Troubles without number may surround us; our sins may overtake us so that we are left facing all kinds of peril, but we can still be confident that as we wait patiently for the Lord and call to him out of the depths of our distress, He will hear our cry for help and rescue us. Whatever the pit is and however dark and lonely you feel, God is there with us. The psalmist said, ‘In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from your sight!”’ (Ps 31:22) and when we’re in a dark place, we often feel cut off. Yet that verse goes on, ‘Yet You heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help.’ (Ps 31:22) God hears us and is our rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save us (Ps 31:2). The God who saved Joseph, Jonah and Jeremiah can also save us from our pits and give us a firm place to stand and a new song to sing. We can testify that God is able to deliver us from evil and rescue us from danger. We ask God for help, as the psalmists did: ‘Turn your ear to me, come quickly to my rescue; be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.’ (Ps 31:2)
When we face opposition and persecution from people, we pray, ‘Rescue me from their ravages, my precious life from these lions’ (Ps 35:17) and learn to say ‘He rescues me unharmed from the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me.’ (Ps 55:18)
When we sin and mess up, we come before God in repentance and ask for His cleansing and forgiveness: ‘Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.’ (Ps 51:1)
When we face opposition and persecution, even though we are not aware of having done anything wrong, we take heart from Jesus’ words to His disciples: ‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ (Jn 16:33)
Most of all, we are blessed because we know God’s deliverance and rescue are not dependent on our righteousness and our goodness, but on His unfailing love, mercy, compassion and kindness. Ps 44:26 says, ‘rescue us because of your unfailing love.’ Whatever our pit of peril today, we can have hope that blessings will run alongside the troubles and that rescue will come in God’s time because of His unfailing love. Our response to trials is to cry out to God from the depths and to wait patiently for His rescue.
