Psalm 46 • The God Who Protects

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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)

Thank you let's stand as we honor God's word and consider the ways in which he is providing for us psalm 46.

God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore we will not fear though the Earth give way though the mountains be moved in the heart of the sea though its Waters Roar and foam though the mountains tremble at its swelling Sila there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God the holy habitation of the most high God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved God will help her when morning dawns the nation's rage the Kingdom's totter he utters his voice the Earth melts the Lord of hosts is with us the god of Jacob is our Fortress Sila come Behold The Works of the Lord how he has brought desolations on the earth he makes War cease to the end of the Earth he breaks the bow and shatters the sphere he burns the Chariots with 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 Fortress Sila

Let's pray together. Heavenly Father we thank you for your word but even more for what it promises that you would be our refuge and our strength a fortress in a world that seems like it often assaults us but in your promise to be the god of Jacob and our God too you are God who works in families and for the family of faith through Jacob's family providing your son and ultimately our salvation as we consider the mighty Deeds of our God would you help us think how we can be at peace again not because our world has all calmed down but because our hearts have with confidence in you may we say Selah amen we trust you this we pray in Jesus name amen

please be seated you can imagine it his wife's name shows on the caller ID on his cell phone but when he answers the phone it's not the wife it's the four-year-old who has somehow figured out the keypad and the speed dial to Daddy and the four-year-old says Daddy we've been in Iraq and mommy won't wake up what does it mean though the Earth gives way and the mountains be cast into the midst of the sea we will not fear if you can take away the Hebrew poetry and a few centuries what it means when you say the Earth gives way is Daddy we had a wreck and mommy won't wake up or I'm sorry the test came back positive and its stage four the Earth gives way means I don't love you anymore and I've already packed my bags the Earth gives way means we don't need you anymore and security is here to escort you to your car though the Earth gives way what does that mean we get it we actually know what that means but what does it mean to say though the Earth gives way and the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea though its Waters Roar and foam and the mountains tremble we will not fear how is that even possible the purpose of this Psalm is to say not only is it possible it is the promise of God that because he is a Mighty Fortress not just against the evils and the trials of the world but for the sake of our hearts that even when material things give way when the earth about us trembles and our feet Shake our hearts need not that we can still know peace in a world where there is none because of a God who is our refuge and strength it is explaining what it means for God to be a refuge and a river and to provide rest for our souls that is this psalm's purpose the opening words many of us know well God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble it's first just the promise that that God provides protection he is a Refuge for the Israelites when they heard this Psalm the referent that most of them will have in mind is a time in which the city of Jerusalem itself became that Refuge that Fortress the walls raised high on the high point that was Jerusalem to protect it from an enemy that was known as Assyria what happened was this Assyria had sent an army of 185 000 troops under King sennacharib to attack Israel the northern kingdom has already been decimated wiped out and now sennacherib advances upon the southern Kingdom and its capital Jerusalem because the nation is not large you know what is happening the people of the Southern Kingdom have rushed into the Fortress that is Jerusalem the walls surround them as they get into this high point of the Fortress sure they look to the north and there they see the smoke of the cities that have already been ruined and ransacked and they know that sennacherib is coming with 185 000 to get them next he actually sends a letter ahead of him the letter addressed to King Hezekiah who's also in the Fortress at Jerusalem and the letter says if you surrender I promise prosperity and peace but if you don't you die not only is the smoke rising from the northern cities the refugees are already at the gate knocking and telling of the atrocities that sennacherib has already visited upon them Hezekiah trembling with fears takes the letter that has come from sennacherib and he goes to the temple of God which has already been stripped of its gold out of its finery because they tried to pay a ransom to sennacherib to to beg him not to attack the city it's already failed he's coming with Siege forces and because he has no resources left no means to protect himself left all that King Hezekiah can do is take the letter of sennacherib and put it on the altar of God and say God we got nothing you must be our refuge you must protect us we have nothing else save us o God what does God do that night he sends one angel and that one angel on that one night wipes out 185 000 Assyrians it will be told in Israel's history from that point forward God is our refuge and strength not the city walls not our wealth not anything we can provide God is our refuge and strength just a couple of side notes we actually have the historical account of sennacherib of this same event not from the Bible snackarib's own account of this in the British museum in London and what snackarib records is that he went to Siege Jerusalem and turned away from the city it never says why he turned away it just says he did not take the city second observation if one angel could defeat 185 000. what would it mean 700 years later