Trouble

Trouble is the human weather of scripture. Man "is of few days, and full of trouble" (Job 14:1), and the words for it spread out across a wide range — distress, anguish, misery, affliction, the hand laid heavy, the waters that rise to the soul. Around this condition the canon arranges its responses: the cry "in the day of trouble," the night-prayers that refuse to be comforted, the patient counsel of Ben Sira, the lament of Zion, the voice of Christ to the troubled heart, and the apostolic confidence that present sufferings are not worthy to be compared with what is coming.

Man Is Full of Trouble

Job names the condition at its widest: "Man, who is born of a woman, Is of few days, and full of trouble" (Job 14:1). His own complaint runs through the same vocabulary — "the arrows of the Almighty are inside me" (Job 6:4); "I was at ease, and he broke me apart" (Job 16:12); "He is chastened also with pain on his bed, And with continual strife in his bones" (Job 33:19). His three companions come "to bemoan him and to comfort him" (Job 2:11), and one of them speaks the older promise that runs underneath: "He will deliver you in six troubles; Yes, in seven no evil will touch you" (Job 5:19). Beyond Job, the same fact gets stated as a sentence on the wicked — "The wicked man travails with pain all his days" (Job 15:20) — and as a curse-formula on a faithless people: "In the morning you will say, Oh that it were evening! And at evening you will say, Oh that it were morning!" (Deut 28:67).

In the Day of Trouble

A repeated phrase carries the weight: the day of trouble. It is the day a person calls, and the day Yahweh answers. "And call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will glorify me" (Ps 50:15). "God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble" (Ps 46:1). "Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in [his Speech]" (Nah 1:7). "For in the day of trouble he will keep me secretly in his pavilion: In the covert of his tabernacle he will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock" (Ps 27:5). "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you will revive me" (Ps 138:7). The promise comes back as a generalization in the Psalter — "Many are the afflictions of the righteous; But Yahweh delivers him out of them all" (Ps 34:19) — and as a personal token in another psalm: "Show me a token for good… Because you, Yahweh, have helped me, and comforted me" (Ps 86:17).

The Night-Prayers

A particular kind of trouble keeps the lamps burning. The psalmist's bed becomes a place of weeping — "I am weary with my groaning; Every night I make my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears. My eye wastes away because of grief; It waxes old because of all my adversaries" (Ps 6:6-7). Distress is told through the body: "For day and night your hand was heavy on me: My moisture was changed in the drought of summer" (Ps 32:4); "My soul melts for heaviness: Strengthen me according to your word" (Ps 119:28); "My soul is cast down inside me" (Ps 42:6). Asaph turns the night into a posture of prayer that refuses comfort: "In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: My hand during the night [was] before him, and did not slack; My soul refused to be comforted… You hold my eyes watching: I am so troubled that I can't speak" (Ps 77:2-4). The same voice produces the long "how long" — "How long, O Yahweh? Will you forget me forever?" (Ps 13:1); "My soul also is intensely troubled: And you, O Yahweh, how long?" (Ps 6:3); "How long, O Yahweh? Will you hide yourself forever?" (Ps 89:46); "Return, O Yahweh; how long?" (Ps 90:13). Psalm 88 keeps that wave coming — "Your wrath lies hard on me, And you have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah" (Ps 88:7) — and Psalm 42 hears the answering deep: "Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls: All your waves and your billows have gone over me" (Ps 42:7). Psalm 69 begins where Jonah will end: "Save me, O God; For the waters have come in to my soul" (Ps 69:1; compare Jon 2:5: "The waters surrounded me, even to the soul").

Yahweh Hides His Face

The night-prayer is sometimes prolonged. The psalmist accuses the silence — "Lord, how long will you watch?" (Ps 35:17), "Yahweh, how long will the wicked, How long will the wicked triumph?" (Ps 94:3), "How long, O Yahweh? Will you be angry forever?" (Ps 79:5; Ps 80:4). The trouble is felt as Yahweh's own hand: "For we are consumed in your anger, And in your wrath are we troubled" (Ps 90:7); "You brought us into the net; You laid an intense burden on our loins" (Ps 66:11); "For I have eaten ashes like bread, And mingled my drink with weeping, Because of your indignation and your wrath: For you have taken me up, and cast me away" (Ps 102:9-10). Habakkuk picks up the same complaint: "O Yahweh, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear?" (Hab 1:2); so does the angel of Yahweh on Jerusalem's behalf: "O Yahweh of hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?" (Zec 1:12).

