Call Upon Me in the Day of Trouble
Psalm 50 Psalm 46 James 5:13-16
A Palm of Asaph
Asaph was a Levite of the Gershonite family. He was appointed over the service of praise during the time of David and Solomon (1 Ch. 16:5; 2
Major Themes in Psalms:
Praise - Psalms are songs of praise to God who is our creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer. Praise is recognizing, appreciating, and expressing God’s greatness.
God’s Power - God is all-powerful. He acts at just the right time. He is sovereign over all situations. Nothing catches him by surprise. God’s power is seen in the ways he reveals himself in the creation, history, and the world.
Forgiveness - Many of the Psalms are prayers asking God for forgiveness. God’s forgiveness comes through confession, repentance, and turning away from sin.
Thankfulness - We should be grateful to God for his concern, help, and mercy, protection, guidance, and forgiveness. The world that he created for us provides everything we need.
Trust - God is faithful and just. Trusting God can quiet our hearts. We know that we can trust God in times of trouble because he has been faithful throughout history.
Psalm 50 is considered to be a “Covenant Lawsuit” brought by God against his people.
God’s people were experiencing a lot of problems - some brought on by their disobedience and some caused be the disobedience of others.
Quite often all of God’s people suffered whether they were guilty of any sin or disobedience or not.
Within this Psalm, God speaks to the faithful, the hypocrites, and those opposed to God.
Many of the sins listed affected and influenced the faithful.
There will always be many different ideas as to why we experience the things we do.
This Psalm gives us encouragement for troubled times - regardless of the reason.
This Psalm directs us to give our attention to God and not the circumstances.
Let us look more closely at what the Psalms have to say:
Power (vs. 1)
God is mighty - Psalm 46
The entire Bible is about God’s power and might.
Power to create, to heal, to save and deliver.
Direction (vs.7)
God will lead us - give us direction.
He will tell us what he wants - his desires, conditions, expectations.
God has our welfare in mind.
It is all too easy to complain (grumble) about things - especially when something affects us - yet God has everything all worked out.
ex. - Israelites crossing the Red Sea - Israelites in the desert - the many battles they fought
Prayer (vs. 15)
Much of the Psalms are the words of someone pouring their heart out to God.
Verse 15 -- “Call upon me in the day of trouble” -
James 5:13 -- “Is any one of you in trouble?” -
We can and must pour our hearts out to God.
We can complain, fuss, grieve, mourn, wail, throw a fit, confess sin -- God can handle it - and when we get all that stuff out of us (and it will go some where) God will heal us, comfort us, work with us, give us peace ---
We must pray with thanksgiving - (vs 23) - it is easy to get caught up in negative thinking which is harmful and destructive to us and to others.
We must pray in faith - James 5:13-18 - Do we believe in the power and ability of God? Do we believe that God will work on our behalf - or do we thing that we do not deserve his help?
Psalm 61 -- “Hear my cry … listen to my prayer”
Psalm 63 -- “Earnestly I seek you”
Relationship (vs. 5, 14-24)
God loves us unconditionally - BUT - he has conditions that we must abide by if we are to enter into a relationship with him.
Psalm 60 -- David confesses that God’s people have suffered a great defeat in battle because God
withdrew his divine protection and help when they ceased to obey him and follow his will. The remedy was for
In the same manner, the New Testament Church of today may experience spiritual defeat in its churches, families, and personal lives because God’s Spirit has been offended by our sin and our conformity to the society around us. There are many things today that can lead us to forsake our Biblical Principles of truth and righteousness.
We must stay within the shelter of his wings - Psalm 61:4
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving and praise in the midst of difficulties, trial, persecution, and other problems is found throughout the Bible.
Daniel -- in response to being thrown into the lions den - was that God could save him, but if he did not, he would still worship him and no other god.
Thanksgiving and praise changes our focus. If we focus on what we see, we may very well be missing what God is doing because we do not know what God is doing.
It is easy to make things all about us.
Thanksgiving and praise is all about God.
Let us remember the themes of this Psalm and rely upon them daily
Praise - Focusing our thoughts on God
God’s Power - Helps us when we feel powerless. God can help us.
Forgiveness - We can confidently ask God for his forgiveness when we offend him and alienate ourselves from him.
Thankfulness - Brings us closer to God. We realize how blessed we are in knowing God and are grateful for all the benefits.
Trust - Trust come from knowing God deeply and intimately. Such a relationship drives away fear, doubt, and loneliness.
