We're turning to Psalm 50 this evening. Psalm 50, I want to thank you for coming to the house of God tonight. Those who are joining with us online, we welcome you in the Savior's precious name. So Psalm 50, it is a Psalm of Asaph. We'll read the opening 15 verses off the chapter together. So let's listen to the word of God. Follow along as the word of God is read. The mighty God, even the Lord has spoken. called the earth from the rising of the sun onto the going down the wrath. Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty God has shined. Our God shall come and shall not keep silence. A fire shall devour before him and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above. unto the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. The heaven shall declare his righteousness, for God is judge himself, Selah. Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against thee. I am the Lord, even thy God. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, or thy burnt offerings to have been continually before me. 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 field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee, for the world is mine, and the fullness are of. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? offer on to God's thanksgiving and pay thy vows on to the most high and call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me. We'll end our reading as I've said at the verse number 15 and may God bless even the public reading of his holy precious and immutable word. As you've probably guessed From our Scripture reading this evening, I'm not continuing my series on the studies that we have been thinking over the last number of weeks with regard to the B's of Scripture. As the teaching elder of the congregation, I trust that I have reached the place of being not only your minister, but also being your pastor. I would dread to think that I've reached a point in my ministerial life, though short it has been, that I just simply clock in and clock out, do my job and really never care for or attend to the needs of the flock of God over which God has made me an overseer. There are times, there are times that God's people just need an encouraging word from the Lord. to carry them through a difficult season of life that they maybe find themselves in. And tonight I sense that such a word is needed by some, if not all. As I came to think about all of this and all that is occurring in the lives of God's people within this fellowship of believers, my mind was taken to a verse of scripture that I have been sharing with the seniors and with the shut-ins over the last period of time. It's a verse that I want to share with you simply tonight before we get to our season of prayer and I'm praying that God will use it just to encourage you in your Christian life. The words I direct you to are the words that we find in Psalm 50 in the verse number 15 where God exhorts us through Asaph the Psalmist to call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me. In our text, There are a number of things, very simple things I want to draw your attention to. The first thing that I see in her text is that there's a season. There's a season that is mentioned here within her text. It's called the day of trouble. The day of trouble. That's the season through which the person who is addressed in the psalm comes now to find themselves passing through. It's not a day that any of us would ever choose for ourselves. In fact, We do all that we can to try and avoid the day of trouble within our lives. And yet, due to us living in the fallen, due to us living in an imperfect, sin, curse world, we find ourselves passing through many, many a day of trouble as we make our journey towards heaven and towards home. In the book of Job, The book that catalogues for us the day of trouble that Job passed through as a Christian, we find that Elipaz, the Temanite, reminded Job in Job chapter 5 verses 6 and 7, Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground, yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. Elipaz's words alert us to the fact that trouble is as natural to us as sparks are when a piece of wood is thrown onto a fire. Trouble and affliction are what we are to expect in this world. Days of trouble are what are going to meet us as we journey to heaven and toward home. We must not be under any delusion about us. Each and every one of us will have our day and have our days of trouble. Admittedly, your day of trouble may not be my day of trouble. They come in all different forms. You know, we might be listening to someone, and they're speaking to us, and they're explaining all that they're going through. And we might think to ourselves, what they are going through really isn't as bad as what I am going through in my life, or maybe vice versa. Someone might, well, they may have a little cough. And to them, well, it's as if they're nearly dying. and they're about to keel over in death. And then we meet someone and they're maybe battling with an incurable illness. And then we come to realize that really our ailment isn't as bad after all as someone else. But it's all relative where you are in your life. And we need to remember that whenever we are ministering to people, we must not belittle someone else's day of trouble because for them, It could be a great thing with respect to matters. And so we must not belittle someone's day of trouble, because for them it can be a trial of their faith. Now, the day of trouble, as I've said, can come to us in various guises. For some, it can take the form of sickness. That most certainly is a day of trouble. It might be a sickness that you're experiencing yourself, or maybe it's someone that you love dearly, and they're going through a time of sickness. The bloom of health can be quickly replaced by the blight of sickness. Health can be affected, and the old body, it comes to succumb to an illness that certainly you hadn't planned for yourself. And there are those in this congregation, and