when in the same city of Jerusalem in the Garden of Gethsemane when Roman soldiers would come with a mob to take Jesus under arrest and one of Jesus disciples to protect him would strike the ear of one of the soldiers with a short sword and Jesus would say would you put away the sword if it were my father's will he could send 12 Legions of angels a legion in Roman terms is 5 000 soldiers Jesus says my father could send 60 000 Angels should he choose you now if just one angel can defeat 185 000 soldiers that means 60 000 of God's angels could have defeated 11 billion soldiers which is more than all the armies of all the nations of all the Earth since history has begun his power is greater our God is great he is our refuge and we turn to him recognizing how great is that power that he is promising to his people but it is not just the power that surrounds us it is not just the angels that are provided ultimately he is our refuge and our strength the refugees The Fortress language of what is around us the strength is what is within that God is also promising to provide he will provide what is necessary for us verse 4 says there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God the holy habitation of the most high God is in the midst of her she that is the city Shall Not Be Moved God will help her when morning Dawns now again we don't have the referent for that but if you were in ancient Israel you would know what has happened sennacherib is coming with a hundred and eighty-five thousand to besiege the city it will be easy to take Jerusalem here's the reason even today most great cities that we know are founded on bodies of water right like Michigan Chicago Mississippi River St Louis London the Thames perish the same Shanghai Yangtze what it's just obvious you need a water source by a great City but not Jerusalem Jerusalem is on a high point in a desert how do they get water well at the bottom of the hill outside the city walls there was a spring known as the spring of gihan and that's where they would go to get the water that was necessary for the sustenance of the city but now sennacherib is coming how is he going to take the city he doesn't even have to breach the walls all he has to do is block their access to the spring which is outside the walls this will be easy so Hezekiah recognizes what will happen what does he do he has his Engineers go into a cave that's on the top of the hill which the city sits and he begins to drill straight down and then sends other Engineers to the spring outside the walls and have them begin to dig over until a tunnel known as hezekiah's tunnel is built connecting the spring to the city you can still walk the tunnel with us if you want if you go with us on the trip next spring now you would wish that there were a little bit better Engineers because when you're about in the middle of the tunnel where the two Crews met they were a little bit off so there's a little zigzag there they needed some of you Engineers to help them out but nonetheless it worked and you must recognize what that meant for the people as they hide the outside spring camouflage it put rocks and stones over it so sennacherib can't get to it and now they have water coming into the city this is their security this is their salvation this is how they know they can survive despite the attack of what's around them they will survive because of what is inside them the spiritual significance will not really be known until 700 years later for 700 years the people continue to celebrate the salvation of God that has come by this spring coming up within the city now because they have at the Feast of Tabernacles a a week of Celebration every year in which they celebrate God as Tabernacle he's made his home with us he's brought his presence with us he's Emmanuel God With Us they have the Feast of Tabernacles and every morning of the Feast of Tabernacles they take water now from inside the city and they sprinkle the altar to say God has provided our Salvation God is the one who is provided but when Jesus goes to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles he waits until the Eighth Day when no water is taken from the spring the feast is over and he instead says these words that will last forever if anyone thirsts let him come to me and I will give him water and this water will be a well ing up in him until eternal life the ultimate promise was not the protection that was around from the forces but rather the strength that would come welling up from within us by a union with the god of the universe it was his provision it was what was internal it was what was spiritual that would provide the ultimate strength that God would provide for his people it's it's that that is our confidence that God is Not Just providing protection from the outside ultimately recognized in a fallen in a cruel world this world that is broken that there are all kinds of things that will continue to attack God's people but our ultimate support is what is within confidence that God will not abandon his purpose nor will he abandon his people but rather our faith with him will well up into confidence into eternal life and his preservation for our souls forever it is the ultimate promise of strength and it is what we claim when the trials are so hard and so bad you you have to think Martin Luther when he wrote that Great Mighty fortresses are a god based upon the words of Psalm 46 he well knew how hard the world could be even when God was our refuge before he penned the words of A Mighty Fortress Is Our God he was already a fugitive fleeing a church that was ready to kill him for claiming that we were saved by grace alone already his colleague Leonard Kaiser had been burned at the stake for holding to the same doctrine that Martin Luther was himself teaching and now that you have read this Psalm you have to think of how much it weighed upon Luther to be strengthened from the inside not just from the outside when he wrote and though this world with Devils filled should threaten to undo us we will not fear for God has willed his truth to Triumph through us let goods and Kindred go this Mortal life all so what is the truth that will be maintained but