TITLE: “Call Upon Me in the Day of Trouble”

 

In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.  Our text for tonight is Psalm 50, with focus on the words, Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will glorify me.

Last week we heard about who is the Coming One.  This week we will reflect about why He came and continues to come to us in Word and Sacrament, and why He will return again in glory to take us to Himself.

If there is one thing that is true about each of us, it is that we all have days of trouble.  There are times in our lives when trouble and heartache seem to come upon us so quickly, we don’t even know what hit us.  I think that there is something about the holiday season that makes that clearer for everyone.  Family tensions run high, you see people you often don’t see any other time of year.  The weather’s bad.  People get sick.  It’s just that time of year.

But the trouble our Lord speaks of here goes much deeper than that.  He is speaking of the trouble that plagues every human being from the time of Adam.  He is speaking here of the trouble of sin, of the sorrow and pain that our sinful nature causes in our lives and in the lives of our families.

But that is not how we look at our Lord sometimes.  It is easy for us as Christians to think that God needs us, that somehow God needs my talents, my abilities, in order to survive.  This is doubly true here in church.  This church would fall apart if I didn’t do so and so.  That works well at home, or at work, or any number of places.  How easy is it to think that we are the center of attention, and that if I do this, then everyone will owe me a debt of gratitude for what a great person I am.

Against this our Lord in this Psalm says: I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.  I know every bird in the mountains and the creatures of the field are mine.  In other words, God doesn’t need you, or your sacrifices!  Just the opposite.  You need God.

Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, he says, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.  God promises to hear our prayers.  He promises to hear your cry for mercy and help when no one else can help you.  He promises that He will always be there.  He promises that He will come down from heaven and bring you to Himself.  He promises to forgive your sins for Jesus’ sake.

So let’s ask the question again: why did Jesus have to come down to earth?  It wasn’t ask to be an example of how to live.  It wasn’t to thank us for all of the great things we do for God.  No, our Lord came down from heaven because He loved you with a love that drove Him to the manger and to the cross.  The hymnist put it best in these words:

Love caused your incarnation; Love brought you down to me.
Your thirst for my salvation Procured my liberty.
Oh, love beyond all telling, That let you to embrace
In Love, all love excelling, Our lost and fallen race. (LW 19:4)

So rejoice, you sad-hearted!  Our God comes down to earth in the likeness of human flesh.  He comes down as one of us.  He comes to earth to forgive your sins, to lift your weight of sin off your back.  He comes to give you all the treasures of heaven.  He comes because He loves you more than life itself. 

Amen.  Even so, come Lord Jesus.  Amen.

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM

Messiah Lutheran Church

Kenosha, Wisconsin

Advent 2 Midweek (Dec. 13, 2000)

Psalm 50