God is our refuge and strength, a present help in times of trouble, and His presence ensures stability and gladness even amidst turmoil. The sermon explores Psalm 46, highlighting that while circumstances may bring trouble and upheaval, God's unchanging nature and power provide a secure refuge and a tower from which to view challenges with His perspective. By trusting in God's control and His promise to never let us be tested beyond our ability to bear, we can remain steadfast and know that He is God, ultimately bringing peace and making us stronger Christians through trials. The message concludes by urging believers to be still, trust in God's sovereign plan, and acknowledge His sufficiency in all situations.
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Are we going back to Psalm one hundred and nineteen? I thought of it, but I did not feel that I was ready to preach on that particular portion. So that lies somewhere in the future. But I did think that we might look at a Psalm and it's Psalm forty six. I think you know this Psalm very well and I'm sure it's, I have nothing new to say about it. But I will tell you how I first of all was introduced to the Psalm. I suppose I was about fifteen years of age.
I had been saved at thirteen through one of my sisters. She was, I had four of them. Can you imagine that? The only boy with four sisters, every one of them sure, his mother didn't punish him often enough. and they ought to step into the gap. No, they didn't lay hands on me, but they certainly learned how to put me in my place. That's why I'm so unruly now. But the fact is that that sister of mine who first got saved was the means in our home of real blessing. And I got saved not very long after she did.
And then my mother, after telling us from time to time, I don't know why you don't take your bed down to that gospel hall. You spend all your time there. But one night in a service at that same gospel hall, she trusted the Lord Jesus. But one day my sister, the one who was first saved, fell very ill. And the doctor was called and was not very happy with the situation. So he came again the next day and he said, there is a crisis in the offering.
And we don't know whether we'll be able to keep her here or whether we'll have to send her to the hospital. My mother very quietly, I didn't see her do this. But she took her Bible off the piano and sat down with it. Now, she had only just been saved. And she just opened her Bible. And then she said, everything's all right. She's not going to go to the hospital. She's going to be all right here. Mother, how do you know that?
God just told me. Look at the verse I lighted on, and I looked at it. It was verse five. God took this, my sister took this literally as from God. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early. And God honored that. and she began from that moment to improve until she was soon out of her bed and on her feet again. Now that's a text altogether taken out of its context. But my mother was a babe in Christ and she expected to find somewhere in the Bible some help.
And although she opened it randomly, it wasn't random at all. That was the verse that her eye led upon And she accepted that as a promise from God. And God honored her faith. Let's read this Psalm. This Psalm has been called Martin Luther's Song in Trouble. And you'll know why when we read it. I've read this through so many times. It wasn't very long, perhaps the second or third reading. I noticed that word Sila. It comes after the first section, which is verses one, two and three.
Then it comes after the second section, which is five, six and seven. And then it comes after the third section, which is eight, nine, ten and eleven. The Spirit of God has divided this Psalm for us and he does it by means of these Silas. You know what Sila means, don't you? Sila means, think of that. So as I read it to you, and you come to Sila, think of that. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, Sila. Now I'm going to suggest to you that we have here a set of circumstances, and the psalmist is telling us that we must not, or that our circumstances must not be allowed to disturb us. I heard about two Christians who met on the street one day, and the one said to the other one, how are you today? The other one said, oh, I'm all right under the circumstances.
The first one wanted to know, what are you doing there? We have no right to be under the circumstances. And I think that this is what the first few verses are meant to impress upon our hearts. But then we read, there is a river, verse four. What a change in the Psalm here. There is a river. The streams whereof shall make glad the city of God the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. That is speaking of the holy city, of course. God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged.
The kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice, the earth melted. The law of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. And I think a psalmist is telling us here that our confidence in God must never be shaken. It doesn't matter what happens. Now look at verse eight. Come, behold the works of the Lord. What desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh a bow and cuttheth a spear in thunder. He burneth a chariot in the fire.
Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. and here I believe the psalmist is trying to make us understand that there is a consolation available to us but we have to appropriate it. Now I don't know what your circumstances are today. I don't know what your day has held. It could have been a very frustrating day. I have no way of knowing.
It could have been a very painful day. Again, I have no way of knowing. But whatever your circumstances were, I'm sure that there was some among some of them that you would prefer not to have been in your day today. Our circumstances can be very frustrating. They can be very oppressive. They can be very causes to question sometimes. A man must never be He must never allow himself to be under the circumstances, especially the Christian who has all the resources in heaven and earth at his disposal to enable him to endure his circumstances, to overcome them, and to glorify God in them.
Let's look at the first part here, these circumstances. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Ah, there's the first word, trouble. We all know what trouble is, and we know what troubles are. But the psalmist doesn't stop there. He says, therefore, that is because God is our refuge in our trouble, therefore will we not fear, even though the earth be removed, Can you imagine an upheaval like that? I'm sure an upheaval like that, an upheaval like that, never really came into your life, was never really among your circumstances, but maybe something approaching it when there was a great upheaval in your life.
