Trouble and the Christian are seldom far apart, or long apart — this may sound discouraging. But Jesus and the Christian are never apart. He will never leave us. His loving heart guides the hand which smites — and nothing is done by Him, or permitted, but that it may be over-ruled for our good.
Trouble may be near — but the throne of grace also is near. His word of promise is near. And He is near who justifies us. In trouble, God can glorify His grace, deepen His work in your heart, brighten your evidences, and fill you with joy and peace in believing.
"Call upon Me in the day of trouble — I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me."
Every trouble is intended to endear Jesus to your heart.
✦ The Geography of Trouble
James Smith does not minimize trouble — he is far too honest a pastor for that. Trouble and the Christian are seldom far apart, or long apart. He says it plainly, without apology. The pilgrim road is not a protected road. The motorhome will find tight streets in foreign cities. The Pyrenees will have passes that look impossible from below. Trouble is near — this is simply the truth of the pilgrim life.
But then Smith places trouble inside a much larger geography. The throne of grace is also near. The word of promise is near. He who justifies is near. Trouble did not get the last word on the geography — it merely got the first. And the first word is always swallowed by what surrounds it. His loving heart guides the hand which smites. Nothing happens to the child of God that is not already inside the Father's purpose — over-ruled, redirected, bent toward good. 🙏
We faced trouble yesterday — trapped with no way out, in a tight road, in a foreign city. Who can we call? I could sense the Lord working and helping us — and we ended up delivered from a big mess. Trouble was very real to us for one minute, but gone against the eternal power of the Lord protecting us.
Every trouble is intended to endear Jesus to your heart — and this is the truth I feel today. 🙏
✦ The Great Place
The motorhome — 7.5 metres, 2.35 wide — in a tight road in a foreign city. No way forward, no way back. No friend close enough to help. No human solution presenting itself. And then — delivery. Not by cleverness. Not by luck. Not by finding the right button on the GPS. By the Lord who is never apart from His own, even when trouble is very near.
That moment — when human solutions run out, when no one can be called, when the walls are closing in — Smith Wigglesworth understood it completely: a man is in a great place when he has no one to turn to but to God. Not a desperate place. A great place. Because in that place, the throne of grace becomes the only throne in the room — and from that throne, delivery comes. And honour. Exactly as He promised. 🙏
"Every trouble is intended to endear Jesus to your heart."
James Smith · Daily Remembrancer · Psalm 22:11There is something about you believing God that will cause Him to pass over a million people to get to you.
A man is in a great place when he has no one to turn to but to God.
Wigglesworth's first statement is almost startling in its boldness — but it is simply 1 John 5:14 lived out loud. Faith creates a specific address. The believing soul is not one among millions of indistinguishable faces. She is known. Located. Named. And when trouble closes in on that specific address — in a tight road in a foreign city, in a Benimar Special Edition in Roussillon — He passes over every other vehicle on that street to get to the motorhome where His child is calling.
And the second statement reframes everything. The moment of having no one to turn to but God is not the low point of the story. It is the high point — the great place — where faith finally has the room it needs to operate without competition. No GPS. No friend nearby. No human solution. Just the throne of grace, near, always near, exactly as James Smith promised. 🙏
Trouble Is Near
James Smith is honest: trouble and the Christian are seldom far apart. The pilgrim road is not a protected road. But trouble does not define the geography — it only opens it. The throne of grace is also near. Always near.
The Great Place
When no one can be called, when human solutions run out, when the walls close in — that is the great place. Faith has room to operate without competition. The throne of grace becomes the only throne in the room. Delivery comes from there.
Endeared to the Heart
Every trouble is intended to endear Jesus to your heart. Not punishment — purpose. Not abandonment — deepening. The tight road in the foreign city was not random. It was the loving hand that guides, over-ruling all things for good.
The desolate and dry land — the tight road, the foreign city, the moment with no way out — is still the land through which His pilgrims go. It has not been removed from the itinerary. But it has been crossed by streams of grace that flow from a source the drought cannot reach. A fonte. Always welling up from below, from the deep interior of His faithfulness, overflowing into the exact moment of need.
Jesus has all His saints can want — and when they need, He'll freely grant. Not when they deserve. Not when they have prayed correctly or believed sufficiently. When they need. Yesterday, in a tight road in Roussillon — they needed. And He freely granted. The streams of grace do not wait for worthiness. They wait for need. And need, the pilgrims on this road will never lack. 🙏