In the text of the New Testament, the Apostle Paul severally tells us, that
    • “All Scripture is given of Eloha, and is profitable …” (2 Tim. 3:16);
    • “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning … and they are written for our admonition… that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11, the King James Version, used throughout).

    And we are further informed by the Holy Texts,
    • “There hath no temptation (trial) taken you but such as is common to man …” (1 Cor. 10:13).
    • “Beloved, think it not strange, concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you … knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world” (1 Pet. 4:12, 5:9), and that
    Yahshua, among His farewell remarks to His disciples and before His Gethsemane passion, declared, “In the world ye shall have tribulation” (John 16:33) and then told them to “be of good cheer,” that He had overcome the world. In His Revelation to the Apostle John, Yahshua severally concluded His address to each of the seven Assemblies of Asia Minor, promising them, and by extension, to us as well, that “He that overcometh … to him that overcometh …”
    • He would give him to eat of the tree of life…” (Rev. 2:7);
    • that he should not be hurt of the second death” (Rev. 2:11);
    • that He would give to eat of the hidden manna, and be given a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows saving him who receives it (Rev. 2:17);
    • that he who keeps His works unto the end, to him would be given power over the nations to rule over them with a rod of iron, and that he would be given the morning star (Rev. 2:26-28);
    • that he would be clothed in white raiment, and his name would not be blotted out of the Book of Life, but confessed before His Father, and before His angels (Rev. 3:5);
    • that he would be made a pillar in the temple of Yahweh, and no more go out, and upon him the Name of Yahweh and the name of the city of new Jerusalem (Rev. 3:12);
    • be granted to sit with Yahshua in His throne, even as He overcame and is set down with His Father in His throne” (Rev. 3:21);

    – all this briefly comprehended, “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his Eloha, and he shall be My son” (Rev. 21:7).

