Call upon Me in the Day of Trouble

And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. PSALM 50:15

Bounds had known trouble at close quarters. He had been imprisoned for his conscience, had buried young soldiers and a young wife, had seen his town and his cause ruined, and had lived his last years in obscurity. When he wrote about prayer and trouble in The Essentials of Prayer, and about prayer and providence in The Possibilities of Prayer, he was not writing from a comfortable study. These chapters are among the most tender he wrote.

Trouble is common to all

He began with realism. Trouble belongs to life in a fallen world. It comes to rich and poor, learned and ignorant, saint and sinner. Anyone who expects nothing but sunshine, he said, has a false view of life and will be bitterly surprised.

Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. JOB 14:1

He was equally clear that trouble is not proof of God’s anger. Job was the most upright man of his day, and he suffered more than anyone. Trouble, Bounds wrote, is no evidence whatever of divine displeasure. It is not punishment, which belongs to the world to come, but discipline — the chastening of a Father who loves His children.

Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. HEBREWS 12:11

God’s hand is in it

The heart of his teaching is that nothing touches the believer outside God’s knowledge and control. Some trouble, he said, we bring on ourselves; some comes from other people; some, as in Job’s case, comes from Satan. But none of it escapes God. He does not approve of sin or cause every evil, but He permits what comes and takes hold of it for good.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. ROMANS 8:28

Bounds drew on Joseph, who told his brothers that though they had sold him, it was God who had sent him ahead to save many lives; and on Job, who said The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away. The one who prays, he said, learns to see God’s hand in trouble, even when he cannot explain it. “Prayer does not interpret God’s providences,” he wrote, “but it does justify them and recognise God in them.”

What prayer does in trouble

Bounds was honest that prayer does not always remove trouble. “Prayer often delivers out of trouble,” he wrote, “and still oftener gives strength to bear trouble.” It brings comfort, begets patience, and saves us from the bitterness that would turn trouble into a curse.

This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. PSALM 34:6

He noticed that the same trouble can soften one person and harden another. Pharaoh was hardened by the plagues until they no longer moved him; the prodigal son was brought to himself by hunger. “The same sun softens the wax and hardens the clay.” What makes the difference, he believed, is whether trouble drives us to God or away from Him.

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. ISAIAH 43:2

The cup and the garden

For the deepest trouble Bounds turned to Gethsemane. In The Reality of Prayer he described Jesus in the garden, sorrowful unto death, praying three times that the cup might pass, and yet adding each time, Not my will, but thine, be done. The cup did not pass. But an angel came and strengthened Him, and He rose from His knees ready to drink it.

Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. LUKE 22:42

Bounds drew a precious lesson from this. It is no sin, he said, to cry out against pain, to ask for relief, even to plead with God about His way, provided the heart remains submitted to Him. God often answers such prayers not by taking us out of the furnace, but by sending strength to endure it. Paul learned the same over his thorn.

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 CORINTHIANS 12:9

Where this must be read with care

This teaching is full of comfort, but a few of Bounds’s sentences can wound.

He wrote that if trouble fails in its good purpose, “it is either because of prayerlessness or unbelief, or both.” There is truth in the warning, but it can land cruelly on someone whose suffering has not yet produced visible fruit. Healing is often slow. Some wounds are carried to the grave. The psalms of lament show that God’s people may pray honestly for years in darkness without being charged with unbelief.

He also argued, in The Possibilities of Prayer, that no child ever dies without God’s direct permission, and that such a death takes place in His providence for wise ends. He meant it as comfort, and many grieving parents have found comfort in knowing that their child’s life was never out of God’s hands. But others have found such words hard to bear in the rawness of loss. It is wise to hold this truth quietly, to speak it gently if at all, and to remember that Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus even though He knew what He was about to do.

But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. LAMENTATIONS 3:32–33

The last word on trouble is not an explanation. It is a Person. God does not always tell us why. He does promise to be with us. Bounds’s best counsel was the simplest: whatever the trouble and wherever it comes from, take it to God in prayer.

FOR REFLECTION AND ACTION

1. Name the trouble that weighs on you most at present. Tell God about it plainly, holding nothing back.

2. Ask whether this trouble is driving you towards God or away from Him, and what it would take to turn towards Him.

3. Read Psalm 34 slowly, and underline every promise to those who are in trouble.

4. Think of someone who is suffering. Pray for them, and then find one practical way to show them care this week.

5. If you are in deep grief, give yourself permission to lament. Pray one of the psalms of lament, such as Psalm 13 or Psalm 88, as your own.

A PRAYER

Father, You have told us to call upon You in the day of trouble. I call upon You now, with what I understand and with all that I do not.

Thank You that nothing reaches me outside Your hand, and that You are able to work even this for good. Where I cannot see Your purpose, help me to trust Your heart.

If it be possible, take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done. And if You do not take it away, send me strength to drink it.

Keep me from bitterness. Let this trouble soften me and draw me nearer to You, until I see You face to face. Amen.