Psalm 81:7 "You called in trouble, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder: I proved you at the waters of Meribah. Selah."
I called on God in my trouble for a long, long time. And it would be dishonest if I did not say that ultimately, my trouble resulted from my own sin. Day after day, month after month and year after year, the consequences of reckless sin increased until I despaired of life, both physical and spiritual. I was sinking and drowning and I felt the pull of Sheol. I called to God in my trouble, and at very long length, He deliverd me.
But delivery was not primarily from consequences. God delivers from spiritual death, from the blindness that hides sin, from the foolishness that runs from God. He delivers from false repentance, from the domination of rebellion, from the devil’s desire to have our soul (Luke 22:31-32).
In all my confusion, with all my presumptuous and angry questions, he answered me in the secret place of a private inner storm with His unmistakable and thunderous voice. I had heard of Him in my physical ear from my earliest childhood, but now with my spiritual ear I heard Him. So then I repented in dust and ashes (Job 42:5,6) and began to experience true peace.
Selah. The Prince of Peace has come so that God might answer our real needs in the secret place of thunder.
“and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Luke 2:13,14.
