“The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed,

a refuge in times of trouble.”

Psalm 9:9

Dearly beloved in Christ,

I greet you in the sweet name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

In my childhood days, my father used to tell me about the utility of the trenches at the sides of roads. During the Second World War, people would seek shelter in these trenches as soon as they heard the warning signals. The bombs used in those days would not harm the people hiding in these trenches.

In that perilous time of war, people sought shelter in these trenches to protect themselves from the bombardment of the enemy. The Bible teaches that the Lord is the refuge for us in times of trouble. We are oppressed by different kinds of problems related to the workplace, to the family, to our finances, and also those related to the enemy. Recently, it was reported that the robbers attacked Christian believers at the time of worship in Liberia and that as they rushed out of the church, several people got crushed in the stampede. Twenty-nine people lost their lives. Today whatever be your problem that oppresses you, you have a sure refuge in Jesus Christ. You will be miraculously saved and blessed.

I  CONSEQUENCES OF TROUBLES

1. Flesh Affected

“When the wicked came against me to eat up my flesh, my enemies and foes, they stumbled and fell.” Psalm 27:2

We are in the midst of people who constantly work against us. They expect us to be destroyed in diseases. With no reason, they seek destruction of others. Many oppress others seeking possession of the premises or houses of their neighbours. If we have faith on the Lord for our protection, He will act as our refuge and strength. We will not be harmed. Their own acts of witchcraft or sorcery will destroy them. What they sow, they will reap.

A Pastor castigated the Secretary of the church for his misdeeds. But he questioned and challenged the pastor. He started to do all sorts of evil things against the pastor. He indulged in witchcraft to harm the pastor. But what he did rebounded and affected him. The very same things he schemed against the pastor happened to him. Do not forget: “... He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4). So, praise the Lord.

2. Soul Affected

“Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble; My eye wastes away with grief, yes, my soul and my body!” Psalm 31:9

Troubles bring grief and, along with it, discouragement and depression. It affects individuals and families. Tears abound. Sleeplessness at night times causes great trauma. As a result, those affected by it are not able to concentrate on anything and are rendered inactive and ineffective. Jesus Christ turns our sorrows into joy. He has borne our grief on the cross and has secured for us great relief and deliverance. Death of someone near and dear to us and unexpected defeats in life cause grief. Today, dear Brother/ Sister, you may be one such person suffering and undergoing such trials. Dear child of God, come to the Lord. He will remove all your grief and oppression and bring about joy and triumph in your life.

3. Strength Affected

“And they said to him, “thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no strength to bring them forth.” Isaiah 37:3

We need strength in the body, soul, and spirit. Only when we have bodily strength, we can work and do something perfectly. It helps us live a good healthy life. We can play with our children. Lacking strength, we do our work half-heartedly. Youth can play well if they have strength and stamina. With strength it is possible to accomplish anything.

Once my father asked me to fill a well with the sand around it in our house. Along with my brother, I could do that work that night itself. If we want to accomplish anything, we need strength.

Elijah was a man of God. Yet he was fed up with life when threatened. He went into the wilderness and sat under a tree and prayed, “It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” He slept there. Then angel touched him saying, “Arise and eat.” ”Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again. And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” So he arose, and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God” (1 Kings 19:5-8). So, food strengthened him. Today there are people suffering because of hunger.

Our Lord hears our prayers. We are strengthened in our souls when we receive His answers. As soon as we have strength in the soul, we become courageous. The psalmist says, “In the day when I cried out, you answered me, and made me bold with strength in my soul.” (Psalm 138:3). To be bold at all times we need this strength in the soul.

Once it was written mockingly on the walls in many places of Trichy, ‘Where is the blood of Jesus Christ?’ Then one pastor wrote in reply that it was available in their church. They went to him seeking the blood of Christ. He said to them that if they teared his body, they would find the blood of Christ. They were ashamed and went away. It was the boldness in him that made him do that.

Dear Brother/ Sister, do not fret about your predicament. “... remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.” (Deut. 8:18). The Lord God will strengthen you in your soul and spirit and give you the boldness and ability to accomplish anything. He will bless you.

He strengthens us in our spirit by His own Spirit. Only when we are thus strengthened, we can bear witness for Him in all situations. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13). Today many have pangs of birth in several aspects of life with no strength in themselves. You need to be strengthened fully through your relationship with the living Lord. He will strengthen and help you. He does not change.

4. Death Sought

“And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death.” Judges 16:16

Many also suffer due to the words they hear from their neighbours. Words have the power to inflict harm on others and the power to heal or comfort others. With the mouth, we praise the Lord and thank Him. We bear witness about Him. How are our words? Do we speak like worldly people? “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise” (Prov. 10:19). To stand before the Lord we should not say anything reproachful about others.

Samson was born as it was foretold. He was to ”be careful not to drink wine or similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean . . . for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb” (Judges 13: 5). But he loved a Philistine woman called Delilah. The Philistines used her to entice her and to know the source of his strength. Three times he lied to her. First, he told her that he should be bound with seven fresh bowstrings. But their attempt failed. The second time he told her that he should be bound with new ropes. Again, the attempt was futile. The third time he told her to weave the seven locks of his head into a web of the loom. This attempt too failed. She was sorely vexed. She pestered and prevailed upon him to elicit the information successfully. It is said he was vexed to death. Such were her words. Finally, he revealed the secret to her that he was a Nazirite to God and that his strength would leave him if his head was shaven. He lost his strength when that was done. This time the Philistines took him and put out his eyes and bound him with bronze fetters. He was made to grind in the prison.