Of Commandments, Trials, and Promises
     These are exceedingly great, and precious promises … promises among many that are given us in the Volume of the Book; promises that ordinarily and immediately follow the giving of a commandment, as in: Trust in Yahweh with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths, Proverbs 3:5-6.
    When Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch – where they had before preached the Evangel – they exhorted the disciples in these places to continue in the faith, telling them (and us, too) “that we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of Eloha” (Acts 14:22) which is but a corroboration of what Master Yahshua had told His disciples before His Gethsemane passion.
    And so, now let’s talk about tribulation … because, for sure, it is appointed each one of us. But before proceeding further, let’s acknowledge that,
    • life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond or react to the 10% of what happens to you and that,
    • Yahweh never promised you or me smooth sailing, a calm passage, or an easy flight, but that He did promise us a safe landing IF, we endured all things to the end and so,
    • what doesn’t kill you is supposed to make you stronger.
    In the Book of Hebrews, chapter 11, we read of some who were tortured, not accepting deliverance; others, experienced trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, were bound and imprisoned; still, others were stoned, sawn asunder, and having no certain dwelling place, wandered about destitute, afflicted, tormented, attired only in sheepskins and goatskins as they traversed deserts, mountains and took refuge in dens and caves of the earth.
    Some even, experienced sundry perils at the hands of men but nevertheless continued, though weary and in pain, yet continuing steadfastly in, and earnestly contending for the faith, remaining ever vigilant, whether hungry or thirsty, whether naked or cold, enduring the contradiction of sinners against themselves … some even, resisting unto blood.
    Think Abraham, whom the Apostle Paul declared, “against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations … And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body … neither the deadness of Sarah’s womb: he staggered not at the promise of Eloha through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to Eloha; and being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform. And therefore it (faith and hope) was imputed to him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:18-22).
    Like us, oftentimes, having received a promise, he leaned to his own understanding of how it should be accomplished… in his case, yielding to the voice of his wife, much like Adam did to Eve who was also the first in transgression, by taking to himself Hagar when she was offered to him by Sarah.
    Five years spent he in Haran, and twenty-five more in Canaan before the nativity of the promised seed, Isaac. And then, when Isaac was a young man, as it is supposed, 25-30 years of age, Abraham is directed by Yahweh to take his son, his only son Isaac whom he loved into the mountains of Moriah, and there, offer him as a burnt offering (Gen. 22:2).
    But notice such a remarkable confidence this aged man had in the Promise … staggering not at the promise of Eloha through unbelief; strong in faith, being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform – so that he could say to his two servants who had accompanied him and his son Isaac, “Abide ye here with the donkey; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, AND COME AGAIN TO YOU” (Gen. 22:5).
    And so, “with the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together” (Gen. 22:6). And then, we read of yet another marvelous thing: When asked of Isaac, “Where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” (Gen. 22:7), Abraham replies, “My son, Eloha will provide Himself a Lamb for a burnt offering …” (Gen. 22:8) which connotes for us, a Messianic prophecy, that Yahweh will provide THE Lamb, an offering for sin. The author of the Book of Hebrews says of Abraham, “Accounting that Eloha was able to raise him (Isaac) up, even from the dead; from when he (Abraham) received him (Isaac) in a figure (Yahshua)” (Heb. 11:19).
    You see here, an example … again written for our learning, how that confidence in the promises of Yahweh Who cannot lie can become the source of our encouragement in the midst of discouragement.
    Thus, we are charged, “Cast not away therefore your confidence, which had great recompence of reward” (Heb. 10:35).
    Like Abraham, we “have need of patience, that after [we] have done the will of Eloha, [we] might receive the promise” (Heb. 10:36).
    Think, Moses who with Yahweh ten times (and probably more than what’s recorded in the Sacred Record) endured the murmurings and transgressions of the wilderness congregation of Israel … even to the point where he’d lost it, speaking unadvisedly with his lips and incurring for himself, the penalty of being refused admittance into the Promised Land, and with his importunity in soliciting a reprieve, the rebuke of the Holy One: “Speak no more unto Me of this matter” (Deut. 3:26).
    The Psalmists, too, in their distresses, often punctuate their praises to Yahweh with queries,
        • How long wilt Thou forget me, O Yahweh? for ever? how long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me, Psalm 13:1;
        • Why withdrawest Thou Thy hand, even Thy right hand? pluck it out of thy bosom, Psalm 74:11;
        • How long, Yahweh? wilt Thou be angry for ever? Psalm 79:5;
        • O Yahweh Eloha tsavaot, how long wilt Thou be angry against the prayer of thy people? Psalm 80:4.
    Again, from the Tanach, we read of another who could have, but didn’t, yield himself to one or several of the Five D’s – Disappointment, Discouragement, Depression, Despair, Despondency – and who very nearly experienced the 6th D at the hand of his companions.
    David had served Achish, king of Gath, with the Philistines as a mercenary for a year and four months, until he lost favor with the princes of the Philistines at a time when they were prepared to wage a battle with Israel under the hand of Saul. So, he and his band of 600 men were compelled to return to Ziklag which had been awarded him by Achish … there, to find that the Amalekites had come in the warriors’ absence and burned the city, and taken captive all the women with the children.
    David is greatly distressed, “for the people spake of stoning him, the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: BUT DAVID ENCOURAGED HIMSELF IN YAHWEH HIS ELOHA” (1 Samuel 30:6). David had recourse to the ephod vestment worn by Abiathar, the kohen ha gadol, with its faculties of Urim and Thummim by Which he inquired, “Shall I pursue …? Shall I overtake …?” (1 Sam. 30:8). And the answer? “Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all” (1 Sam. 30:8).
    Then there is Master Yahshua … 3 ½ years, laboring among them to whom He’d been sent, and is characterized by Isaiah as a Man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, despised and rejected. 3 ½ years, apostles whom He’d sent out with power against unclean spirits, to cast them out; to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease; and more also, witnessing His works in demonstration of the Spirit and power; speaking such Words that none other had spoken – Words That were spirit and that were life, and that more abundantly, and doing such deeds that none other had done: imparting sight to the blind; cleansing lepers; exorcising unclean spirits; conferring hearing to the deaf and speech to the mute; making paralytics whole, and the lame to walk; and raising up the dead to life again.
    And yet, during His time, among them were the contentious-of-spirit, the envious, the betrayer, the denier, the doubter and all, who forsook Him and fled in His moment of passion and at such a time, when He could have used a friend. And He tells them, and us, too, that neither they, nor we, as His disciples are above Him, but that it is enough we should be as He (Matt. 10:24-25)– learning obedience as He, by such of those things we suffer (Heb. 5:8).

Introducing the 6 D’s
     And we think we have it rough, when we are permitted to taste but a little of infirmity, necessity, distress, reproach and even a little persecution for having but rendered whole duty and reasonable service in this vocation to which we’ve been called and chosen … not appreciating that the sufferings of this present time are a light affliction and but for a moment in the expanse of eternity and not worthy to be compared with a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:17).
    Yes, life – the 10% of what happens to you and the 90% how you respond or react to the 10% of what happens to you – often fails to provide us with joyous experiences but instead, grief of mind and sorrow of heart and often, too, producing what may be thought as the 5 D’s, each becoming progressively (or regressively) worse in experience: Disappointment; Discouragement; Depression; Despair; Despondency … and the which, if not redressed, may end with the 6th D, Death.
    Oh, yes, suicide … often at the end of this D-path which is not uncommonly, marked beforehand with observable behaviors like alcohol and unLAWful substance abuse (anything that defiles the House of Yahweh, Whose House we are); promiscuous and/or aberrant sexual activity; vagrancy; domestic abuse of family members; acts of public trespass and criminal conduct.

