Thou Shalt Not Sweat It 1.7.18

Ps. 46:1-3 “God is our refuge and strength, a help always near in times of great trouble. 2 That’s why we won’t be afraid when the world falls apart, when the mountains crumble into the center of the sea, 3 when its waters roar and rage, when the mountains shake because of its surging waves.”

This Psalm was written by the sons of Korah during the reign of Jehoshaphat when the enemies of Moab, Ammon, and Edom came against Judah.

You remember the story of how King Jehoshaphat was one day informed that vast armies were marching his way to utterly destroy them.

He went to God in prayer along with the rest of the nation of Judah.

After they had prayed, the Spirit of the Lord came upon a man named Ja-ha’zi-el who prophesied, saying:

“This is what the Lord says to you: Don’t be afraid or discouraged by this great army because the battle isn’t yours. It belongs to God!” (2 Chr. 20:15)

In the end, God arose with supernatural intervention as the army sang worship songs to God.

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It is this attack and subsequent victory that Psalm 46 is all about, and it teaches us that when overwhelming odds are against you, “Thou Shalt Not Sweat It!”

I’ve noticed that Satan often attacks either just before or soon after a great breakthrough.

Jehoshaphat was in the second group...

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King Jehoshaphat was a good king...

He brought about many reforms that removed the displeasure of God off of Judah.

We’re told that he “sought the God of his father,” and that “his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord” (2 Chron. 17:4,6).

He removed the “high places,” which were the designated places where false idols were worshipped...

And he wisely appointed teachers to go all throughout the cities of Judah teaching the Word of God.

So the people of God grew in the wisdom and knowledge of the Lord under Jehoshaphat’s leadership.

And the Bible reveals that it was on the heels of these godly reforms that Satan attacked Judah through the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites—all the sworn enemies of God and His people.

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Now...As with Jehoshaphat, it is when we’re doing right,

when we’ve set our hearts to seek the Lord,

when we’ve removed wrong things from our lives in obedience to the Lord,

and are being used of God to destroy the works of Satan that the enemy attacks.

And as with Jehoshaphat, the attack can seem overwhelming...

The odds appear to be against us, and victory looks all but impossible, but here’s the word today:

“Thou Shalt Not Sweat It!” That’s what I hear in Ps. 46!

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Ps 46 draws a picture of great shaking: “When the world (Your world) falls apart, when the mountains crumble into the center of the sea, when its waters roar and rage, when the mountains shake...”

The Living Bible says, “Even if the world blows up and the mountains crumble into the sea.”

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In other words, When all that can be shaken IS shaken,

when all the security blankets are pulled out from under you,

the familiar comforts you’ve always known are taken away,

and you’re whittled down, as Job was, to holding onto your very life...

This is how Judah felt as this massive army approached with blood in their eyes.

Yet the Psalmist confidently proclaims, “We will not fear!”

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What gives him this incredible confidence?

Three things that we all need to remember:

God is our refuge

Refuge means “shelter,” the kind of place you look for when a tornado has touched the ground and you run to a storm shelter.

Or like when you drive under a bridge for shelter in a fierce rainstorm or hailstorm.

A refuge is a place of protection that shields you from danger and destruction.

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When the attack is overwhelming as in Jehoshaphat’s case, you find out quickly which shelters work and which one’s don’t.

ILLUS: On May 6, 1995, 70 mph winds, softball-sized hail, and flash flooding struck Fort Worth.

10,000 people were outside for Mayfest in downtown Fort Worth when fist sized hail began to fall.

They ran for shelter to their cars but the hail crashed through the windshields.

They ran for shelter under canopies but the hail decimated the canopies.

90 people were taken to Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital for hail injuries.

So many of the shelters people fled to didn’t protect them.

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Likewise, many of the shelters people today trust in won’t help them in the day of spiritual attack!

The shelter of SELF won’t work in a spiritual attack.

The shelter of MONEY can’t shield you from the onslaughts of an angry devil.

The shelter of RELIGION is useless against the fiery darts of hell.

The shelter of HUMAN HELP does little to deliver you from Satan’s traps—David prayed, “Give us help against the enemy, for human help is worthless“ (Ps 108:12).

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In the day of spiritual attack we need a shelter that is impenetrable, impregnable, and impossible to bring down.

And the only shelter in that category is the almighty, immutable, all-powerful God of creation!

King David talked all the time about God as His shelter:

Pr. 18:2,10 “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; 10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe.”

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David said that God is not only our shelter, but...

II. God is our strength

“God is our refuge and strength...”

In a particularly difficult spiritual storm, we soon run out of our own strength.

The devil intends to wear us down and weary us to the place of quitting.

But when your strength runs out, God’s strength shows up!

This is why Paul triumphantly wrote, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Cor. 12:10).

And no one described God’s strength in the lives of His people like Isaiah:

29 “He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint” (40:29-31).

The word “wait” is the key word here...it doesn’t mean WAIT like you would wait at a bus stop for the bus to arrive.

It means “to bind together by twisting.”

ILLUS: chain and string

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He is our SHELTER, our STRENGTH, and finally:

III. God is our help

The Hebrew literally reads, “an abundantly available help.”

The gist of this is—God is right there with you, He is present....When everyone else walks out, God walks in.

He is your ever dependable, ever faithful, present tense, “there in the fire with you” help!

David often called out for God’s help:

Ps. 22:19 “But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.”

Psalm 40:13, "Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord, make haste to help me."

When God is your SHELTER He covers you in the storm, when He’s your STRENGTH He empowers you to endure, and when He’s your HELP He comes alongside you with aid.

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ILLUS: In an 1865 letter from William Sherman to Ulysses S. Grant, he wrote, "I knew wherever I was that you thought of me, and if I got in a tight place you would come.”

If this was true of man’s care for a friend, then it’s all the more true of the great Friend of sinners—the Lord Jesus Christ!

God thinks of you every hour of every day and when you’re in a tight place, His help is on the way!

This is why He promised the disciples, “No, I will not abandon you or leave you as orphans in the storm—I will come to you.” “I will send you the Helper from the Father; he is the Spirit of truth...” (John 14:18; 15:26)

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Let’s stand:

He is our SHELTER in the storm, our STRENGTH for the journey, and our HELPER in a bind.