The Lament of Zion

Lamentations gives this voice its longest sustained note. Zion calls to the passers-by: "Is it nothing to you⁺, all you⁺ who pass by? Look, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought on me, With which Yahweh has afflicted [me] in the day of his fierce anger" (La 1:12). The book's hinge is the confession that even the affliction is not vindictive: "For the Lord will not cast off forever. For though he causes grief, yet he will have compassion according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses. For he does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the sons of a man" (La 3:31-33).

The Refining

The same affliction is read, repeatedly, as a refinery. "But he knows the way that I take; When he has tried me, I will come forth as gold" (Job 23:10). "For you, O God, have proved us: You have tried us, as silver is tried" (Ps 66:10). "Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction" (Isa 48:10); "I will turn my hand on you, and thoroughly purge away your dross" (Isa 1:25); "I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined" (Zec 13:9). The same image stands in 1 Peter — "the proof of your⁺ faith, [being] more precious than gold that perishes though it is proved by fire" (1 Pet 1:7) — and is spoken as direct exhortation: "Beloved, don't think it strange concerning the fiery trial among you⁺, which comes on you⁺ to prove you⁺, as though a strange thing happened to you⁺" (1 Pet 4:12). The same logic lies under the wisdom-counsel — "Before I was afflicted I went astray; But now I observe [your Speech]" (Ps 119:67); "Look, happy is [the] common man whom God corrects: Therefore don't despise the chastening of the Almighty" (Job 5:17); "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all man" (Eccl 7:2).

The Comfort of God

The trouble has an answering vocabulary. Yahweh is named "the God of all comfort": "Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort" (2 Cor 1:3). The same God comforts through people — "Nevertheless he who comforts the lowly, [even] God, comforted us by the coming of Titus" (2 Cor 7:6). His comfort is repeatedly tied to his pity: "Like a father pities his sons, So Yahweh pities those who fear him" (Ps 103:13). It is told as memory of his hand carrying his people: "and even to old age, I am he, and even to hoar hairs [my Speech] will carry [you⁺]; I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry, and will deliver" (Isa 46:4). It is told as present consolation of Zion: "For Yahweh has comforted Zion; he has comforted all her waste places" (Isa 51:3); "I, even I, am he who comforts you⁺" (Isa 51:12); "As one whom his mother comforts, so [my Speech] will comfort you⁺" (Isa 66:13). The prophets are sent to administer it — "Comfort⁺, comfort⁺ my people, says your⁺ God" (Isa 40:1) — and the same sending is named in the psalmist's brief assurance: "This is my comfort in my affliction; For your [Speech] has quickened me" (Ps 119:50). The shape of comfort is even read into the affliction itself: "In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bore them, and carried them all the days of old" (Isa 63:9). The Psalter sounds the same note small: "His anger is but for a moment; His favor is for a lifetime: Weeping may spend the night, But joy [comes] in the morning" (Ps 30:5); "Why are you cast down, O my soul?… Hope in God; for I will yet praise him, My salvation" (Ps 42:5).

Christ's Words to the Troubled Heart

In the Gospels the comfort is concentrated in the words of Jesus. To the ruler of the synagogue whose daughter is dead: "Don't be afraid, only believe" (Mark 5:36). To the widow at Nain: "he had compassion on her, and said to her, Do not weep" (Luke 7:13). To his disciples on the night of his arrest: "Don't let your⁺ heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me" (John 14:1); "I will not leave you⁺ desolate: I come to you⁺" (John 14:18); "Peace I leave with you⁺; my peace I give to you⁺: not as the world gives, I give to you⁺. Don't let your⁺ heart be troubled, neither let it be fearful" (John 14:27). The disciples' grief is not denied — "But because I have spoken these things to you⁺, sorrow has filled your⁺ heart" (John 16:6) — but it is matched with the promise of the Supporter: "It is expedient for you⁺ that I go away; for if I don't go away, the Supporter will not come to you⁺; but if I go, I will send him to you⁺" (John 16:7). And the saying that names the world's weather plainly: "These things I have spoken to you⁺, that in me you⁺ may have peace. In the world you⁺ have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).

Through Many Tribulations

The apostolic voice picks up Christ's "in the world you⁺ have tribulation" and treats it as the saint's expected weather. "We also rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation works steadfastness" (Rom 5:3). "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us" (Rom 8:18). "And we know that to those who love God all things work together for good" (Rom 8:28). "[We are] pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not to despair" (2 Cor 4:8). "For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor 4:17). Paul tells the Thessalonians, "no man be moved by these afflictions; for yourselves know that hereunto we are appointed… we told you⁺ beforehand that we are to suffer affliction" (1 Thess 3:3-4). Church-instruction takes the same shape: "Therefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thess 4:18); "Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up… admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be long-suffering toward all" (1 Thess 5:11, 14). The vision in Revelation tells the saints' end: "These are those who come out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Rev 7:14).

