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Isaiah 9:1-4, I Corinthians 1:10-17, Matthew 4:12-23

There are many times in our lives when we need to hear the words of Isaiah 9:1 which say, "There will be no more gloom for those who were in distress." Indeed, most of us have those moments when we don't really feel like we can do much. For instance, those of us who have become more and more aware of our advancing years may sometimes catch ourselves saying that we can't do much. Or those of us who are busy with jobs all day long, when asked to do something else, may answer, "Well, I can't do much." Or those of us who have found themselves in the midst of worries and woes because of family finances, or sickness, or the death of a loved one may also catch ourselves saying, from time to time, "I can't do much." Indeed, there may be many reasons, from time to time, that we don't think we're worth very much to God or to other people. But in spite of what we may think, God says, "There will be no more gloom for those who were in distress."

You know, sometimes the trouble which comes along in our lives may be something other than what we think it is. What we think may be trouble may actually be God's protecting us from something else. I remember, for instance, how back in about 1954 there was that nasty tornado that when through the north side of Flint. On that particular day, before the storm hit, my dad was angry because my mom was making him trim the hedges around the house. He had wanted to make a visit some people in the north end of town that day. But, my mother was telling him that he ought to trim the hedges first. So, grumbling about how hot and sticky it was to being doing chores, my dad trimmed the hedges.

When he was finished, even though it looked like a storm was coming, he put my sister and me into the car and we drove off. But, before we got to our destination the tornado hit. I can still remember seeing it churn to this very day. And, as it turned out, it went right through the area we would have been in if my Dad hadn't been coerced into trimming the hedges.

He thought he had trouble, sweating that hedge trimming job! But, how much more trouble might he have had if he had gone when he had wanted? There is the story I heard Paul Harvey tell, one time, that goes like this:

From the island of Guam one of our mighty bombers took off for Kokura, Japan, with another deadly cargo. The sleep B-29 turned and circled above the cloud the covered the target for half an hour, three-quarters of an hour, 55 minutes, until the gas supply reached the danger point. It seemed a shame to be right over the primary target and then have to pass it up, but there was no choice. With one more look back, the crew headed for the secondary target. Upon arrival, they found the sky clear. "Bombs away!" --the B-29 headed for home.

Weeks later, an officer received information from military intelligence that chilled his heart. Thousands of Allied prisoners of war, the biggest concentration of Americans in enemy hands, had been moved to Kokura a week before the suspended bombing!

"Thank God," breathed the officer, "that God for that cloud."

The city which was hidden from the bomber was a prison camp and thousands of Americans are now alive who would have died but for that cloud which rolled in from a sunlit sea. The secondary target that day was Nagasaki, and the missile intended for Kokura was the world's second atomic bomb!

Indeed, sometimes I believe that God may be the author of some of our smaller problems, but only so that we may avoid the bigger ones that come along. But, I think we need to be careful about blaming God for all our trouble. In fact, I believe that most of the problems we have are not really God's fault but are due to other things going on in creation where God has limited himself for the sake of free will. Indeed, there are times when God seems to be able to rescue us from our difficulties. But then there also seem to be those moments when this doesn't seem to happen.

Take the situation of John the Baptist, for instance. As soon as he had baptized Jesus he knew that he had to go look for something else to do. So, because he had been called to confront unrepentant sinners, John the Baptist went to Jerusalem where he stood beneath king Herod's window at the Palace and shouted that Herod should repent because of the evil he had done in his life. He reminded Herod of the illegal nature of his marriage to his sister-in-law. And, at hearing this, Herod had John arrested and thrown into jail.

Now, what is interesting to me, at this point, is that while God had been able to rescue Jesus from Herod's father, he didn't rescue John the Baptist from the clutches of Herod's prison. Instead, our scripture lesson for today even tells us that when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he left Jerusalem for Galilee. He didn't even go to the Palace to plead for his cousin, John, but, rather sort of abandoned him in the dungeon, there.