they're battling with illness themselves, And there's others and their loved ones, they're incapacitated because of sickness. It is a day of trouble whenever the old body of clay is weakened with sickness. Sorrow is another day of trouble. The death of a loved one is most certainly a day of trouble. Death is an enemy. A cold-hearted, cruel, callous enemy. Death is man's last enemy. Death takes from us our mothers and fathers, our brothers and sisters. At times, death can even tragically take from us our own children, a husband, a wife, a dear friend. What a day of trouble it is whenever a family will gather around the bed, the deathbed of their loved one, and the final parting takes place. Thank God, the Christian who is taken from us by God's providence, by death goes to be with Christ. And that makes, obviously, the parting just a little easier for the ones who are left behind. But it's a day of trouble nonetheless whenever death invades our lives. Scarcity. It's another day of trouble when expenditure exceeds income. And the bills just keep dropping in through the letterbox. And you're wondering, how will we ever cause ends to meet? And we're wondering, how will we ever get through to the end of the next week or maybe the next month until the next paycheck comes in? And a day of scarcity can be a day of trouble, a day of scandal, a day of slander. False rumors can circulate in the community and maybe even within the church regarding us and our families and we find ourselves in the middle of maybe some social media storm that has no basis in fact whatsoever and such can be a day of trouble, a time of distress for us. Solitude, loneliness, when friends forsake us and loved ones are taken from us. Maybe family members, they come to disown us or they disappoint us in such a way that it causes us to go through a day of trouble. I don't think I need to continue on to catalogue them for you, but I think you've got the idea. They all come, days of trouble. They're not all the same. Not all the same. Maybe your day of trouble is a day of sickness. Maybe yours is with regard to scarcity. I don't know what the day of trouble is for you. But this is a season that the psalmist speaks of. And the amazing thing is that the day of trouble comes in every season of life. You know, children have their days of trouble. Maybe their exams, to them, it's a day of trouble. School can be a fearful place for any Christian to go into. Maybe yesterday you were mocked. Maybe today you were mocked at school. You're thinking about going in tomorrow. And for you, it's a day of trouble. A day of trouble for you. And young adults and those of an older age bracket can have their day of trouble too. I think of what Jacob said. Remember he's 130 years age whenever he comes to stand before Pharaoh. He's reunited with Joseph, his son. And what does he say to Pharaoh whenever Pharaoh asks him his age? He says to Pharaoh, few and evil have the days of the years of my life been. Jacob, he comes to confess that his whole life was littered with days of trouble. And you look at his life, brethren and sisters, and you'll know that is the case. Remember, do you remember what happened to Jacob? Joseph, Joseph was thought dead at a stage in Jacob's life. But before that even happened, his dear wife passed in childbearing. When Benjamin was born, Rachel died. There he is, now a widower. And then Joseph, well, he's gone. Jacob's a youngish sort of man when Rachel dies in Joseph. And then Simeon, well, he's imprisoned and Benjamin has to go down to Egypt at the request of Egypt's stern prime minister. And Simeon and Levi, well, they slay the Shackamites and they make Jacob's name to stink. Here's a man whose life was full of trouble, full of trouble. Through every stage of human development, just like Jacob, we will come to face our days of trouble. Maybe you're a teenager and you're in a day of trouble, or maybe you're a little older and you're presently in the midst of a day of trouble, but you must not be surprised at that as a child of God. You think of some of the most godliest of people that we meet in the word of God and how they find themselves in a day of trouble. Job, the man who was perfect and upright, the one who feared God and he skewed evil, found himself in a day of trouble when all of his children lay dead and he stood at their gravesides and his whole business were crashed in around him. What a day of trouble it was for Job. King Hezekiah, We'll inform Isaiah about his day of trouble over there in 2nd Kings chapter 19 verse 3. After the king of Assyria comes against the fence cities of Judah and he takes him, he sends this message to God's servant. This day, he said, this day, the day I'm in, he says, this day is a day of trouble. and a day of rebuke and blasphemy, for the children are come to birth, and there's no strength to bring forth. The dear ladies who were pregnant couldn't even, didn't have enough even strength or courage to bring forth their children. He says it was a day of trouble. I think you would have to agree. Whenever the three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego stood in the fiery furnace that they were in the middle of, they were in their day of trouble. And whenever Daniel found himself there in the lion's den, that he was in his day of trouble. And Saul, he sends his hit men against David's house in order to kill him. And you'll read about that in Psalm 59 verse 16. And David testifies on that particular day that God was his defense and refuge. And he actually uses the term in the day of trouble. What a day of trouble that was. He said, where the cross hairs towards him. Men wanted to kill him, Saul and the orders of the king. But was there ever a day of trouble like the day whenever Christ the great shepherd took himself to the cross of Calvary to suffer and bleed and die for his sheep? What a day of trouble that was for him. What is our days of trouble compared to that day of trouble? Thank God, because Christ triumphed