“I will take no bullock out of thy house nor he goats out of thy ,folds. For every beast of the forest is Mine and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains : and the wild beasts of the fields are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is Mine and the fullness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats ? Offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most High. And call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shall glorify Me.” Psa. 50:9-15.
This is the God that we worship and do homage to His son. There is only one offering that we can give to God. It is that of thanksgiving. Surely there is none so foolish as to think we can give God anything but thankfulness and praise. The earth is His and the fullness thereof – so what can we give ? Thankfulness and praise should ever be bubbling over in the hearts of all Christadelphians. We of all people fully realize that we poor things can give God nothing. We can endorse the words of David.
What a wonderful God is our God. Call upon Him in the day of trouble and in so doing we really glorify Him for He will deliver us. Is there anyone who will not take Him at his word, who amongst us is carrying a burden or in trouble ? To call upon God in the day of trouble is the sincerest form of appeal. It comes from our heart. And it is our hearts that God desires ; a humble and contrite heart
Jesus on one occasion said that no man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other. No lover can accept a divided affection. All or nothing is the requirement of true fidelity. All the heart, mind and soul God desires. And in the process of gaining our fullest affections He tries us. Our God is a jealous lover and will not allow any other gods before Him. Is this not the mark of purity itself, and in the standard required in human relations such as sweethearts or husband and wife or even sincere friendship ? Confidence, trust, faithfulness in all their loveliness and purity is only marred when divided affection enters in, and we allow something else to steal our love. Then surely it is no harsh standard that God requires of us that we shall have no other lovers before Him. Certainly the fountain of purity and true love can ask with firm candor for all our heart, all our soul, all our mind, and all our strength.
The scriptures abound with the figure of husband and wife in God’s relations with Israel, just as we are the bride-to-be of our lover. We now make ready in undivided affection for the bridegroom that seems to tarry long. But all bridegrooms seem to tarry, for the very sweet reason that we are impatient for that glad day when we shall be His. There is no more disappointing story in human relations than to hear of a woman who could not wait till her sweetheart returned from sea or in recent years from war. In contrast how sweet is the story that tells of patient faithful waiting being rewarded in the bonds of marriage.
Jeremiah writes of Israel having many lovers and yet returning to the Lord. Jer. 3:1. Ezekiel writes that the Lord will judge Israel as a woman that breaks wedlock. 16: 38. And so in this principle and precept we can understand the reason for calling upon God in time of trouble. Were ever true lovers slow to the call for help in time of need ? Even the call for help is the golden opportunity, that both friend and lover appreciate. Even if only to prove their love and affection. This is common to us all, for when we have no need of each other, there is of course no opportunity to show to what extent we would go to prove our love.
Let us all remember in our most lonely hour to cast ourselves at the feet of this God of love in whom is strength and to whom belongs the issues from death. Accept His invitation to call upon Him in the day of trouble and He will deliver us and we shall glorify Him. Look at Psalm 69 for our example. “He looked for some to take pity but there was none.” This will be the experience every child of God has to pass through. Think of it, this is the process to prove your love and in your extremity to call upon God and and He will prove His love by deliverance in time of trouble.
“For 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. When my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord : be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thy heart : Wait, I say, on the Lord. Psa. 27 :5, 10, 13, 14.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One