Though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. You know our troubles... Three things are certain. God knows all about them, and He knows how you feel about them, and He knows how to describe them. And before this arm is done, He's told us how to deal with them. They're described, first of all, as trouble. A very present help in trouble. And then they're illustrated by the word turmoil.
Now how would you, how would you describe, or how would you understand turmoil? What does the word bring to your mind? It's the thought of being stirred up. You know, sometimes God brings turmoil into our lives. My wife and I were very interested during the spring because a little wren decided for the first, the third year in a row to build in our garage her nest.
In fact she used the old one and she laid three eggs in it and hatched two of them. Now we would go out and we would look at those little birds as they drew, and eventually they were entirely feathered. And yet they were still lying in the same position they seemed to be when they were absolutely bare with no feathers at all. But the mother was not going to allow that, to allow that to happen. And at some point, and we weren't there to witness it, she came in and she stirred up that nest. and she kept them out and then they found out they could fly last year we watched them fly around the garage because the door was closed the day when she got them out of the nest and they they seemed to be so surprised that they had wings that would hold them up and they would hit this and hit the head and hit the other but they were flying and they seemed to be exhilarated about it you know sometimes trouble comes and we sort of settle down on our leaves and we begin to grouse and we begin to grumble and we begin to feel sorry for us.
If we get into that situation, let's not be surprised if God does something to stir up the nest and to show us that things are not as bad as they seem. They are described as trouble. They are illustrated by turmoil and that is a stirring up. I'm sure you've had times in your life when you knew that God was stirring you up. God was interfering with your life. God was doing something in your life that you didn't like, but you knew had to be done. God has wonderful ways of dealing with his own. Sometimes he deals, often he deals, in love, often in tenderness, but sometimes our circumstances get us to the point where God says, I have to do something more drastic.
And then when it happens, we sit up and we take notice. I don't know whether you describe your circumstances as trouble. I don't know whether at this present time you feel that your circumstances are very tumultuous. There's not only trouble there, but there's turmoil there. You know, sometimes this can happen deep down in the heart. Your circumstances outwardly may seem to be wonderful, but sometimes you can, and we've all had this experience, know a tumult and a turmoil in the heart.
And we allow it to disturb us. God says, don't do that. I know about your trouble. I know about your tumult. He says, what you've got to do with them is conquer them by trust. Now, three times over, I read to you in the Psalm, God is our refuge. It wasn't the same in each instance. In verse one, it says, God is our refuge. That's in the first section. Then in verse seven, and this is the second section, the Lord of hosts who with us The God of Jacob is our refuge. Then the third section, the last verse.
The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Now it's very interesting. I noted when I looked into this that the word refuge in the first verse is not the same word as the word refuge in the other two verses. The one means something to flee into. The other two are the same word and they mean a tower, a place where you get over, you get up and you look down. God is our refuge. We can run into that refuge and be safe.
God is our refuge. We've got to get over our circumstances. We've got to get over our situation as God is and look down upon it as God sees it. and then all of our burdens and troubles and tumult will be very expressively reduced. God is able to do this. God understands the troubled heart and God knows that we are human and He notes that there are times when doubts come into our hearts and we are ashamed of them afterwards. God does not look down with a frown. Instead, He puts at our disposal... that which will solve our problems and still our tumults.
Now in the second section the psalmist is telling us that whatever happens we not only must not be found under the circumstances but our confidence in God must never be allowed to be shaken. God doesn't change. God is unchanging. God is well capable of taking away all of these things that distress us and trouble and try us and cause us turmoil. But you know that if your life was smooth and serene all the way through, you wouldn't have any backbone as a Christian.
It's those trials. Those difficult circumstances, the problems and the tumult, these are the things that God makes, if we will allow him to, makes us stronger and stronger Christians. When you get the victory in the first instance, then it comes more readily in the second and you begin to see that because God has a pattern, these things don't just happen to you, they're planned. and they have planned for your good. Now that's not very easy to accept when you're sitting in your chair a little longer than usual simply because you can't get out of it.
Your arthritis is playing up and you really are feeling so sick with the pain you struggle but you can't get out of your chair. That's very hard then Not to be a little frustrated. It's very hard then not to begin to question. But because you've known the Lord so long, we all of us have known him a long time, we know that he knows all about this. And when an attack comes, he's there. And it's not by accident. We must not allow anything to shake our confidence in God.
And the Holy City here is made an illustration, as it were, of us. It says, after talking about the trouble and the tumult and the waters roaring and the mountains being carried into the midst of the sea, the second section begins, there is a river. What a difference from the roaring waters. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God the holy place of the tabernacles of the most high. God is in the midst of her, that is the holy city.