that Lord save the Lord of hosts his name is from age to age the same and he must win the battle not because survive because his purposes survive not because our bodies survive because our souls are maintained eternally by his great work and we trust him because we say he is working a purpose greater than we can discern but through people that he loves and so we look for those marks in our lives where he is our refuge and our strength and we claim it when we go through the battles yet again is it real does it mean anything for us today we've been on vacation one of the weeks we were out in Colorado went to visit a son baptized a grandchild wonderful time but we also went because our youngest daughter Katie is staying with our son and his family in Colorado this summer you may remember three weeks ago at the end of this service I asked some of you to pray with me for our daughter Katie she was in something of an emotional tailspin had not gotten into the grad school that she wanted to spend some time with my son and his wife and their family in Colorado the consequence Was Not only was she greatly disappointed about not getting to the grad school she wanted she was now distant from her friends from her support network living in a new state so you had to add to disappointment isolation and loneliness and for Kathy and me we just saw our daughter just emotionally lower than we have known her to be and we were worried and so I said at the end of this service which some of you just come pray for me I'm not sure how to help my daughter pray for my daughter and Mike Jackson was the first to come up here and put his arm around me and others of you gathered and and we prayed and others prayed for other things now I saw Katie Kathy and I took a little trip with her while we were out in Colorado and as we were talking we were we were dealing with a different daughter she was she was back to her old self she was brilliant and happy and joyful and fun like she usually is we said what happened she said well last week which would now be three weeks ago she said I I went to a new church because I was told they had young people my age and I went and she said there was nobody my age she said I was frustrated and disappointed and she said I was walking out the door and somebody tapped me on the shoulder and said do you like to camp and she said yes and they said well all our young people are out camping this weekend but they'll be back tonight and you could go to their meeting and Kathy said I went to the meeting I've got all kinds of people who love what I love and they love the Lord and is if she said Mom and Dad it just changed so fast now we had to do a little bit of the thinking back so I'm up here and and Mike has his armor on my shoulder and we're praying for my daughter and right at that moment somebody's tapping my daughter on the shoulder in Colorado and saying do you like camping and I think you know of the words of scripture while you are yet asking I will answer says the Lord and so here we are praying and the Lord is answering in a different place does it always happen that way of course not but we have in our lives these these Ebenezer Stones these these rocks of remembrance that we say all right I'm going through a hard time now but consider the Deeds of the lord it's what Israel is doing in this passage they they certainly go through hard times but they are considered remember how the Lord brought us out of slavery and the Horse and Rider of the Egyptians were thrown into the sea remember and remember when we went into the promised land and there were the the great enemies of God's purpose there but the walls of Jericho came tumbling down and remember when the kingdom was established and already we thought there was no hope because sennacherib had taken out the northern kingdom and God sent just one Angel and he provided and they they recount these Tales of what God has done remembering the Deeds of the Lord because what we're ultimately being strengthened by is not just the removal of all evil in a fallen world but the support of our souls we have this River in us that is believing in the power and the goodness of God and it is our strength for the world we Face there is no temptation taken you but such as common to man but God is faithful he will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able but will with the trial also provide a way of Escape so that you can stand up under it he is the god who gives strength as well as refuge and it is that river that God is providing it is that willingness to understand what he is doing that makes sense of these verses he is this this river god this one who says if you're thirsty come to me if you can't make sense of it read my word here is the water meant to flow into your heart into your soul that you may be strengthened for whatever you have to face the greater protection that God offers is not the removal of all ill Heaven hasn't come yet it will but not yet it is the confidence that he is at work so that we can stand up and face tomorrow and pray for those that we need to pray for so a couple of thoughts you might just think about who the Lord wants you to tap on the shoulder before you leave this service and then you might remember some things the Lord has done in the past if your presence is a real struggle so that you would pray remembering the Deeds of the Lord the one who is our refuge and strength because something happens when you remember a God who is a refuge and a river you find some rest and that's what God is promising as well how can we rest verse 6 the nation's rage the Kingdom's taught her he utters his voice the Earth melts it's just a reminder that that he is powerful over all things here's the Great Expression Nations rage kingdoms taught her God just says a word and the whole earth melts he's more powerful than all of that at the same time verse 7 the Lord of hosts is with us the god of Jacob is our Fortress it's it's not just that he's great out there somewhere he's listening to Mike pray for me he's listening to our prayers for our daughter the god of Jacob is with us and what do you remember about Jacob conniver liar thief idolater and yet God