God Is with Us | Psalm 46
Trouble. We never know when it might come our way. On January 6, 2017, my 54th birthday, my wife Tammy and I rose at about 4 in the morning to head to the airport. We were excited to be getting out of the cold of Sioux Falls and go on a week-long cruise in the Caribbean with our life-long friends from Nebraska, RJ and Edie.
We boarded the plane and flew to Minneapolis and then to Fort Lauderdale, FL. When we arrived, we went to baggage claim, grabbed our luggage, and then sat down at the end of baggage claim area to wait for the bus that would take us to our ship. As we were waiting, we heard RJ and Edie’s flight through Atlanta arrive, so I suggested to Tammy that she go back to the other end of the baggage claim area to greet them as they came down the escalators. So she headed that way, and as she did, she crossed paths with a man she had also noticed in Minneapolis, who kind of made her feel creepy. Their eyes met and she passed by. About 15 seconds later, she was at the bottom of the escalator, RJ and Edie had just arrived and she was about to give them a hug when we heard. POP, POP, POP.
My first thought was, who is setting off firecrackers in the airport? That’s exactly what it sounded like. But then as I turned to look, I saw this man gun out, shooting into the people at the baggage claim area. We were part of a mass shooting. Immediately I dropped to my knees and watched from behind the line of chairs I had been sitting in. Tammy and RJ and Edie ran around the edge of the escalator and began banging on a door that was locked but that led out onto the tarmac. Eventually by God’s grace someone came and opened the door and they were able to run out of the baggage claim area and onto the tarmac.
Meanwhile, I was still kneeling behind the chairs, but as the gunman continued shooting and began to walk my way I dropped and laid flat on the floor underneath the line of chairs and as best I could pulled our luggage around me. As I laid there, I prayed a very simple prayer, over and over again. “Jesus save me.” Initially as I prayed my meaning for that prayer was Jesus, save me from being shot. But as I lay there, the gunman continued to walk closer and closer, and even though I was under some chairs, I was not very protected. As he got closer the words of my prayer didn’t change. I was still praying “Jesus save me.” But now my meaning had changed to “I’m pretty sure I’m going to be shot, take me to heaven to be with you.”
As it turned out, he took his final shots about ten yards away from me, ran out of ammunition, laid down and gave himself up. Five were killed that day and six others were injured.
That day God answered my first “Jesus, save me” prayer. He was my refuge, a very present help in trouble.
Today we are going to look at Psalm 46. It is the Psalm that inspired Martin Luther to write the hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” and it is said that when Luther heard any discouraging news, he would turn to singing the 46th Psalm.
Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
8 Come, behold the works of the LORD,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
God Is with Us
The main point of Psalm 46 is that God is with us. In times of difficulty and trouble, God is with us. In verse 1 God is very present. In verse 4 his people are his Holy habitation. In verse 5 God is in the midst of his people, the church. In verse 7 The Lord of Hosts is with us. Then again in verse 11 The Lord of hosts is with us. Loved ones, God is with us. Our God is not a God who created us and then left us to fend for ourselves not thinking about us again. Oh no. No matter how severe the difficulty, no matter how daunting the trouble you may be facing, God is with you, and He is your refuge and strength.
The nearness of God to his people has always been the distinguishing mark of the people of God. If you’ve been in our Foundations class, you know that we teach this during one of the weeks of that class.
We see this in the story of Moses leading the people into the promised land. In Exodus chapter 33, God is giving instruction to Moses related to leading the people in. But Moses has a question for God in verse 12. The gist of Moses question to God is, “God, how will I know I have found favor in your sight?” How will I know I’m going to succeed, and everything is going to work out OK? In verse 14 God answers,
And he said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
Moses responds and says God, if you don’t go with me, then just leave us here, don’t bring us into the land. And then in verse 16 Moses gives the reason.
For how shall it be known that that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
It is the presence of God that makes his people a distinct people.
Moses points out this truth again when he is commanding the people to listen to God’s commandments and to obey them. In Deuteronomy 4:7 Moses says,
“For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?”
We see this distinguishing mark of the presence of God with his people in the New Testament as well in the person and work of the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 14:23-25, Paul is writing about the superiority of prophecy to tongues, and what an unbeliever might experience when entering into a church service when his people are prophesying. There Paul writes,
“But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you.”
Loved ones, have you considered recently what an amazing blessing that is, that God is really among us? It’s not our great worship, as good as that is that makes us distinct. It’s not excellent preaching, which we are blessed to hear often. It’s not those things that make us distinct as a church. No, it’s the very presence of God among us that makes us a special, distinct people. What an incredible truth that God is so near to us, whenever we call upon him! Whether you are laying flat under some chairs at the airport, or sitting in a difficult meeting at work, or laying in a hospital bed, or at your wits end with your kids at the end of the day, God is near. He is with you.
Our God is not like the gods of the prophets of Baal whom Elijah mocked in 1 Kings 18, when he said maybe your god is busy with some other entertainment, or maybe he’s going to the bathroom right now, or maybe he’s sleeping, or maybe he’s on a trip.