in his day of trouble. All our days of trouble are curtailed. And they're confined to this world. We only have days of trouble in this world. Through faith in Christ's finished work, the Christian is headed for a world where there are no more days of trouble. That's what makes heaven wonderful. One of the things, obviously, Christ is there and God is there. no trouble there it all ceases and so there is the day of trouble that's the season but our tax also speaks secondly about a supplication there's a supplication in our tax call upon me In the day of trouble, God speaks here in our text, and he gives a very clear directive about what we're to do when we find ourselves in the day of trouble. Not if you have a day of trouble, but whenever you're in it, because it's going to come. What do I do in the day of trouble? What are we to do in the days of trouble? We're not to fall apart. And we're not to charge God foolishly. We mustn't do that. And we mustn't go around like headless chickens. Probably someone in America is watching and maybe not know what that's even about. And we're not to clad ourselves about with sackcloth and cover our heads with ashes, metaphorically speaking, and lament. And we're not to throw up our arms in defeatism. We're to call upon the Lord. We're to pray, brethren and sisters. In a day of trouble, we're to pray. Days of trouble are praying days, praying days. You know at times God sends us a day of trouble in order to get us praying. Is that not the case? God sends trouble to get us praying. Is it not the case that we pray more in the day of trouble, those cold mechanical repetitive prayers that we've got into the habit of saying, they got all thrown out the window. They got thrown out the window, and we find ourselves earnest before God, because it's a day of trouble. And all of the flowery language, and all of the oratory, it goes. Because it's a day of trouble. I need God. I need him to intervene. I need him to step into my situation. Are you there? It's not uncommon that often the tears accompany our prayers in the day of trouble. Along with confession of sin, days of trouble cause us to search our hearts, cause us to cry to God, and believe it or not, the day of trouble has its benefits. In the day of trouble, we're to call upon the Lord. It's just another way of saying we're to pray. Asaph did this in another Psalm. Psalm 77, verse two. If you want to turn there, Psalm 77, and the verse number two. Verse one, I cried unto the Lord with my voice, even unto God with my voice. He gave ear unto me. In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. My soul ran in the night. And cease not, my soul, refuse to be comforted. David did this in his day of trouble. There, Psalm 86, in the verse 7. Psalm 86, verse 7. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me. Hezekiah did it in his day of trouble. Remember, I referred back to 2 Kings 19. What did he do? He sent a message to Isaiah, and then he went to prayer. He got God's servant to pray. No bad thing to get the pastor to pray, God's servant to pray. But he also prayed himself, because it goes on to say there in 2 Kings 19, you can read that portion tonight. It says, Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, Lord God of Israel, which dwells between the cherubims, thou art the God even alone, all the kingdoms of the earth, and thou hast made heaven and earth. And Hezekiah, with the letters spread before the Lord, he now prays. because praying days are trouble, days of trouble are days of prayer. Your brethren and sisters, when we call upon God in the day of trouble, it demonstrates to us and others where our confidence really lies. As we pray, we're really saying in a roundabout way, Lord, I'm trusting you for this. I may not understand what you're doing, I may not even like what you're doing, but I'm going to trust you regarding it. One preacher said, friends are generally plentiful in prosperity, but scarce in trouble. God wants us to come particularly then. Take, he said, your prayer checks and faith orders to his bank. And so ask and receive that your joy may be full. This is the divine cure for trouble. Don't worry, chaff, fret, despair. Simply give him a call. He's always at home. When you come to think about it, brethren and sisters, really this is all that we can do in a day of trouble. Deliverance is not in our power, but prayer is. Prayer is. Prayer is in our power. Of course, all deliverance must come from God, but prayer is in our power. So let's do what we can do and leave to God what only He can do. In the day of trouble, let's call upon Him humbly, believingly, persistently, earnestly, and submissively. The throne of grace, brethren and sisters, is always accessible, and His ears are always open unto our cries. But in times of trouble, In times of trouble, God especially invites us to draw near. Call upon me in the day of trouble. It's as if God is saying to us, call upon me, for I'm always on the throne of grace. Call upon me, for I'm always glad to see you. Call upon me for I'm ready to help you. Call upon me for I wait to be gracious to you. Call upon me first before you run to others. Call upon me freely without reserve. Call upon me boldly without fear. Call upon me with importunity without doubt. Just call upon me. Let the day of trouble be a day of supplication. Let's go back to Our example, the Lord Jesus Christ. The day of trouble looms large for him from a human perspective. The cross, the shadow of it, looms large over Gethsemane's garden. What does the master do? He prays. Yes, the God man prays. And he knew that victory was secure. He knew that he would triumph over death and sin and hell, but he still prayed in the day of trouble. And God answered his prayer. He prayed with strong crying and tears, and in this he sets for us an example that we are to follow. In our days of trouble like him, we are to call upon the Lord. Quickly, note thirdly, a salvation is mentioned in the text. God makes a promise to the one