And, we're not really sure why this happened. Except, that perhaps it was necessary in order for attention to be focused upon Jesus. Perhaps John had to die before Jesus, so that it would be Jesus' death, and not John's that would be remembered.

But, even though John was in prison, Jesus didn't forget him. For when John wanted to know for sure if Jesus was truly the one God had sent, Jesus sent word to him by a messenger assuring him that he was the Christ. And, it was with this news that John could gladly go to his death.

And this is sometimes the way trouble is in our lives. Yes, perhaps there are those moments when God offers us problems and even solutions to our problems. But, then, there are those other times that our problems come upon us and we wonder where God is in all of it. A loved one dies, and we wonder why. We get sick, and we wonder why. We lose our job or get laid off, and we wonder why. But, there is one thing that we should never forget: In the midst of all of our trouble God does not forget us. In the midst of our pain, God hasn't deserted us. In the eternity of our sorrow, God will not turn his back upon us.

Our lesson from the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians tells us that Paul was troubled with difficulties he was having with the Church at Corinth. The people there were fighting with each other, some of them claiming to be followers of Paul, others claiming to be followers of Peter, others claiming to be followers of Apollos, and others claiming to be followers of Christ. It seemed as though the Church in Corinth was splitting into all sorts of directions. But, it is interesting, at this point, that in the midst of this trouble Paul chose to remember his baptism. And in remembering his own baptism, Paul reminded the Church at Corinth to remember theirs, persuading them that their one baptism into Christ united them to each other.

One of the bad things about the problems people have in life is that they sometimes tempt those who have them to turn inward, rather than outward. Sometimes, rather than seeking the support of others, which is a healthy thing to do, those who have serious difficulties reject offers of help and may even turn their backs upon God, himself.

What we should never forget is that even in the midst of trouble, God offers us help, he offers us possibilities. And after all else fails, God offers us eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I have no doubts that God works in our life, sometimes dramatically and sometimes quietly. I'm thankful for the quiet ways that God works. But the dramatic examples of God's protection of his people are simply reminders of how God works in our lives all the time.

I'll give you one more dramatic example of how God works:	About ten years ago a pastor in a church at Beatrice Nebraska went to church one afternoon to prepare for the evening's choir practice. Most choir members would arrive between 7:15 and 7:30 P.M. He then went home for a quick supper, was ready to return with his wife and daughter, when it was discovered that the daughter's dress was dirty and needed to be changed. The clean dress needed to be ironed, and so this made the pastor late.

High school sophomore Ladona had trouble with her geometry problems and had to stay to finish the problem. Usually she would always be early for rehearsal.

Two sisters were ready to go to church, but the car wouldn't start. The called up the geometry girl to pick them up.

Mrs. Schuster with a small daughter normally would arrive at 7:20, but that night her old mother needed her and so she dropped by her house for a few extra minutes.

A lathe operator wanted to sop putting off an important letter he had to write. He couldn't figure out why he felt this nagging to do such a thing. but, anyway, he was late.

Stenographer Joyce Black, feeling "just plain lazy" stayed until the last possible minute. Then she was ready to go when it happened.

Machinist Harry Ohl was going to take his two boys to the choir practice, since his wife was away, but somehow started talking with someone and when he looked at his watch, it was already too late.

Pianist Marilyn Paul decided to come one-half hour earlier. But after supper, she fell asleep and arrived barely on time.

Choir director and the mother of the pianist, Mrs. Paul, was late due to her daughter. She had tried unsuccessfully to wake her up before.

Two high school girls usually went together. But one was watching a 7-7:30 T.V. program and that evening broke their usual habit of promptness in order to watch to the end.

At precisely 7:25 that evening, the West Side Baptist Church blew up. Its roof crushed in and its walls fell down -- due to leaking gas. But all the choir members were late. And this had never happened before.

Amen.