Times That Try Men's Souls

 Read Proverbs 24

Thomas Paine once wrote that the Summer Patriot and the Sunshine Soldier would shrink from service.  When the going got tough, these men got going, but not towards the sounds of gunfire.  They bugged out the other way or just never showed up.

We see this all the time today.  Spend an hour on Facebook and you will see plenty of Sunshine Soldiers.  They have never known a shot fired in anger, the perilous nature of a minefield, or put their lives in the hands of other patriots; but they are so bold in their online bravado.

There are plenty of people who talk big online who don’t show up in person.  The bravado image can only be maintained by excuses that are in order and always at the ready.

OK, so there are a bunch of phonies out there.  What’s new and what does this have to do with the proverbs?  I went to school when they still taught American History.  Why does Thomas Paine rate time in the sermon?

Consider Saying 25 from this 24^th chapter. These are verses 10 and 11.

If you falter in a time of trouble,

    how small is your strength!

Rescue those being led away to death;

    hold back those staggering toward slaughter.

If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”

    does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?

Does not he who guards your life know it?

    Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?

Now it’s time for one more from Mr. Paine.  These are the times that try men’s souls.

If you are brave when things are going great but falter in times of trouble, wisdom asks:  How small is your strength?  It’s a rhetorical question.  Wisdom is calling you out. Wisdom is calling you a phony if you shrink back in times of trouble.

Has wisdom hit us squarely between the eyes?

I could talk American history and politics for quite a while and enjoy it immensely, but we will talk about following Jesus in these modern times instead.  That’s what should pique our interest as we read these words of wisdom.

Do we only follow Jesus when it is the easy thing to do? What am I talking about?  Camp, VBS, Women of Faith Conferences, and other things where it just seems so right to follow Jesus and we say we will do it all of the time.

Do we only follow Jesus when it is the easy thing to do?  Of course not, at least that’s what our minds tell us, but what does our personal history tell us?

We give out food.  It’s good food and we give out a lot of it, but do we deliver the gospel?

We give gifts, but do we also get to know those who receive them? Do we know them well enough that they will see the example of our lives and believe our words that there is life and life abundant and life eternal in the God that we know in Christ Jesus?

You may complain and moan and groan that you get tired of hearing this from me, but I’ve grown deaf over the years to moaning and groaning when I know that God has set this course.  When we accept being transactional over being transformational, we have faltered in times of trouble.

We live in a time of humanless transactions.  You get a voice menu when you call.  You are referred to the website or the app instead of talking with a real person.  You get a vending machine and make a transaction and we have become accustomed to this.

Do you long for the church to have an app so the preacher will shut up about connecting the disconnected?  Why must I talk with people?  Why is it my burden? Why don’t we have an app for that? Can’t we take the person-to-person part out of this and make it easier?

Wisdom charges us to rescue those headed towards slaughter and death.  Do we believe that there is life eternal in Christ Jesus and death eternal without him?  How many are being led away to death by this godless world?

Are we content to just watch?

But we have our excuses in order.  I didn’t know if they believed or not.  I didn’t want to intrude.  I didn’t want to be all preachy and all.  I didn’t know.

Does not the God of all creation know your heart?  Can you hide anything from him?  Will we not all stand before him one day, our sins washed away in his blood?

Will our excuses hold water when we stand in his presence?

Jesus told us that we would have trouble in the world.  He told us that to prepare us not to add to our bag of excuses.

He said, “Take heart—take courage.”  He overcame the world.  The suffering that we might know will be nothing compared to the glory to come.

We live in times that try men’s souls.  Most here are not engaged in physical combat.  Nobody is shooting at you on most days.  We don’t live in fear of the government catching us worshiping Jesus and nailing us to the cross for it, but we do live in a time when so many are headed to eternal death.

We must ask, how great or how small is our strength?

Do we spend so much time criticizing how each of us lives out our salvation that we forgot there are still those who are perishing?  Does the world see us bickering over how we worship or baptize or which day of the week is more important than another?

Does the world see us pointing fingers of condemnation at those who need to be rescued? 

These are times of trouble.  These are the times that try men’s souls.  Bullets may fly at some point in our future, but the trouble is here now and people are headed towards death.

Will we rescue them or will we be content to give them a tub of food? It’s good food but it is no substitute for the bread of life. Will we deliver the life-saving gospel to those who are headed towards death?

You may have begun this chapter thinking it’s just more wisdom.  I can take the week off as far as evangelism goes.  I pray that wisdom does not become a substitute for love.  Love and wisdom go hand in glove and this week, wisdom tells us to Christian Up and take the words of life to our neighbors.

If you falter in a time of trouble,

    how small is your strength!

We are not people who shy away from our calling and our commission!  We must not! We do not shrink back from what Christ has charged us to do because these are times of trouble.

We are not Summer Patriots and not Sunshine Soldiers when it come to our faith.  We may not move towards the sound of gunfire, but we must move to rescue those headed to eternal death.

Some are committed to wickedness.  Some have professed in their hearts that there is no God, but some are just lost and on the road to destruction.  Some are blinded by Satan and just need to know the truth to set them free.

We belong to a God of love.  Will we serve him or shrink back in times of trouble?

Let’s turn the interrogative of the proverb around and ask, “How great is your strength?”

Remember that He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.  We should never doubt how great our strength is. Like Joshua, God calls us to be strong and courageous.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord and the world will never know how small my strength is for it is God’s strength that works in me.

We will not falter in times of trouble.

God sees the heart and I pray he sees a heart of service and strength in each of you.

I might ask “Will we, rescue those who are perishing?” Instead, I will make an affirmation that We will stand before the Lord without regrets. Regrets about what? That we did not rescue those who were perishing.

We will be strong and courageous and do our best to rescue those who are headed towards an eternity of being separated from God.

As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord and the world will see how great our strength is in times of trouble.

These are the times that try men’s souls.

We will not watch from the sidelines.  We will rescue.

We will not squabble among ourselves straining out gnats and swallowing camels.  We will rescue.

We will not simply quote scripture.  We will not confine scripture to a box that we wear on our forehead. We will put the words of our Master into practice.  We will rescue.

We have been rescued from sin and death.  It’s time that we Christian up and rescue many who are headed towards death.

As for me and my house we will serve the Lord!

Amen.