Anxiety and Prayer

Two short imperatives anchor the New Testament's address to a troubled person. Paul: "In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your⁺ requests be made known to God" (Phil 4:6). Peter: "casting all your⁺ anxiety on him, because he cares for you⁺" (1 Pet 5:7). The God invoked in those imperatives is the Father who "loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace" (2 Thess 2:16).

Instances of Trouble

The narrative books fix the umbrella to particular faces. Israel at the Red Sea, hemmed against the water with Pharaoh's army marching: "the sons of Israel cried out to Yahweh. And they said to Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness?" (Exod 14:10-11). Elijah under the juniper-tree, asking to die: "It is enough; now, O Yahweh, take away my soul; for I am not better than my fathers" (1 Kgs 19:4). Saul on the eve of Gilboa, with the prophets silent: "I am very distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and [the Speech of] God has departed from me, and has not answered me anymore" (1 Sam 28:15). And the household sense: when Joseph's brothers fear vengeance, "he comforted them, and spoke kindly to them" (Gen 50:21); when Ephraim's sons are slain, "his brothers came to comfort him" (1 Chr 7:22); the consolers around Mary at Lazarus's tomb (John 11:31).

Ben Sira's Counsel

Ben Sira works the same ground as the wisdom writers, with his own voice. Trouble is to be expected and prepared for: "My son, if you draw near to the fear of Yahweh, Prepare your soul for trial. Direct your heart aright, and continue steadfast, And do not hurry in time of calamity. Stick to him, and don't be far, That you may be increased in your latter end. Accept all that is brought on you, And be patient in changes of your affliction; For gold is proved in fire, And acceptable men in a furnace of affliction. Trust in him and he will strengthen you" (Sir 2:1-6). The same counsel returns as a single line: "Accept all that is brought on you, And be patient in changes of your affliction" (Sir 2:4); and as a saying that sees value in the affliction itself: "[Sometimes] it is advantageous for a man to be in adversity, And there is a gain that turns to loss" (Sir 20:9). The book's mourning-counsel keeps the comfort-of-the-living in view: "Make bitter your weeping and passionate your wailing… For a day or two to avoid scandal, And be comforted for your sorrow" (Sir 38:17); "When the dead is at rest, let his memory rest; And be consoled when his soul departs" (Sir 38:23). The God who shelters his own gets named in the same vocabulary as the psalms: "The eyes of the Lord are upon those who love him, A mighty protection and a strong stay, A shelter from the scorching wind, a shelter from the midday sun, A guard from stumbling, a help from falling; One who refreshes the soul and lightens the eyes, Who gives healing, and life, and blessing" (Sir 34:19-20). At the close of the book, Ben Sira speaks his own night-prayer in the first person: "And [from] the arrows of a deceitful tongue. My soul drew near to death, And my life to the nethermost Sheol" (Sir 51:6); "Yes, I cried: 'Yahweh, you are my Father, My God, and the strength of my salvation, Do not forsake me in the day of trouble, In the day of wasteness and desolation. I will praise your name continually, And will remember you in prayer.' Then Yahweh heard my voice, And gave ear to my supplication" (Sir 51:10-11).

What the Trouble Is For

The canon answers the question with several voices that do not exclude one another. It is for chastening — "as a man chastens his son, so Yahweh your God chastens you" (Deut 8:5); "My son, don't despise the chastening of Yahweh… For whom Yahweh loves he reproves; Even as a father the son in whom he delights" (Prov 3:11-12); "Blessed is the [noble] man whom you chasten, O Yah" (Ps 94:12); "And all chastening seems for the present not to be joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields peaceful fruit to those who have been exercised by it, [even the fruit] of righteousness" (Heb 12:11). It is for testing — "When he has tried me, I will come forth as gold" (Job 23:10), "the proof of your⁺ faith, [being] more precious than gold" (1 Pet 1:7). It is for the production of patience and hope — "tribulation works steadfastness" (Rom 5:3). It is, sometimes, for return: "When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you, in the latter days you will return to Yahweh your God, and listen to [his Speech]" (Deut 4:30); and so the prodigal cries from the belly of the fish, "I called by reason of my affliction to Yahweh, And he answered me; Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, [And] you heard my voice" (Jon 2:2). And it is, in the end, for joy: "to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of Yahweh, that he may be glorified" (Isa 61:3).