God, Our Security

MEMORY VERSE: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” —Psalm 46:1

ISAIAH 37:14-21, 31-35

DURING the long reign of sin and death the Lord’s people have continued to be a people of trouble. Satan and his forces are opposed to them; the selfish spirit of the world is contrary to their spirit; and the imperfections of their own flesh prove to be a trial to those who genuinely desire to do the Lord’s will. But we are told that in the “mountain,” or kingdom, of the Lord “the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth.”—Isa. 25:6-9

However, the Lord’s people have Thad a compensating blessing which has enabled them to endure their trials, and this compensation has been the presence, guidance, and help of the Lord. During the Jewish Age, God blessed his people along material lines. This was in keeping with his covenant with them at Mount Sinai. However, this was true only when they were obedient to the Lord.

King Hezekiah endeavored to do the Lord’s will and to encourage the people to worship and served the true God of Israel; therefore he could depend upon divine protection against Israel’s enemies. The account of the manner in which God did deliver his people from the clutches of Sennacherib and his huge army is a thrilling one.

Hezekiah prayed earnestly for the Lord’s help, as it was proper for him to do, and he seemed confident that the Lord would exercise his power and bring deliverance. We find him assuring the people of this saying, “Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: with him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord to fight our battles.” (II Chron. 32:7,8) According to the marginal translation, the people of Israel “leaned” upon these words of Hezekiah, that is, depended upon them.—vs. 8

And they were not disappointed. The Lord answered Hezekiah’s prayer. He sent an angel, who in one night destroyed the entire army of the Assyrians. Thus Jerusalem was saved, and the name of the Lord honored. (Isa. 37:36) This reminds us of a truth which is set forth clearly in the Bible; namely, that often the Lord uses his holy angels to accomplish his purposes for him. The Psalmist wrote, “The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.”—Ps. 34:7

The Lord’s people of the present age are also assured of divine care and protection; but this does not necessarily mean deliverance from trials, even from severe trials, for it is by these that our fidelity to the Lord as new creatures in Christ Jesus is being tested. God has promised not to allow us to be tested above that which we are able to bear; and, when the trials become too great, to provide a way of escape.—I Cor. 10:13

God, as “a very present help in trouble” at the present time, is manifested in his giving us strength and courage to bear our experiences, and in his helping us to learn the needed lessons. How grand it is to be assured that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”—Rom. 8:28

Our memory verse has a very special application to the time in which we are living. This is indicated by the following verses which symbolically describe the great “time of trouble” through which the world is now passing. (Dan. 12:1) The text reminds us that in the chaotic times in which we are living our hearts are not to be filled with fear as are the hearts of the worldly. According to the next verses, it is because God is our refuge that we will not “fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains he carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.”—vss. 2,3

Jesus, in his prophecy of the end of the age and the time of his second presence, likened the great time of trouble, or tribulation, which would then come upon the earth to the roaring of the sea and waves. (Luke 21:25,26) This is a grand time in which to be living, especially when we realize the closeness of the Lord in the care of his people, for he is indeed our security.

QUESTIONS

Why have God’s people been a suffering people?

How did God bless his people under the Law Covenant?

Does God deliver us from trouble?

Why does our memory verse have a special application at the present time?

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