Counsel to the Afflicted, Question 2 · Section 11
SECT. 11.
11. If by this affliction you are, or ſhould hereafter be brought into ſuch great ſtraits as that you know not what to do, but are like a man at his wits end, that knoweth not which way to winde or turn himſelf to get out of his troubles, be not diſmayed at it, but look up unto God, and commit your ſelves and all your affairs unto him, cry to the Lord to help you, and though he do not preſently deliver you, yet truſt in him that he will deliver you in his own good time; and wait patiently upon him for his help, how great ſoever your ſtraits are, and though it be very long before he ſend you deliverance. Thus the ſervants of God in former times were wont to do, when their condition was ſo diſtreſſed, they knew not what to do; they looked to the Lord to help them, 2 Chron. 20.12. O our God,—we have no might againſt this great company that cometh againſt us, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. Pſal. 22.4,5. Our Fathers truſted in thee, they truſted, and thou didſt deliver them; they cryed unto thee, and mere delivered; they truſted in thee, and were not confounded. Pſalm 40.1,2. I waited patiently for the Lord, and he …nclined unto me, and heard my cry; he brought me up alſo out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay; and ſet my feet upon a rock, and eſtabliſhed my goings. I will adde ſome things by way of encourage ment, to encourage you to truſt in God, and to wail patiently upon him, when you are in ſuch great ſtraies that you know not what to do.
1. When you know not what to do, God knows what to do for you. We read, John 6.5. When Jeſus liſt up his eyes, and ſaw a great company come unto him, he ſaid unto Philip, Whence ſhall we buy bread, that theſe may eat. Philip was at a loſs, he knew not whence they ſhould have bread enough to ſuffice ſuch a multitude, as you may ſee, ver. 7. But though Philip knew not how or which way ſuch a multitude ſhould be provided for, Chriſt did, ver. 6. This he ſaid to prove him, for he himſelf knew what he would do. When a godly mans temptations are ſuch as he knoweth not which way he ſhould be delivered, God knows how to deliver him, 2 Pet. 2.9. The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations—If ſuch thoughts ſhould ariſe in your hearts (as through the ſuggeſtion of Satan poſſibly they may) that your ſtraits are ſo great, that the way of your deliverance is not only hid from your eyes, but hid from God alſo; and that it is above the wiſdom of God to know how to deliver you, abominate all ſuch wicked and ungodly thoughts, and remember, that Gods Wiſdom is infinite, far above what we can ſearch into, Iſa. 40.27,28. Why ſayeſt thou, O Jacob, and ſpeakeſt, O Iſrael, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is paſſed over from my God: Haſt thou not known? haſt thou not heard, that the everlaſting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no ſearching of his under ſtanding, Pſal. 147.5. Great is our Lord, and of great power, his under ſtanding is infinite. Thoſe things which ſeem invincible diffioulties to us, have no difficulty at all in the account of God, Zech. 8.6. If it be marvellous in the eyes of the remnant of this people, in theſe dayes, ſhould it alſo be marvellows in mine eyes, ſaith the Lord of Hoſts? Iſa. 55.8,9. My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your wayes my wayes, ſaith the Lord; for as the heavens are higher than the earth, ſo are my wayes, higher than your wayes, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
2. When you are at that paſs, that you know not what to do, as God knows what to do for you, ſo he is able to help and deliver you, his Power is equal to his Wiſdom, Gen. 18.14. Is any thing too hard for the Lord? Luke 1.37. With God nothing ſhall be unpoſſible. Even ſuch things as men judge impoſſible, and what they do not only judge ſo, but thoſe things which are real impoſſibilities to men, are poſſible with God, Luke 18.27. The things which are unpoſſible with mien, are poſſible with God. When the difficulty of your caſe diſcourageth you from believing, conſider what a great and hard work it was to make the heavens and the earth, and then you will conclnde that nothing can be too hard for God, Jer. 32.17. Ah, Lord God, behold thou haſt made the heaven and the earth by thy great power, and ſtretched out arme, and there is nothing too hard for thee. Suppoſe there was no way extant, whereby you can be delivered out of your troubles, God can make away for you to eſcape, he can create deliverance, 1 Com. 10.13. God is faithful, who will not ſuffer you to be tempted above that ye ars able, but will with the temptation alſo make a way to efcape, that ye may be able to bear it. Iſa. 4.5. The Lord will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon hen aſſemblies, a cloud and ſmoke by days, and the ſhining of a flaming fire by nights for upon all the glory ſhall be a defence.
