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I once saw in a paper some verses the first lines of which were something like the following:
"Trouble has a way of coming Big end first;
And when seen at its appearing, Looks its very worst."
Many people are always seeing trouble. They are "troubled on every side." When they talk,
it is generally to tell of their trouble. There are others who, though they have troubles,
seem able to put them in the background, and say but little about them. They talk of victory,
of the Lord's help, and of the joys of salvation. We all have our troubles; for man is "of few
days, and full of trouble," but the greatest troubles any of us have, I think, are the
ones that never come. How truly the poet has spoken in the above-quoted lines! Just as
he says, trouble comes big end first and fills us with forebodings.
How easy it is to worry over the troubles that loom up in the future. "Oh, how shall
we meet them!" we exclaim. "Oh, I do not see what I shall do!" and we fear and tremble
before them. Nearly all the joy is excluded from some people's lives by the shadow of
coming troubles; but when those troubles come upon us, we someway, somehow, pass through
them. Many of them, and sometimes very threatening ones, disappear entirely before we reach them;
and the others, when they do come, are usually not nearly so bad as we had thought they were
going to be. We always find a way through them. Many times we are surprized at the ease
with which we overcome them. One brother who had been troubled all his life was finally
enabled to see that the Lord always made a way through for him, and in speaking of it
he said, "Things nearly always turn out better than I think they are going to."
A young brother and I once had an experience that well illustrates how trouble works. We
were going to meeting one night. There was such a heavy fog, that we could see only a
few feet ahead of us. Suddenly there loomed before us what appeared to be a great giant.
He came striding toward us through the fog with legs twenty feet long and body towering
up out of sight. It was an awe-inspiring spectacle and at first sight startled us. There it was,
coming right toward us in a most threatening manner. If we had been frightened and had
run away, we might have had a great story to tell; but we continued walking on toward
it, when suddenly we came face to face with one of our neighbors. He was only an ordinary-sized
man, and there was nothing terrible about him; but he was carrying a lantern, which
swung partly behind him, and as he walked threw that gigantic shadow forward into the
fog. The giant that we saw was not the real man; it was only his shadow.
That is just the way trouble comes. The thing we see is not really the approaching trouble
in its true size and shape; it is only the shadow of it that we see. Our imagination
pictures it as something terrible, and we worry and live in its shadow for days and
weeks, only to find at last that we have been scared by a shadow and that the real trouble
is only a fraction of what we supposed it would be.
When Alexander the Great was a youth, his father had a war-horse that no one could ride.
The youthful prince made up his mind to conquer the animal. When he tried it, he discovered
that the horse was afraid of its shadow; so he turned its head toward the sun and soon
had it conquered. Let us learn a lesson from this, and when we become afraid of the shadows
of trouble, let us turn our faces toward the Sun of Righteousness, thus leaving the shadows
behind us. The Scripture says: "The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge
in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou,
Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee".
David said: "Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. For in
the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavillion: in the secret of his tabernacle
shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted
up above mine enemies round about me".
O troubled soul, instead of looking at your troubles, look to Jesus. The more you look
at your troubles, the worse they will appear, the more you will be troubled, and the less
you will see of God and his help. Do you not know that God loves you? do you not know that
he sees the trouble? do you not know that he knows the best way to meet it, and just
exactly how much grace you will need? Instead of worrying, try trusting; you willfind it
works much better. Cultivate the habit of casting your care upon Jesus. Face your troubles
boldly. Assert in your soul: "The Lord will make a way. The Lord will help me through."
Continue repeating it until it becomes real to you, and you will be surprized how simple
trust will take you through to victory.