who calls upon him in the day of trouble. He says, I will deliver thee now. If words mean anything, they mean everything here. They mean everything here. He says, I will deliver thee now to the time and to the means and to the manner of God's deliverances. These are matters that are not mentioned. These are matters that we are not to concern ourselves about. None of these are addressed by God within our text. God says nothing about the time of deliverance. He says nothing about the means of deliverance. He says nothing about the manner of deliverance. Just that He will deliver us. That's it. I believe you're long enough as a Christian to know that God's timetable is not always aligned to our timetable. Because we want deliverance now, tonight, not tomorrow, tonight. But brethren and sisters, if he does not deliver us today, we can be assured that it's not his time to deliver us. Honoring wisdom. guides all that our God does, especially when it comes to our deliverances. At the time He sees best, and in the way He sees best, and by the means He sees best, God will deliver all who call upon Him in the day of trouble. God's deliverance might come in the form of Him sparing us going through the day of trouble. The day of trouble might be just about to dawn, But at the eleventh hour, at the fourth watch of the night, we would say, just before the day of trouble comes and the sun rises upon it, God intervenes and he brings about a deliverance. You can trace that. In Holy Scripture, or God may choose to deliver us in the midst of the trouble. He did that with regard to the disciples when they find themselves in the midst of the storm, in the fourth watch of the night. When the storm was at its height, the master trod the bellows and delivered his disciples. Or he may wait to deliver us from the world of troubles by promoting us to glory. That might be the way. Whatever way he chooses to do it, thank God, days of distress can become days of deliverance. God may deliver us swiftly, or his deliverances might be protracted, but deliver us he shall, for we have his word on it. He says, I will, I will deliver thee. We have noticed the season in our text, We've noticed the supplication in our text. We've noticed salvation in the text. Notice with me finally, a strategy. It's the only word I could come up with. God is a strategy or God is a plan. God is a purpose, why he permits the day of trouble in our lives. You see, God brings us into a day of trouble and then he delivers us from the day of trouble so that we may in turn glorify him. We've been thinking about glorifying God. We thought about one particular Lord's Day, glorifying God. And this is one way in which we can come to glorify God. Do you remember the single leper? Out of that group of 10 lepers, whenever he found himself that God had touched him, been delivered from his leprosy. Let me read what happened when he, Comes to that realization, Luke 17, 15 and 16 are the verses. It says, and one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice, glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. Deliverance by God gave this man an opportunity to glorify God. That's God's purpose. He delivers us from our day of trouble, and He expects us to return and glorify Him for it. So let me ask you the last time you experienced God's deliverance in your life, did you stop and glorify God? Do you remember COVID? I'm sure you do. Let me ask you, did you ever thank God that those days are over? We prayed, but did you ever thank God that the days are over? What about that sickness that you've went through recently? Did you kneel before God and thank Him for His touch upon your life? What about those supplies that God sent your way this week? When your back was up against the wall, did you glorify God's goodness to you in supplying your needs? Let's not miss the glorifying of God whenever the deliverance has been wrought. What did Israel do? When they came out the other side of the Red Sea and saw deliverance, in regard to the Egyptians, they stopped and they worshiped God. And they lifted their voices in praise to God. It's a wonderful thing to know that in the day of trouble, what Nahum came to express in Nahum 1 verse 7, the Lord is good. a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him. And it's also wonderful to know that God is able to deliver us in the day of trouble, and by doing so, he is glorified. He is glorified. May God be pleased to do that for you in answer to your cries, May God be pleased to deliver you from your day of trouble. And if his deliverance be delayed, that he will supply to you all grace that is needed to endure the day of trouble. So call upon me, he said. Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. May God bless His word to our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's stand briefly for a word of prayer. Our gracious Father, we just want to still ourselves and just to stop. Want to thank Thee for all the deliverances. Oh God, that You have worked in our lives. Want to thank Thee first of all for the greatest deliverance. The day, the night, the moment we were saved. We were delivered from the hand of the enemy and delivered from the power of darkness. And Lord, we thank Thee that ever since that, You have delivered us time and time again. And we praise Thee for it. And Lord, we just want to thank Thee. Lord, we want to thank Thee tonight that we're here on a Wednesday night. We're not staring down some computer screen or some phone. because of COVID. I want to thank thee, Lord, for bringing us again to the house of God and being here with my brethren and sisters. I want to thank thee for that. I want to thank thee, Lord, for how you've been answering prayer for some. And, Lord, it encourages us to continue to pray. And, Lord, we do pray for them. Continue now to help us as we come before the Lord in prayer and help each brother and sister to call upon thee. even in their day of trouble. We offer prayer in and through the Savior's name.