3. The Lord is not only able to help you out of great ſtraits, but he bath promiſed, that when you are in ſuch diſtreſs that you know not what to do, if you call upon him, and truſt in him, he will deliver you, Pſal. 25.15. Mins eyes and ever towards the Lord, for he ſhall pluck my feet out of the net. When Davids feet were entangled in a net, that he knew not which way to winde and turn himſelf, he eyes, and reſts upon Gods promiſe, He ſhall pluck my feet out of the net, Pſal 50.15. Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou ſhalt glorifie me. They day of trouble taketh in the greareſt, as well as leſſes troubles, and the Hebrew word that is uſed in this place for trouble, is the ſame that is uſed, Daniel 12.2: where the Prophet ſpeaketh of ſuch a time of trouble as never was ſince the Creation: ſo that the promiſe implyes thus much, when it is a day of trouble with you, though your preſſures and troubles be ſuch, as never any perſon or people met with greater ſince the creation of the world, if you call upon God be will deliver you, Job. 5.19. He ſhall deliver thee in ſix troubles, yea, in ſeven there ſhall no evil touch thee. The Hebrew word for trouble here, is the ſame with what was mentioned before, and is ſometimes tranſlated, a ſtrait, 2 Sam. 34.14. I am in a great ſtrait. So that the promiſe implies thus much, that when we are in ſtraits, in great ſtraits, in many ſtraits, God will deliver us, and bring us out of them all, Pſalm 71.20. Thou which haſt ſhewen me great; and ſore troubles, ſhalt quicken me again, and ſhalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
4. Though you be in ſuch ſtraits, that you know not what to do, yet truſt in God, for your help doth not ſtand in your own wiſdom, or in your own ſtrength, but in the Lord, Pſal. 124.8. Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Your deliverance from trouble, doth not come partly from God, and partly from your ſelves, but from God only, Pſal. 62.6. He only is my rock, and my ſalvation, he is my dofence; I ſhall not be moved. When all help faileth, he will be a very preſent help in trouble, Pſal. 46.1. God is our refuge and ſtrength, a very preſent help in trouble. Now ſeeing your help ſtandeth only in the name of the Lord, though your wiſdom and your ability to help your ſelves faileth you, this ſhould not hinder you from truſting in God to help you.
5. Conſider what God hath done for others in their ſtraits, when they cried unto God, he helped them, though their troubles were ſuch as that their ſouls melted under them, and they have been at their wits end, Pſal. 107.26,27,28. They mount up to the heaven; they go down again to the depths; their ſoul is melted becauſe of trouble,—they are at their wits end: Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their diſtreſs. Pſal. 34.6. This poor man cryed, and the Lord heard him, and ſaved him out of all his troubles. David was delivered out of a great ſtrait, when he penned this Pſalm, as you, may ſee by the title, compared with 1 Sam. 21.10,11,12,13. David gives us divers inſtances of Gods delivering him out of very great ſtraits, ſuch as to an eye of fence ſeemed inextricable and invincible, Pſal. 18.29. By thee I have run through a troop, and by my God have I leaped over a wall. Pſal. 40.2. He brought me up out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay. And he telleth us, that it was the will of God, that thoſe deliverances which God had given him, ſhould encourage others to truſt in the Lord, Many ſhall ſee it, and fear, and ſhall truſt in the Lord, ver. 3.
6. The Holy Ghoſt recommendeth it to us, as that which is very good and profitable for us, and very acceptable and pleaſing to God, that we ſhould truſt and hope in God, in our greateſt ſtraits, Lam. 3.26. It is good that a man ſhould both hope, and quietly wait for the ſalvation of the Lord. This was ſpoken to thoſe who were in great diſtreſs, and ſaw no way how they ſhould get out of their troubles, ver. 7. 9. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out, he hath made my chain heavy, he hath encloſed my wayes with hewen ſtone, he hath made my paths crooked. Hereupon they were ready to deſpair of deliverance, and to ſay, ver. 18. My ſtrength and my hope is periſhed from the Lord. Yet to them the Holy Ghoſt ſaith, It is good that a man ſhould both hope, and quietly wait for the ſalvation of the Lord. And as it is good for us, ſo alſo it is pleaſing to God that we ſhould hope in him under our greateſt troubles, Pſal. 147.11. The Lord taketh pleaſure in them that fear him, in thoſe that hope in his mercy.
If any ſay, I have brought my ſelf into my ſtraits, and my troubles, by my ſins, and this keepeth me from truſting in God, becauſe my troubles are the fruit of my ſins. Were it purely the hand of God to try my faith and patience, I could in ſuch a caſe hope in God.
Anſ. Though our troubles do come upon us for our ſins, yet if we humble our ſouls for our ſins and cry to God in our diſtreſſes, he will raiſe up deliverance for us, Pſal. 107.10,11,12,13,14. Such as ſit in darkneſs, and in the ſhadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; becanſe they rebelled againſt the words of God, and contemned the counſel of the moſt high; therefore he brought down their heart with labour, they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he ſaved them out of their diſtreſs; he brought them out of darkneſs, and the ſhadow of death, and brake their bands in ſunder. And again, ver. 17, 19. Fools, becauſe of their tranſgreſſion, and becauſe of oheir iniquities, are afflicted; then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, he ſaveth them out of their diſtreſſes. When David was under ſuch a great ſenſe of ſin as made his heart to fail, he did yet hope in God for deliverance out of his troubles, Pſal. 40.12,17. Innumerable evils have compaſſed me about, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, ſo that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head, therefore my heart faileth me. I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me; thou art my help and my deliverer, make no tarrying, O my God. When Jonah was caſt into the Sea, and ſwallowed up by a Whale, it was for his ſin, in flying from the preſence of the Lord; yet when in his affliction he cryed to God, God heard and delivered him, Jonah 2.2,10. I cryed by reaſon of mine affliction, unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardeſt my voice. And the Lord ſpake unto the Fiſh, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.