She shall not be moved. And then the picture of us. God is in the midst, God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen rage. The kingdoms were moved. But he uttered his voice, and the earth melted. You can see who's in control, can't you? There are probably four thoughts here. The first is, the gladness is possible, even in the midst of the direst of circumstances. There is a river. The streams whereof shall make glad.
it's always possible even in the midst of trouble and tumult to be made glad. God can do it. That's why a depressed saint, and nobody understands depression like God does, a depressed saint is something of a misnomer because if we are trusting in the Lord, and there is at our disposal everything that we need to overcome when we feel crushed it must be because we are not we are allowing something to interfere with the what we know to be a truth the truth that we have the right and God has the expectation that we shall never allow our confidence in him to be shaken.
One thing is certain, God says, the floods may come, but I will not let them overflow you. Now you and I, whatever our situation today is, we don't know what our situation tomorrow is going to be. And things have a way of rushing into our lives and when they do we feel overwhelmed but God is there and everything that God has for us is at our disposal we must never let anything shake our confidence in heaven gladness is possible stability is assured it says that God's presence the God of Jacob In one place it says, God is our refuge.
We have a refuge. We have a place to flee. We have a tower top on which we can stand and by standing there and viewing as God does, we can understand a little better. And so we can take what God is allowing to come to us and not become downcast, depressed, or crushed. God is stable. Not only is God with us, but God is stable and He never changes. More than that, according to this portion here, the second of these stanzas, God promises us support.
It says, She shall not be moved. Why? Because God is her supporter. But it says also God is in the midst. In your trouble God is there. In your turmoil God is there. In your lack of perception and your concern God is there. And God is a stable God. He never changes. He has promised you support. God is in the midst of her.
She shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early. So we know that there is a control that's already in place, and God is the controller. He will not suffer you to be tested. Above that you are able to bear, but will with the testing send a way of escape that you may be able to. to bear it. Now that is his promise and by faith we have to seize it. We've got to put our trust in him in times when everything seems at its darkest. It mustn't allow our confidence in God to be shaken.
When it comes to the last section here, let me read it to you. Come, behold the works of the Lord. What desolations he hath made in the earth? He makes wars to cease unto the end of the earth. Now isn't that a strange thing to follow what's gone before? Behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. But that's not where he ends. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh a bow and cuttheth a spear in thunder. He burneth a chariot in the fire. He allows desolation, we are told by the psalmist here.
It speaks of his works and it speaks about him making the desolation. Isn't it strange to realize that sometimes God is really responsible for the thing that is coming to your life that you say, I cannot bear this, I cannot take this. God makes desolations on the earth. He is the one, it says, in contrast, who make of the world's decease, and who destroys all the weapons of war. I'm glad that we know, because the Word of God assures us and we prove in our lives, while the devil may trouble us, or God allow troubles to come, God will never permit Satan to destroy.
Do you remember Job? Spare his life. You can do this, do this, do this, do this, but don't touch his life. In the final analysis, God has control and God has the last word. And the one who maketh desolations in the earth turns around, and as I read it to you, he maketh wars to cease. Now there are two extremes, and they are going to come into our lives. Because we are believers, it doesn't mean to say that we are exempt from trouble, exempt from turmoil, exempt from the things that try other mortals.
We are mortals, and we shall suffer pain, and we shall be distressed. and sometimes we shall be disturbed. But if our trust is in God, we shall not be overwhelmed. That's the wonderful thing about a believer. He has a wonderful God. Let's look at this last section as we close. He made it worse to cease. He breaketh a bow and cuteth a spear in thunder. He makes the war impossible because the weapons are destroyed. Verse ten says, Be still and know that I am God.
It's when we are in the midst of these things that the small voice of God speaks to us and says, Be still. Do you know what that really means? It means, let me handle this. Be still. Don't try to do it for yourself. I can do it. You can't do it. And so he says, be still and know that I am God. And then he speaks about peace. And he repudiates conflict. and then in verse ten he says be still I'm so happy that God has brought me to the point and I know he's brought you to the point because you've known him for so long in spite of the puzzles that come into our lives in spite of the frustrations that God could do away with and yet doesn't.
We know that today we are better Christians for having experienced those things than we would have been if they hadn't come. That was God's design. That was God's pattern. Do you ever thank God for what you are today as a Christian. I know. I remember in one of our open air meetings, we were having testimonies from the crowd, believers in the crowd. It was quite a large crowd. One man stood on his tiptoes and he raised his hand to get the preacher's attention.
He said, my testimony is short, short. God said it, I believe it, And that settles it. That was his testimony. And so it is with us we can look back and say God didn't make any mistakes. And when again these experiences come into our lives we can look back and say God was sufficient then. God isn't going to fail me. Now let's pray. Our Father we thank you that ever we came to know you. We thank you for the years that we've known you, and so many of us here have known you for many years.
And, Lord, we thank you for the way that you've dealt with us, though sometimes we couldn't understand it. But looking back, we know that we are the better Christians, the stronger Christians, because of those things that made us squirm. Lord, we pray that we may never question thy dealings with us, but lean upon thine arm and hear that little voice saying, Be still and know that I am God. We ask in the name of the Lord Jesus.