvary, trouble such as never visited the soul of mere man, in order to pluck us as a brand from the burning. If he delivered when it cost his soul so much to deliver, how much more may we confidently expect that he will be with us in our lesser troubles, seeing that he is now rich in mercy.

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