Friends, that’s not our God. Our God is near. Our God is ready. Our God is listening. Our God is with us.
In Psalm 46 we see three significant implications for us resulting from the truth that God is with us.
We Need Not Fear
First, we do not need to fear. Verse 2 says that because God is our refuge and our strength, because God is a very present help in trouble, we will not fear.
God is our refuge and strength. A refuge is a place of security, a place of safety. It’s a place that we go to be protected from trouble.
Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous man runs into it and is safe.”
Do you feel like trouble is pursuing you, greeting you at every turn? Run to the Lord. Do you feel discouraged and beaten down? Run to the Lord. God is your strength to bear you up under your troubles. He will by his grace give you strength to endure.
What trouble are you dealing with today? Chances are good that something is troubling you. Jesus said in John 16:33, “In the world you will have tribulation”, so we shouldn’t be surprised by it.
There is no way in a fallen, broken world, living with fallen, broken people that we can avoid trouble.
The doctor says you have cancer – your boyfriend breaks up with you – you have a miscarriage – your company is sold and because of that you lose your job - One of your kids walks away from the Lord – you have a heart attack – your spouse is killed in an accident – your rent is increased and you can’t afford to stay where you are – your 401(k) drops by 20%.
Everything seems OK and then, POP, POP, POP, you fill in the blank. All of a sudden, without warning, trouble hits and there’s nothing you can do to stop it from coming. That’s the picture we see in verses 2 and 3. The suddenness of an earthquake shaking everything to its very core.
Though the earth gives way
Though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea
Though it waters roar and foam
Though the mountains tremble at its swelling
The Psalmist is saying that no matter how bad things get, even in what seems like the very worst of circumstances, we need not fear. We can run to God. He is our refuge. He is our strength. He is a very present help in trouble.
That little phrase, a very present help, means a help found. Sometimes we have things going on in our lives and we wonder, what am I going to do? I don’t know what to do. It seems like there is no one to help me. But there is someone to help, our God is a help found. God is right there. He’s not playing hide and seek with you. Because he is a help found, we need not fear.
I think one of the greatest fears that is common to man is the fear of death. You may have thought as I told my airport story earlier, well Loren, it’s great that God protected you during that shooting, but what about those five people who were killed? How was God a very present help to them? You’ve probably heard people say when these all-too-common tragedies happen, “Where was God in that?” That’s a great question, and one I’ve pondered over and over in my mind. The answer is that God was a refuge and strength to every one of His people in the airport that day.
For me, he was my refuge as he protected me from being shot. And He has been a refuge and strength to me, Tammy, RJ and Edie as we’ve worked through the trauma of that experience. For any believer who was killed that day, God was their refuge as they departed to be with him, which according to Philippians 1:23 is far better. It is at the moment of our death that God proves Himself to be our greatest refuge and strength as he protects us from the penalty of sin based on the sacrifice of Jesus for our sin at the cross. So was God a refuge and strength for those believers who lost their earthly life that day. Absolutely He was. And for those believing loved ones that were left behind, God is their refuge and strength and help in their grief. So, you see, God was a refuge for every one of his people in the airport that day. And no matter what circumstance you find yourself in, God is your refuge and strength, too.
God is good. And God is able to handle whatever comes your way.
Psalm 93:4 says, “Mightier than the thunders of many waters, mightier than the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty!”
The one who is mighty can handle your problems. Do not fear. Run to Him. He is a strong tower. The one who is mighty has paid the price for your sin. Death is defeated. Fear is gone.
We Can Be Glad
Because God is with us, we do not need to fear even in the worst of times. He is working all things together for our good and for His glory. Second, because God is with us, we can be glad. Verse 4 says that “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.” The word glad there means exactly that, to be glad or joyful or to rejoice. So, in the middle of trouble, in times of trial and distress, it is possible to be glad and joyful. How can that be? How does God make that happen?
Verses 4 and 5 say, “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 the morning dawns.”
Let’s dissect this a little bit to see what the Psalmist is talking about.
First, a river. What or who is this river? In John 7:37-39, Jesus is celebrating the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. There we read,
“On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive….”
The rivers that flow out of the heart of the believer is the Holy Spirit.
So, since the river is the Holy Spirit, what are the streams that flow from the river? They are the work and activity of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer and in the church. Now the works of the Holy Spirit are many and varied, but today I want to highlight just two that are particularly relevant to our topic today. They are two works of the Spirit that enable us to be glad, even in the darkest of times.
One of those activities of the Holy Spirit is to comfort us and to give us protection. In Isaiah 33:21 it says,
“But there the Lord in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ships can pass.”
The idea here is that the rivers and streams are places of protection where no large ships with huge enemy crews could navigate and attack. The rivers and streams were safe and protected from any large battleships. That’s what the Lord is to us, a protection from attack.
In our passage for today, note the contrast between verses 2 and 3 and verses 4 and 5. In verses 2 and 3 the earth gives way, the mountains are moved, the waters roar and foam, the mountains tremble. It’s mass chaos. In verses 4 and 5 we see a calm river with gentle streams. Quiet and calm. Though the mountains be moved, the city of God, God’s church, God’s people will not be moved. The ministry of the Holy Spirit gives us comfort and peace, even when trouble is raging around us.
