“Why are you troubled, my dear?” I’ve come to help you,” the angel said wanting to bring encouragement, but “Jessie” glared at him thinking he was a devil. The angel whose name was “Trouble” sighed. He knew “Jessie” thought of him that way, but he also knew that in time she would come to see what a blessing he was. Tucked under his wing was the gift he had been waiting so long to give her.

In the meanwhile, “Trouble” had the work of prodding “Jessie” to go deeper into the uttermost part of her being to find the truth about why he had come to her. She would only be able to discover “why” when she became still to hear the still, small voice within, but it was not time yet. “Jessie” remained in a continuous state of agitation. She loved her Lord and trusted Him with all her heart, but she didn’t know the way of righteousness in a certain area. It was because of this that she had been brought down low. She used up all her strength praying many, different kinds of prayers; she did tasks that she thought would be of benefit; she read God’s Word and spent much time fellowshipping with those of like mind, but her answer as to “why?” was still far from her.

A long time ago, she didn’t listen to her conscience and consequently injured one of God’s children that God wanted to bless with the substance He had generously given her. She hugged all the possessions to herself thinking that she was righteous to do so. Now, she was reaping her wrong doing’s wages with the suffering of the one she didn’t help, becoming hers to bear. But a little more wrestling and going round and round the threshing floor and she would come to realize it. Her heart would be open and she would soon be pliable enough to receive her answer.

The angel stood by her smoking (You didn’t think angels smoked, did you?) Well, this one was and is a smoker. The smoke of her torment was absorbed by him and he was blowing it out. Every individual on the face of the earth has the smoke of his torment to face on this side of the earth, or on the other side: It’s a reality, and so, between sighs and blowing out smoke, the angel dealt with the tormentor sent to “Jessie” keeping him abated. “Jessie” had more help than she realized through this one called “Trouble.”

“Aha! Aha!” came the voice of another angel called “Annoyance,” who was spreading sawdust all throughout “Jessie”’s home. He was not of the enemy as “Jessie” had supposed, but because sawdust was everywhere causing her to cough and sneeze, so it was only natural for her to think that way. In reality, this angel was sent to get “Jessie” moving-…. to get her propelled into spiritual thinking and out of her own strength. She struggled against “Annoyance” resisting him with everything in her, but to no avail. The “Aha! Aha!” sound of the angel was and is the battle cry that shakes the earth and “Jessie” had to learn to use the “Ha” of God who laughs in the face of the enemy and the “Ah” of heaven’s discovery. The “Aha” is the blessing of God to the one who finds the secret in “The Secret Place.”

“Aha!” the angel shouted again, in an even louder voice. “Methinks I hear the rumbling of the threshing floor,” and indeed it was so. There was “Jessie” on it, and that which moved against her grain being removed, because truly, “Mount Moriah” is earth’s place of discovery, the place of surrender. “Jessie”’s story is your story, my story, everyone’s story…. All must come to the end of themselves by coming face to face with their flesh.

The angel smiled as he looked at poor, worn out “Jessie” because he could see a star in a tiny form beginning to shine in her heart-…. She was listening, she was hearing and light was breaking forth. “Now is the time to give her my gift,” he exclaimed as he reached out into his pocket. Beaming with joy, he approached her and as she saw the brilliant rays shining out of him, she knew that he was an angel, not a devil. She received him readily and bowed low, because she had become a meek and lowly spirit. She had been made ready.

The angel touched her brow and then her head with electric life going all through her. It was then that he gave her the tiny silver bag he had hidden under his wing. “Now you have life, dear “Beloved One.” Go and give all you have and are, no longer hoard anything for yourself. Be free!” he commanded. The weight instantly lifted off her shoulders, and as “Jessie” opened the box wrapped in silver and gold light, she gasped: It was the key to God’s eternal essence manifesting continually as her own. Yay! The key of David was hers, and will be yours, too, when you’re crowned.

Who could have known that THAT’S what trouble brings?! AH and AHA: Only those who know that with much tribulation can we enter the kingdom of God! (Acts 14: 22)