TROUBLE EXPOSES
by A. Gene Veal

Many times I have counseled people who are astonished when someone they thought was such a wonderful Christian suddenly faces a crisis and then turns from God and goes the opposite direction for the rest of their life.

Several times over the years a wife has told me her husband was very active in church, a wonderful husband, and a good father.  He was very close to his Dad, who was also a wonderful Christian.  Her husband obviously counted on his Dad’s approval in his life and lived to attain full acceptance from him.  The Dad died.  The son was crushed.  No longer having his Dad to monitor him and make him accountable, the truth of who he was came out in his choices from then until now.  He is lost.  He had never truly believed.  Trouble exposed him.

This same thing is illustrated in Chronicles in the story of Joash.  “Joash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.”  But when the priest died, Joash “abandoned the house of the Lord, the God of their fathers.”

Proverbs says, “For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, but the wicked stumble in time of calamity.”  When trouble comes, the wicked man becomes a victim or takes on a “victim mentality.”  He is overwhelmed.  He panics.  He is overcome by fear.  He “dies many times before his death.”

Jesus said of him, “since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.”  So Jesus was telling us that trouble exposes him as an unbeliever even though he professed to believe.

Wasn’t that the way it went with Judas?  Judas expected Jesus to set up His kingdom and Judas expected to be a part of that kingdom rule.  When Jesus persisted in declaring, “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles” Judas wanted no part of that.  He then began making plans to cash in on Jesus while he could.  The prospect of trouble exposed Judas.  He was not a true believer.

The Scripture tells us “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”  In John 8 we are told about the Jews that heard Jesus: “As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.” And then by the end of the chapter it says “they picked up stones to throw at Him.”  So much for believing.  When they heard the Word Jesus declared to them they were troubled and trouble exposed them. The Scripture tells us “many believed in His name” but it also says, “But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man.”  He sends trouble and trouble exposes.

Even when trouble arises in the church body, Paul tells us that it is necessary because that very trouble will expose who is of God.  “For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.”  Trouble exposes even within the congregation of professing believers.

If a man has truly believed it will become evident when he is in trouble.  Trouble comes upon all people, lost and saved alike.  Remember, it rained and the floods came against the man who built his house upon the rock (God’s Word) as well as coming against the man who built his house upon the sand (without God’s Word).    Many trials cannot overwhelm the righteous, but one is sufficient to sweep away the wicked.  Why does God send trouble?  The reason is because trouble exposes and that is what God intends.

“For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again, but the wicked stumble in time of calamity.”  The righteous man is going to have trouble, don’t kid yourself about that.  Without trouble, where would the glory of God be in our lives?  God is faithful to them that are His.  In Job it says, “From six troubles He will deliver you, Even in seven evil will not touch you.”  The idea of “seven” is that no matter how many times you find yourself in trouble, God will deliver you.  Remember our earlier text: Psalm 50:15 “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”  The end result is praise and glory to God.

That we believers will have trouble is not even hidden from us, for the Psalms declare it this way: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.”  You will note that it doesn’t list any conditions for him to be delivered.  God will deliver every time.  The thing we need to know going through the trouble is that He will deliver us.  That will make the experience a yoke that is “easy” and a burden that is “light.”  Even in the midst of the trouble, if we have grown in the “grace and knowledge of God,” we will have a peace “which surpasses all comprehension.”

Believing what God promises will give us such a faith and confidence that we can pass “through the Valley of the Shadow of Death” and we will “fear no evil.”  The Psalmist said, “When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the LORD is the One who holds his hand.”  Our confidence is not in the Christian, but in God.

Let us join Micah in proclaiming: “Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall I will rise; though I dwell in darkness, the LORD is a light for me.”  Trouble exposes those who are FALSE and those who are TRUE.  Those who are true believers will always rise up again when they fall. If you see someone who is “destroyed” by their circumstances, know the truth about them because trouble exposes.

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