A second activity of the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit gives evidence of God’s Presence. As we already looked at in John 7, Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit within us would be so powerful he would be like a river of living water flowing out from our inmost beings. That’s a power that is visible, that can be perceived. One of the ways in which he is shown visibly is by giving spiritual gifts to his church, so that when they are exercised, they display God’s grace and presence with His church. And, from time to time, he works miraculous things that attest to God with us.
Sometimes it is said that the Spirit does not call attention to himself but rather only purposes to give glory to Jesus and to God the Father. While the Holy Spirit certainly does point to God and to Christ, he also makes himself known in various ways. Wayne Grudem writes in his systematic theology,
“It seems more accurate, therefore, to say that although the Holy Spirit does glorify Jesus, he also frequently calls attention to his work and gives recognizable evidences that make his presence known. Indeed, it seems that one of his primary purposes in the new covenant age is to manifest the presence of God, to give indications that make the presence of God known. And when the Holy Spirit works in various ways that can be perceived by believers and unbelievers, this encourages people’s faith that God is near and that he is working to fulfill his purposes in the church and to bring blessing to his people.”
Because of this work of the Holy Spirit, we can be glad, full of joy, even in the hardest of circumstances. The Holy Spirit assures us through internal and external evidences that God is near, and God is at work.
Our Souls Can Be at Peace
Because God is with us, we do not need to fear. And because God is near, we can be glad and joyful even in trials.
Third, because God is with us our souls can be at peace. If you’ve been a Christian very long at all, you are likely familiar with verse 10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” It’s the classic verse to encourage Christians to set time aside to have a quiet time, to reflect on who God is, and to know that he is God. And having a daily quiet time to slow down, get into the word, pray, and listen for God is a great and important and vital practice. I highly encourage you in that.
But is that what verse 10 is really talking about? Let’s look at that verse in context.
Verses 8 and 9 encourage us to “come behold” what God has done. How he has brought desolations on the earth. The idea there of desolations, is God’s defeat of his enemies, probably referring to any number of David’s military victories over his enemies. The Psalmist encourages us to consider how God is the one who controls the events of history. Defeating enemies. Putting an end to wars. This is all about God’s sovereignty. He controls all things. He moves kings and kingdoms like water in his hands. All these things are in His hand, not ours. “Come behold” that God is sovereign, and He is in control, and he is able to defeat his enemies.
Up to this point in the Psalm, everything is in the third person. It is the psalmist writing about God. But in verse 10, God breaks in and speaks in the first person, “Be still.” That word “still” here is Psalm 46 is an interesting, fascinating word. In the English Standard Version of the Bible the word “still” occurs 212 times. But there is only one instance where “still” has the meaning that it has here. Only in Psalm 46. Be still in Psalm 46 means “to release”, “to let go”, one definition I read said to “be limp.”
The meaning of “Be still, and know that I am God” is not simply to sit silently and think about God. The idea is to recognize who God is, and to calm your soul. The command here is to realize that God is in control and to quit running around like a chicken with its head cut off. We tend to do that don’t we? The problems begin to mount, and we have to take care of this, and we have to deal with that, we have to fix this, we have to make things right. Look what this group is doing. Can you believe that tweet? Now I have to boycott them too? Is Chick-Fil-A the only safe place to go anymore?
But here God breaks in and it’s as if He says, “Will you calm down? I’m God. And no matter how desperate things look right now, no matter how much trouble you’re in, no matter how dire your situation, no matter how evil things appear, I am sovereignly by my good will, working things out in history so that I will be exalted among the nations in all the earth. So, release your problems to me. “Be still.”
And really, when we examine ourselves, where does all our striving, all our struggle, all our fears, all our worry, all our hanging onto our problems come from? Doesn’t it when we boil it all down come down to our view of God? Is God a big God that can and will handle all things, or is he a God on the verge of defeat? Can he really handle my troubles? But even if he can, will he? That’s why verses 8 and 9 encourage us to consider the works of God.
I love our missional community. The MC that Tammy and I lead with Greg and Laurie is made up of mostly of people who are empty nesters, or who are very nearly empty nesters. The average age of people in our MC is “I’ve stopped counting.” What I love about that is that we’ve lived some life. And with that life lived, comes some perspective. I love hearing the stories of people where heartache and struggle are now seen through the lens of God’s gracious work. Loss that formed character. Heartache that turned into joy. Disappointment that with the passage of time revealed itself to be a blessing. Even at this season of life, our troubles are not over. But having seen the faithfulness of God in the past and comforted by the presence of the Holy Spirit in the present, we can face the future full of confidence and without fear.
Romans 8:28 is true.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
Loved one, is your heart troubled? Be still. God is God. The same God who spoke to Moses in the burning bush, the same God that parted the Red Sea, the same God that shut the mouths of lions, the same God that holds the galaxies in the palm of his hand, that same God is at work for your good and for His glory. Be still, and give glory to God for his amazing works.
Fear not, be glad, be still and at peace. God is with us.