Who, or What, is at the End of Your Rope?
     I remember reading a message at curbside belonging to a first day church: “When you reach the end of your rope, you’ll find G-d there.”
    Today, we have neither a Levitical priesthood, nor linen ephod with its faculties of Urim and Thummim. But what we do have, is an important faculty of Yahweh’s continuing workmanship in each one of us – a progressive work, transforming each one of us from being a member-in-particular to becoming a member, every-one-of-another, with none saying,
    “I have no need of thee” but “much more those members of the Body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: and those members of the Body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour” so that “the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it … that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of Eloha … Who comforteth us in all our tribulation … the whole Body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working of every part, mak[ing] increase of the Body unto the edifying of itself in love” (1 Cor. 12:21, 22, 23, 26; 2 Cor. 1:4; Eph. 4:16).
    We’re talking here about “belonging” … oh, and so much more, like covenant-relationship, and spiritual commonwealth fulfilling the Law of love – none working ill to his neighbor (Rom. 13:10); and every other bearing one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2); and, moreover, you bearing your own burden (Gal. 6:5), too, which is as much as fulfilling the Law. We’re talking here about not becoming weary in well doing, neither griping, murmuring, complaining about what you go through but instead, counting it all joy when trouble befalls you (James 1:2); looking beyond your trouble toward That Blessed Hope that is set before you (Heb. 12:2), anticipating and expecting Him to make that way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13).
    What do the Scriptures say?
        • “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine … Fear not: I am with thee” (Isa. 43:1, 5);
        • “Thus saith Yahweh … ‘be not dismayed’… (Jer. 10:2); and numerously,
        • “Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be afraid …” (Deut. 31:6, 7, 23; Josh. 1:6, 9, 18, 10:25; 1 Chron. 28:20).
    For He that cannot lie, has said in Deuteronomy 31:6, “For Yahweh thy Eloha, He it is that doth go with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee …”
    Note well: The Scriptures have not said,
        • “If anything can go wrong, it will;” neither,
        • “If it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d have none at all.”
    So, rather than becoming weary in doing well – you know, Griping, Murmuring, and Complaining (GMC) about what you go through, why not instead count it all joy when trouble befalls you (James 1:2)? Why not look beyond your trouble toward That Blessed Hope, anticipating His deliverance that is set before you? In fact, why not respond to the Master’s invitation, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest … and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matt. 11:28, 29)?
After all, Yahweh has called you to peace, and His thoughts toward you are of peace to bring you to an expected end in glory.

First, be INSTRUCTED; Then LEARN
     A lot of pulpit rhetoric has been given to “for I have LEARNED, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content” (Phil. 4:11). But you don’t LEARN anything apart from first being INSTRUCTED.
    Let’s look at the full context of Philippians 4:12-11- and in that order, too – and properly place the cart before the horse: I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound; every where and in all things I am INSTRUCTED both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need … … for I have LEARNED, in whatsoever state I am [therewith] to be content.
    LEARNING is the product of having become INSTRUCTED – experience is the best teacher, notwithstanding. INSTRUCTION is by far, the better teacher because instruction produces far less consequences of trouble than experience. In fact, it could be affirmed that the one thing we LEARN from experience is that we haven’t LEARNED.
    Want proof? What’s the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing in the same way with perhaps, only slight modification and experiencing the same outcome with, perhaps, only slight modification … and usually worse! But doing Life Yahweh’s way, yields Yahweh’s results. And when we allow Yahweh to guide us, He will provide for us.
    Nevertheless, we suffer, and we will suffer … but let your suffering be for a good cause and a better effect. In Colossian 1:24, Paul says of himself, he “rejoice[d] in his sufferings in [his] sufferings … and fill[ed]up that which is behind of the afflictions of Messiah in [his] flesh …
    Sometimes, our suffering is of our own making … usually, attributable to disobedience, thus the reason for the Apostle’s observation, “he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin” (1 Pet. 4:1). And so, we suffer, and we will suffer. Only let your suffering be for a good cause, to produce a better outcome.

Conclusion
     And so, when you are in any trouble, pray Psalm 91, saying,
    “I will say of Yahweh, ‘Thou art my refuge and my fortress: Thy truth, my shield and buckler; my Eloha, in You will I trust. Surely, Thou shalt deliver me from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. Under Thy wings shall I trust’.
    “I shall not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day, nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasted at noonday, because I have made Yahweh my refuge, even El Yon, my habitation.
    “For Thou shalt give Thy angels charge over me, to keep me in all my ways. They shall bear me up in their hands, lest I dash my foot against a stone.
    “Because thou hast set thy love upon me, therefore wilt Thou deliver me and set me on high, because Thou hast known my name. I shall call upon Thee, and Thou shalt answer me. Thou wilt be with me and deliver me in trouble and shew me Thy salvation. Amein.”