is saying you turn to me and I will help you because I'm the god of somebody like Jacob and I actually take Jacob with all of his conniving and all of his weaknesses and I use him to build a family out of which Israel the family of faith will come out of which Jesus will come to save you as though God is saying I I have this this infinite plan and I have this intimate plan and they're operating right together so that you can you can rest in my purposes even when things don't make sense verse 9 he makes War cease to the end of the Earth as though you say God is Lord Save which means Lord of hosts that the Nations bring their forces the the companies bring their lawyers the family brings its ire whatever is the issue we're facing and God said I'm greater than that I'm Lord Sabbath I'm I'm Lord of hosts and it's it's meant to give our hearts some rest to remember that he is Lord of hosts but he's not just Lord of hosts he makes Wars cease to the end of the Earth he's the Lord shalom he's bringing peace to our hearts even when our lives are not experiencing that peace How can there be peace verse 10. be still and know that I am God I will be exalted among the Nations I will be exalted in the Earth what brings us peace it's just knowing that God is God my God is God the power that created the Universe the power that turned back sennacherib the power that sent Jesus the heart that loves me past my sin that God is my God and when I recognize that I I trust him I think of Psalm 127 in vain do you rise up early and stay up late eating the bread of anxious toil do you not know God gives to his beloved sleep because my God is God that's how I can rest I I may not be able to explain I may not be able to see this ending in in a way that makes sense to me or that I can figure out or that may happen even but in my lifetime but but my God is God and for that reason I continue to trust him he's got this because he's God not only is my God Lord sabayoth my God is here he is verse 11 the Lord of hosts who is with us the god of Jacob who is our Fortress he is he's not just Lord Sabbath he's Lord Emmanuel God with us and we need both pieces of that to actually have our hearts at rest that he has all this power but he's also with us for a caring and loving person purpose that was ultimately revealed in Jesus if I don't know that I won't I won't truly be able to rest I will focus only on the crisis and the fact that it's not done yet only on the enemy and that it's not destroyed yet only on the anger and that it's not calmed yet but if what I say is you know sometimes I'm treated the way Hezekiah was I have all my resources stretched and pushed away from me no longer my walls work no longer my Army Works no longer my wealth works that's gone so what I got left God it's all a god it's all you need and that God is with me and because of that I can still find rest when I'm going through the troubles that I can't make sense of Kathy's brother is a a doctor in Springfield a surgeon and several weeks ago he took a friend of his a colleague who's also a man of faith to a Cardinal game and they've known each other a long time but we're kind of catching up on families and issues and as these two men of faith we're at the Cardinal game the friend begin to speak to Kathy's brother of the trials in his life so my daughter got married recently young guy strong strapping vigorous 30 years old who had an inexplicable heart attack destroyed a large part of his heart for that reason he was put on a heart transplant list and they just presumed they were in for a long hard wait but as the circumstances can develop and priorities are listed they got the call there is a Heart available and you're going into surgery tomorrow you know they were hardly recovered from the trauma of the heart attack and they're having to face now his possible loss in a heart transplant operation so the families at the hospital they're gathered in the waiting room while the surgery begins and the friend who's sitting there at the Cardinal game with Kathy's brother says here's what I did I have a Bible app on my smartphone so I just opened it up to the verse of the day now folks there there are about 31 000 verses in the Bible this is the verse that showed up on the Bible app that day as the verse for the day for this man whose son-in-law was going into heart transplant surgery Ezekiel 36 26. I will give you a new heart and I will put a new spirit in you I will remove from you Your Heart of Stone and give you a heart of Flesh so said the friend we knew that despite it all the Lord was still with us now I would tell you Kathy's brother doesn't know who won that Cardinal game because he said we just wept for the next few innings two men of Faith saying we don't understand all these events but God is our refuge and strength the god of Jacob is with us and because of that we know that though the Earth gives way we can be still and know that God is God and God is with us and so we will find rest for our souls so may God do his work in your heart even when the enemy is pushing in and your walls are not big enough to stop it that you would know the river of Christ that is peace to your soul because you have United your heart to his and know that he is now for you and though the Earth gives way you can be still and know that he is God Selah amen father so bring your truth to our hearts that we who face a real world might know a present God who is Lord save Lord of hosts and Emmanuel God With Us that whatever we must face we can do so with the God who has secured our souls forever and is working through us for Eternal purposes grant that we may know him be at peace and be still in the presence and the care of our God in whose name we pray amen thank you for watching these resources are made available by those who want the ministry of the gospel and the goodness of God's grace to be known and heard by many others if you would also like to help support this ministry then I invite you to go to brianchapple.com where there are means for you to support what we do as well as see many more resources that are available to students to pastors to people like you all over the world [Music] foreign [Music]