God's People Will Not Be Ashamed in the Time of Calamity

God's People Will Not Be Ashamed in the Time of Calamity

By David Wilkerson

December 8, 2008

When I began working on this message, the Wall Street
Journal reported that the entire world had come under a great cloud of
fear. People in all nations are now paralyzed by world events.
Immediately, my thoughts turned to our parishioners at Times Square
Church. They show no such fear. Instead, while we all have a great
soberness about these times, we also have a deep, abiding joy. I was
led to Psalm 37, written by David: “The Lord knoweth the days of the
upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever. They shall not be
ashamed in the evil [calamitous] time: and in the days of famine they
shall be satisfied” (Psalm 37:18–19, my italics). Here is an
amazing prophecy for God’s people, and it is being fulfilled before
our eyes. In short, Psalm 37 tells us the Lord rises up to action
against societies whose sins have outraged heaven. David prophesies,
“The arms [power] of the wicked shall be broken” (37:17). Yet this
same Psalm is also one of great hope. It contains an incredible promise
to those who put their trust fully in the Lord. First, there comes a
time when God can no longer endure the greed, covetousness and wicked
fraud that evil men perpetrate on the poor and needy. David’s
prophecy speaks of a sudden loss of financial power: “The wicked
shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs:
they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away” (Psalm 37:20).
The inference here is that fire will suddenly consume the wealth of the
powerful. Riches will quickly spatter into smoke like fat in flames.

Talk about a picture of what has happened to America’s economy. In
two weeks’ time, more than $4 trillion of American wealth vanished.
Now we are being told trillions more will go up in smoke. Stock markets
all over the world have gone into shock over the news, with brokers
weeping and wailing. I won’t go into the reasons why I believe God
had to act. But I can say this: We know our God is not asleep. There
comes a time Isaiah describes as “the day of the Lord’s vengeance,
and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion” (Isaiah
34:8). “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious
people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own
thoughts; a people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face…
I will not keep silence, but will recompense” (Isaiah 65:2–3, 6).
What we see happening to our economy is not only God’s vengeance. It
has to do with the very honor and glory of Almighty God. He will not
stand by as his ways are maligned by the wicked. Ezekiel writes, “The
time has come, the day has arrived. Let not the buyer rejoice nor the
seller mourn; for wrath is against all their multitude…. They have
blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one is going to the
battle; for my wrath is against all their multitude” (Ezekiel 7:12,
14). In the midst of wickedness, God has sounded the trumpet of alarm,
but the warning has been ignored.