Distress
Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress.
Psalm 4:1
Stress is bad, but distress is worse. In Genesis 32:7, Jacob was greatly distressed. All Israel was “greatly distressed” in Judges 2:15, and in Judges 10:9 they were “severely distressed.” In 1 Samuel 16:14, King Saul suffered a “distressing spirit.” Job was in “dire distress” in Job 36:16. The apostle Paul spoke of the personal distress that overwhelmed him in 2 Corinthians 12:10.
Sometimes we go through periods of distress and great distress and severe distress and dire distress. But the most amazing “distress” passage in the Bible is in Mark 14:33 when our Lord “began to be troubled and deeply distressed” in the Garden of Gethsemane.
If you are in distress today, remember that Jesus suffered His distress to bring you out of yours. The book of Romans says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress…? Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (8:35, 37).
When we praise and worship God when distressed, our problems may not instantly disappear, but don’t give up. In His own way, the Lord will relieve you in your distress.
Suffering is unbearable if you’re not certain God is with you and for you.
Tim Keller
Turning Point Ministries
Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress.
Psalm 4:1
Stress is bad, but distress is worse. In Genesis 32:7, Jacob was greatly distressed. All Israel was “greatly distressed” in Judges 2:15, and in Judges 10:9 they were “severely distressed.” In 1 Samuel 16:14, King Saul suffered a “distressing spirit.” Job was in “dire distress” in Job 36:16. The apostle Paul spoke of the personal distress that overwhelmed him in 2 Corinthians 12:10.
Sometimes we go through periods of distress and great distress and severe distress and dire distress. But the most amazing “distress” passage in the Bible is in Mark 14:33 when our Lord “began to be troubled and deeply distressed” in the Garden of Gethsemane.
If you are in distress today, remember that Jesus suffered His distress to bring you out of yours. The book of Romans says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress…? Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (8:35, 37).
When we praise and worship God when distressed, our problems may not instantly disappear, but don’t give up. In His own way, the Lord will relieve you in your distress.
Suffering is unbearable if you’re not certain God is with you and for you.
Tim Keller
Turning Point Ministries
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