Thus, the words of a person might break the heart of a person that the person might even seek death rather than living with that person. The words of certain officials break the heart of workers. They are so obsessed with their words that they even tender their resignation. Some commit suicides. Thus, words are powerful enough to cause bitterness and oppression. Samson was thus made to reveal the secret of his strength and to be humiliated.

5. Growth Affected

“And some seed fell among thorns; and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no crop.” Mark 4:7

Many have the desire to live for the Lord and to glorify His name. Even though the words of the Lord remain in them, they are not able to do accordingly. The thorns of worldliness and other concerns oppress them so much that they are not able to live out their desires. They fail to yield fruits.

You should know what thorns symbolize. Disobedience brought the curse of thorns. By our disobedience, we allow the thorns to flourish in our lives. Further, through the works of the devil, the thorns like diseases trouble us. Paul talks about it in 2 Cor. 12:7, “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.” In the lives of the children of God, diseases work as the thorns of the devil preventing their work and growth. In Isaiah 5 the Lord explains how a fruitless vineyard is not pruned but its hedges removed. Then thorns grow there and it loses its protection. The Lod would not take care of people who do not yield good fruits.

II  HOW TO OVERCOME TROUBLES

1. Praise the Lord

“I will freely sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good. For He has delivered me out of all trouble; And my eye has seen its desire upon my enemies.” Psalm 54:6-7

Whatever be the oppression we undergo, we should not fret or be troubled for the Lord is always good. Trust the Lord always and praise Him. Praising has its own power. The Lord indwells the praises of Israel. As we praise and praise, we receive more and more good things from the Lord. Praising the Lord is good as He is worthy. In the life of Jehoshaphat, he had to face a formidable enemy. He set the choir before his soldiers and they began to sing and praise the Lord. The Bible says, “. . . the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.” (2 Chron. 20:22).

Dear Brother/ Sister, do not be dismayed in oppressing circumstances, but begin to praise the Lord. As you praise the Lord, the oppression begins to wither and you would have success and peace.

Once they brought a young man for prayer. He used to run away from the house and they did not know what to do. We began to sing a few songs and praise the Lord with the family. The evil spirit began to manifest saying that we should not sing or praise the Lord. That encouraged us to sing and praise more and more. The evil spirit made him fall and he began to roll here and there. It began to say that it could not remain in him anymore and left him.

In the place where we live, there should always be the sound of praising. Then the enemy will be put to shame and the place will be filled with the presence of the Lord. Paul and Silas were in a prison and at mid-night, they began to sing and praise the Lord. The Lord worked a miracle and the foundations of the prison were shaken. The bonds of all those who heard the praising sounds were broken and set free. The doors of the prison opened of itself. Let us also be like Paul and Silas always praising the Lord with songs. Let us say with David, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth” (Psalm 34:1). We would have deliverance from oppression and success in our lives. Every oppression will leave.

2. Pray With Humility

“Therefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon. Now when he was in affliction, he implored the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed to Him; and He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God.” 2 Chronicles 33:11-13

Manasseh did wicked deeds in the sight of God. Even though the Lord addressed him and his people, they did not listen to Him. So, the Lord gave them over to the king of Assyria. When he suffered under him, he pleaded before the Lord. He also humbled himself before God. The Lord saw the change in him. He extends His mercy to those who are humble. He had mercy on him. He suppressed the oppression around him. David shares his experience, “I am a reproach among all my enemies, but especially among my neighbors, and am repulsive to my acquaintances; Those who see me outside flee from me.” (Psalm 31:11). When David was in a cave, he prayed, “I cry out to the Lord with my voice; with my voice to the Lord I make my supplication.” (Psalm 142:1). Let us also in our oppression cry to the Lord in prayer. The Lord who hears prayer will deliver us from all oppression. James 4:6 says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Let us humble ourselves before Him in all affairs. Joseph accused his brothers who came seeking grains. He kept them in prison for three days. After that,  he released them all except one to take grains to their families, but to bring the last brother. Then they shared with one another the fact how they did not mind their brother when he pleaded in distress as he was sold. They concluded that to be the reason for this danger in their lives. They were greatly troubled.

Our Lord has pity on us when we plead humbly before Him. We should also be like Him and have mercy on others when they plead with us.

3. Become Righteous

“The wicked is ensnared by the transgression of his lips, but the righteous will come through trouble.” Proverbs 12:13

To be saved from the oppression that has come upon us, we should become righteous. Isaiah 53:11 says. “... By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.” We need knowledge about Jesus Christ. We know that the knowledge of Jesus Christ as the only true God is eternal life (John 17:3). Psalm 91:14 says, “Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name.” As you come to know of Jesus Christ, you will be delivered from your troubles. As you know the suffering of the Lord on the cross, ways would be created for you to be delivered.

You should also be redeemed from your sins to live a righteous life. You are “being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). Jesus Christ was sent to redeem us from sins, curses and the works of the devil. ‘But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine”’ (Isaiah 43:1). By His immeasurable grace we are saved and made righteous. Rom 5:1 says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Is our trust fully on the Lord God? Or is it on the created things of this world? We are made righteous by the faith that Jesus Christ was sent to this world for our sake.

We are also made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ. His blood cleanses us from all our sins. It also emboldens us. The blood of Christ shall “cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God” (Heb. 9:14). Thus, we are made righteous and saved from all oppressions and troubles.

May the Lord bless us!

In the service of Christ Jesus,

Bro. C. Ebenezer Paul.