Heart Tracks - Day Of Trouble

"Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me." Psalm 50:15

There's a devotional that I've been using for 4-5 years now, and it's titled "Voices Of The Faithful." It's a daily walk written by and through the experiences of missionaries serving in fields all around the world. The one I read for today, August 17, spoke powerfully to me.

Gloria, who along with her family, ministered in Middle America, tells of the day that her husband, her oldest daughter, and two summer missionaries, drowned off a beach in Playa Linda. Her telling of that day resonates with His Life and Spirit. "As I contemplated the body of my 10 year old daughter, I felt my strength leave me. With my hands raised up and my body bent over by the pain, I cried, 'Father, I am not worthy to have You listen to me and I don't deserve to receive anything from You, but please help us.' As my hands came down, my body received the strength needed to handle my 'day of trouble.' "

We need to know, with no doubts, that all who truly follow Him will have their own "day of trouble." Likely many of them. How do we face them? What do we say, to Him, to those who witness our sorrow? In our handling of that day, who do we see? Who are others seeing in and through us? Reading Gloria's account of her loss reminds me of the story I heard of a young preacher and his family driving along in a torrential rain. As they rounded a curve, a mudslide engulfed their car, carrying it over the edge of the road and into the swollen, rushing river below. The young husband and father was thrown free of the car, his family was not. They plunged into the river and drowned. What the storyteller said next powrfully impacted my heart. He said that the young man, filled with shock and sorrow, made an altar out of the mud and stone around him, and gave his God his pain, loss, and above all, his family. As I read Gloria's account, and remember the young preacher, I wonder, could I do such as they? Could you? The answer is no, unless, unless, we are so deeply entwined in Him that even the deepest day of trouble cannot separate us from not only His love, but Himself as well.

Gloria went on to recount that the surrounding crowd on that beach saw God that day. She said she and her surviving children returned to that place to continue their calling, and that the surviving summer missionaries who witnessed it all are either working for her mission agency, or preparing to become missionaries themselves. More, she said that many of those who were looking on at the beach that day have become Christians themselves. In her terrible day of trouble, He was glorified, and through the story, continues to be glorified.

So, when the day of trouble comes, what will we do? Suffer pain for sure. Likely there will be loss. Who and what will be magnified, that which was lost, or He who is Lord even in the midst of the loss? Will we glorify Him, or diminish Him? It will be one or the other. Will it the One....or the other?

Blessings,
Pastor O