“When you’re down and out When you’re on the street When evening falls so hard I will comfort you I’ll take your part, oh, when darkness comes and pain is all around Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down Like a bridge over troubled water I will lay me down.”

(Simon & Garfunkel Bridge over Troubled Water January 1970)

Do you ever get weary? Do you feel small standing in the shadow of so much pain, struggle, and trouble? Do you think to yourself, “why go on?” “why me?” “Why God, why? The fact is life is not without trouble. Adam and Eve made that inevitable when they disobeyed God and gave into temptation. Enter Trouble! This fight is with the prince of evil, fought every moment of our life on Earth. We can not escape the onslaught that is thrown at us daily. It is his campaign for our very lives; the battlefield is the souls of humankind.

Sometimes we feel very alone, abandoned, left to fend for ourselves, remarkably ill-equipped to do it on our own. Where is my “bridge?” I have no desire to succumb to the floodwaters of Satan’s advances. Yet, in the face of severe adversity, when the constant barrage of Satan’s darts come at you from all corners, when we, with clear eyes we see the advancement of the evil one, we have a bridge!

The trusses, the anchor, the foundation of that bridge, is the Lord and Savior of humanity. Jesus is always the answer.

In the books of wisdom (Job – Ecclesiastes), the word “trouble” is seen fifty-three times, thirty-three times in the book Psalm.  It is used both in the positive and negative. Open the word of God and read in Psalm chapter 107. The Psalmist opens with praise to the Lord. “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psa.107:1 ESV) In the next twenty-eight verses, the Lord of mercies is praised and exalted for His care and deliverance in the time of trouble. (E.g., verses 2, 6, 13, 19 & 28) However, in verse 29, the Psalmist writes: “He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.”

Remind you of anything? Maybe Jonah, while on a boat fleeing, he thought, from God! Perhaps the apostle Paul while on his way to Rome and the storm was great! (Acts 27) God calms the storms, in Mark, we have the sign of Jesus calming the sea simply by saying “Peace Be still!” (Mk.4:39). In Luke’s account (Lk.8:22-25), he writes this (vs.24) “And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm.”  The keyword to me in this verse is “calm.” Isn’t it comforting to know that we have a Master of the storms that provide calmness, stillness, tranquility in the storms of life?

Father, we thank you for the trouble in our lives. Please help us understand that calling on you should be what we always do regardless of tranquility or danger. In our Saviors name, Amen.