June 16 Daily Devotional

Bible Verse

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

Devotional

It is in the time of trouble that we learn to pray with new power. We become more thoroughly acquainted with the divine nature and the omnipotent energy of prayer. We learn what our resources, as the true sons of Israel, are.

Many are then led to pray who never prayed before. "O LORD, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them" (Isa. 26:16).

It is then that the proud spirit yields. The knee that never bent before now bends. And the terrified soul cries out to him whose chastening is upon it.

As well, the slumbering Christian is awakened to call upon God. It is then that he finds how far away from God he had been living. Then he discovers his true position—the real state of his soul—when it comes to prayer. Thus aroused by a voice, like the slumbering prophet, and thus startled by a rebuke from a source he would least have suspected—"What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your God!" (Jonah 1:6)—he awakes to find himself in a storm that threatens instant destruction. To what does he then commit himself? David shall answer: "I give myself to prayer" (Ps. 109:4).

And oh, how eloquent then is the voice of the wrestling believer! Never did the fugitive prophet "pray to the LORD his God" (Jonah 2:1) as when walking in the midst of trouble. "I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, 'I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple'" (Jonah 2:2–4).

In this way the Lord revives the spirit of prayer within us. And oh, what words can describe the blessedness of prayer in trial! How can you calculate the preciousness of the privilege of having a God to go to, a Father to flee to in trouble!

To bring you more deeply and personally into this experience, dear tried Christian, the Lord your God is dealing with you now. O beloved, commit yourself to prayer! You will indeed find prayer to be the outlet of all sorrow, and the inlet of all joy.

Welcome the trouble that thus revives you. Receive with meekness of spirit—yes, with gladness of heart—the discipline, however humbling, that throws you upon God—yes, that severs you from all creatures to shut you up to God alone. That discipline, as painful as it is, springs from love. In love God sent that trouble. In love God permitted that cross. In love God gave that cup. In love God used that rod. He did so in order to draw you to himself in prayer. Why these frowns of your Father, why these hidings of your Savior, why these withholdings of the Spirit, except to allure you into the holiest place, there to find the throne of grace?

"I will return again to my place, until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face, and in their distress earnestly seek me" (Hos. 5:15).

Why should cross and trial grieve me?
Christ is near with his cheer;
never will he leave me.
Who can rob me of the heaven
that God's Son for my own
to my faith hath given?

God oft gives me days of gladness;
shall I grieve if he give
seasons, too, of sadness?
God is good and tempers ever
all my ill, and he will
wholly leave me never.

Death cannot destroy for ever;
from our fears, cares, and tears
it will us deliver.
It will close life's mournful story,
make a way that we may
enter heav'nly glory.

Lord, my Shepherd, take me to thee.
Thou art mine; I was thine,
even ere I knew thee.
I am thine, for thou hast bought me;
lost I stood, but thy blood
free salvation brought me.

Thou art mine; I love and own thee.
Light of Joy, ne'er shall I
from my heart dethrone thee.
Savior, let me soon behold thee
face to face,—may thy grace
evermore enfold me!

(Paul Gerhardt, 1653, cento; tr. composite, based on John Kelly, 1867)

Be sure to read the Preface by Octavius Winslow and A Note from the Editor by Larry E. Wilson.

Larry Wilson is an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to having served as the General Secretary of the Committee on Christian Education of the OPC (2000–2004) and having written a number of articles and booklets (such as God's Words for Worship and Why Does the OPC Baptize Infants) for New Horizons and elsewhere, he has pastored OPC churches in Minnesota, Indiana, and Ohio. We are grateful to him for his editing of Morning Thoughts, the OPC Daily Devotional for 2025.