When Trouble Comes

Illus: That reminds me of two Canadians, Elmer and Huey that live in Newfoundland. They were walking down the street in New York looking for a way to make some easy money. They only had $350 between them and when it was gone they would be broke and on the streets.

They saw a sign on a store window which read:

• Suits $5.00 each

• Shirts $2.00 each

• Trousers $2.50 per pair

Elmer says to his pal, "Huey LOOK! At these prices we can buy a truckload of them and go back to Newfoundland and make a fortune." Huey agreed!

Elmer says, “Listen, when we go in there you let me do the talking because if they can tell by our accent that we are Canadians they may jack the prices up and sell them in Newfoundland themselves!” Huey agreed!

They go inside and Elmer says with his New York accent, "Excuse me sir, but I'll take 50 suits at $5.00 each, 100 shirts at $2.00 each, 50 pairs of trousers at $2.50 each. I'll back up my pickup and. . . ."

The owner of the shop interrupts, "You boys are from Newfoundland, aren't you?"

"Yah," says a surprised Elmer "How did you know?"

The owner says, "Because this is a drycleaners."

We all have problems, but if we want to find a solution to our problems we have to go to the right place.

Illus: This reminds me of the television commercial where the man goes to a store to get a cell phone and the lady who is busy putting stock on the shelves said, “Mister, this is a hardware store.” He then realized he had come to the wrong place for help.

Now some folks have problems and even if they go to the right place they still do not seem to be able to get any help.

Illus: Some folks have written to “Dear Abby” for some help, but some folks are helpless. For example, let me read REAL LETTERS that were sent to her:

• Dear Abby,

I have a man I can't trust. He cheats so much, I'm not even sure the baby I'm carrying is mine.

• Dear Abby,

I've suspected that my husband has been fooling around, and when confronted with the evidence, he denied everything and said it would never happen again.

• Dear Abby,

A couple of women moved in across the hall from me. One is a middle-aged gym teacher and the other is a social worker in her mid twenties. These two women go everywhere together and I've never seen a man go into or leave their apartment. Do you think they could be Lebanese?

• Dear Abby,

What can I do about all the Sex, Nudity, Fowl Language and Violence on my VCR?

• Dear Abby,

I am a twenty-three year old liberated woman who has been on the pill for two years. It's getting expensive and I think my boy friend should share half the cost, but I don't know him well enough to discuss money with him.

There are some people that we know and we can't help but wonder if there is help for them anywhere.

But for most folks there is hope if they know where to look for help in times of need.

In this particular Psalm that I read to you we find that David is in BIG TROUBLE!

David was a fugitive, fleeing for his life as King Saul sought to kill him. Just before he wrote this Psalm, David had come as close to being killed as he had ever come. What had happened? Well, Saul and his men had surrounded David at Mt. Maon and were about to close in for the kill when news came to Saul that the Philistines had just invaded the land. Since that was more urgent than killing David was, it diverted Saul's attention and gave David time to escape.

It is in this Psalm that we can see what a GODLY MAN NEEDS TO DO DURING THE TRYING TIMES OF HIS LIFE. Notice what David did. First...

I. HE LOOKED ABOVE

Look at verses 1-2, we read, "Preserve me. 0 God: for in thee do I put my trust. 0 my soul. thou hast said unto the Lord. Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee."

Illus: A woman was at work when she received a phone call that her daughter was very sick with a fever. She left her work and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication. She got back to her car and found that she had locked her keys in the car. She didn't know what to do:

• She called home and told the babysitter what had happened. The babysitter told her that the fever was getting worse. She said, "You might find a coat hanger and use that to open the door."