Psalm 34:19 All our tribulations

Last Friday, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer.  On the border between medium and high risk.

Normally I wouldn’t bring it up.  When I say normally, this is my third cancer diagnosis.  (1996,2017,2021)

The first time I had a really interesting year.  I wrote about it in a chapter for a book I wrote, The Importance of Healing.  I will attach a copy here to the emails I send out.

I expect this time will be just as interesting but different. 

Many of you at some time in your life will go through a really difficult time.  Hopefully, this video or article will be of help to you. 

And one of the first things you need to learn is to be able to hear from God.  I have learned to listen carefully at night or when I’m first waking up in the morning.  I haven’t used an alarm clock in maybe 30 years, even when I had to get up at 3:00 in the morning. 

This morning I had the strongest sense that I should do what I’m doing here.  Write and talk about this journey. 

The first time I got cancer, I was told to start chemotherapy right away.  I said no, I want to pray about it.  I had young kids.  I told them that you pray about all your problems, so I wanted to pray about this first.  Over the course of the next week or so, I found many, many Scripture passages that I felt spoke right to my situation.  I wasn’t looking for them.  They came in my normal course of Bible reading.

And today, one of the passages of Scripture I read was Psalm 34. 

I learned a long time ago that, when you study the Old Testament, if you can, read it in the Greek.  The Greek Old Testament was the Bible for most of the early Church.  That is the Bible they quote in the New Testament most of the time.

Three times in this psalm David talks about tribulations.  Christians often talk about tribulations.  The question is what God wants to do with them.

Psalm 34:6 ⁶ This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his tribulations.

Psalm 34:17 ¹⁷ The righteous cry, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their tribulations.

Psalm 34:19 ¹⁹ Many are the tribulations of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Look at verse 19 again.  MANY are the tribulations of the righteous.  The Hebrew word for tribulation can be translated as evil, misery, distress, injury, wrong, harm, mischief.  The Greek word in all three verses is the word commonly translated in the New Testament as tribulations.  The Greek word for tribulations stresses the idea of pressure. 

Christians can expect tribulations in this life.  And when you experience them, you need to read in the Bible what God says about them. 

Psalm 34:19 ¹⁹ Many are the tribulations of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Romans 5:3    we rejoice in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces endurance,   

Romans 8:35    Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?     

2Cor 1:4    who comforts us in all our tribulation, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any tribulation, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.      

2Cor 4:17    For this slight momentary tribulation is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,      

Psalm 32:7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance.  Selah.
Psalm 34:6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
17 The righteous cry, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
Ps 37:39 But the salvation of the righteous [is] of the LORD: [he is] their strength in the time of trouble. 

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 50:15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”
Psalm 54:4 Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul.
5 He will recompense the evil to my foes; Destroy them in Your faithfulness.
6 Willingly I will sacrifice to You; I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good.
7 For He has delivered me from all trouble, And my eye has looked with satisfaction upon my enemies.
Psalm 59:16 But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength; Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning, For You have been my stronghold and a refuge in the day of my distress.
Psalm 60:11 O give us help from tribulation, for deliverance by man is in vain.
Psalm 81:7 “You called in trouble and I rescued you; I answered you in the hiding place of thunder; I proved you at the waters of Meribah.  Selah.
Psalm 86:7 In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You, For You will answer me.
Psalm 91:15 “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
Psalm 108:12 Oh give us help from tribulation, For deliverance by man is in vain.
Psalm 118:5 From my distress I called upon the Lord; The Lord answered me and set me in a large place.
Psalm 138:7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch forth Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me.
Nahum 1:7 The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him.

The Bible records many miracles of God that He worked on behalf of His people.  And the miracles came because His people had needs.  Not only needs, but needs that were impossible to meet.  That’s why they were called miracles.

 

So when you face troubles, that is not the time to complain.  It’s the time to look up to God to see Him deliver you.