THIS VERSE CHANGED MY LIFE – Psalm 46

Introduce sermon series, read passage, pray.

Technology has done a great job in showing us how little control we have over our lives.

Illustration: My Bible Handbook and the AC 2nd floor printer

Life is like this. When you think about all the things that fall outside of your control, it can get overwhelming. The economy: trying to buy a house, groceries up 20% in the last 4 years (NYT). Your health: me getting diabetes, COVID. Wars and rumors of war: Russia-Ukraine, Israel-Palestine, China. The storms from 3/30. And even the small-scale things, such as trying to print an assignment to no avail. How do we find comfort when life is spiraling out of control?

This passage gives us three answers to this question: we can find comfort in hard situations because God comes through for his people, God reigns over everything, and God has secured our future.

#1 - God comes through for his people

Take a look at the first verse…

The first thing to notice is the word “present.” If you’re reading out of the ESV, there should be a little number next to “present” that indicates a footnote at the bottom of the page, which says that the Hebrew could instead be translated as “well proved.” The Hebrew word that’s being used for that word means “found,” or in this case, “has been found.” That is to say, the Psalmist here is saying that God has been experienced as a helper in times of trouble. Think about it – presence by itself doesn’t mean much. I’m not a very athletic guy. I played some safety in rec. league flag football when I was in sixth grade, but my presence in the secondary of an NFL defense wouldn’t really mean much. You would probably rather have someone like Troy Polamalu or Ed Reed who have proven themselves to be assets.

It’s the same with God – if he is present, but hasn’t been proven, what good is that to you? But he has been proven. We just spent the last few months studying the book of Joshua where we saw time and time again God proving himself to Israel – parting the waters of the Jordan, knocking down the walls of Jericho, causing the sun to stand still, and redeeming a crushing defeat by giving them victory at Ai once they repent of their sin and rely on him. Listen to how one commentator puts it: The word present, as if [God] were near to us, or close by us, does not accurately express the idea, which is rather, that he has been found to be [a help in trouble], or that he has always proved himself to be such a help, and that, therefore, we may now confide in him. The word very, or exceedingly, is added to qualify the whole proposition, as if this were emphatically true. It was true in the most eminent sense that God had always been found to be such a helper.

And this is why your testimony is so important. When we were studying Joshua, you may remember that Pastor Jason handed out sticky notes during one of his messages and had you write on it a brief testimony about where you had seen God’s faithfulness in your life. We got back 132 sticky notes telling stories of what God had done, which we turned into slides that we had scrolling before services for the rest of the series because hearing each other’s testimonies of God’s faithfulness is so important. It’s one thing to read in the Bible that God is a proven help in times of trouble, it’s one thing to hear someone well-versed in theology tell you from the pulpit that God is a proven help in times of trouble, but it’s a completely different thing to hear stories from people you know who have walked through the trenches, and been brought out to the other side by God.

And so, verses 2 and 3 say, “we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.” This is apocalyptic language. God being our refuge and strength doesn’t just mean that we don’t sweat the small stuff, but if the earth itself were to crumble, we aren’t afraid because God is with us. I mean, think of the language being used here – try to picture a mountain being moved. This could either be extreme imagery, or a metaphor for the well-established kingdoms of the earth, but either way, if you experienced either of these, you would feel like the world is ending. If tomorrow, the nation of the United States collapsed, I imagine a lot of us in this room would be pretty freaked out. We would probably feel like the earth itself was giving way. But we trust in God, who appoints the rising and falling of the metaphorical mountains, and who owns the heights of the literal mountains. Should either be cast into the sea, we do not fear, because that God comes to our aid.

#2 - God reigns over everything

We’re going to jump over verses 4 and 5 for now, but we’ll come back to them later. Look at verse 6…

Now, it’s great that God cares for his people and comes to help them, but what good does that do if he isn’t powerful? Nothing. This verse, however, reminds us of the power of God over creation. The sound of his voice stills the earth. Though the world is in an uproar, the voice of God quiets all of it. This is what we see in the story of Jesus calming the storm in Mark 4. A huge storm comes over the Sea of Galilee, waves are crashing into the boat, and Jesus rebukes the wind and the sea and says, “Peace! Be still!”. God doesn’t plead with his creation, he commands it. Listen to the words of Psalm 29 and the lofty view of God’s power that it gives: verse 1 says “Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.” God is to be worshiped by even the heavenly beings. Verse 3 says “the voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters.” Waters in Hebrew thought represents chaos. If you ever see references in the Old Testament to the Leviathan, it is a mythical creature that is said to live in the sea which represents chaos and evil. God reigns over the chaos of the waters, and any creature that would threaten the order of his universe. Verse 5 says “The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.” One commentator notes that the cedars of Lebanon were massive trees that symbolized strength, splendor, longevity, and glory – trees that typically grew to 60 to 80 feet tall, but in some cases 120 feet tall and 40 feet in diameter. The very spoken word of God is strong enough even to break these monstrous trees. This is how powerful God is. This is the God in whom we take refuge – the one who reigns over the most chaotic and the strongest things in all of creation.

The next few verses show God’s power over the nations. Verse 7 says “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” God is the God of hosts, which is a phrase that refers to the armies of heaven. Other translations render this phrase as the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, or the Lord Almighty. This phrase conveys God as a warrior – he fights for his people, and he commands even the armies of heaven. If God is the God of heaven’s armies, then what army is above him? There is nothing to fear, for God reigns over every nation and every military. Notice also the all-caps Lord in your Bible. This represents the name Yahweh, which is God’s covenant name that he gives to Israel, or in other words, the way that he has revealed himself to Israel. Here, it serves as a reminder of God’s nearness to his people. Yahweh is no god to be trifled with, he is the God who commands the armies of heaven. But Yahweh is no distant, far-off god, he is the God who keeps steadfast love towards his people and has chosen to dwell among them. Verse 9 tells us that Yahweh makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear. It is futile to stand against God. There’s an important distinction here – it’s not that those who oppose God won’t win in the end, it’s that God renders any opposition to him completely ineffective. He doesn’t give some ground to those shooting the bows and thrusting the spears, but ultimately prevails, he crushes those who attempt to thwart his purposes.

I absolutely love the imagery at the end of this verse: he burns the chariots with fire. I don’t know how well-versed you are in ancient warfare, but chariots are the greatest war technology of this day and age. Chariots were light enough that they could be pulled by horses instead of oxen, meaning that there wasn’t anything that could outrun them. Either you were getting speared through by the rider, or you were getting trampled by the horse and run over by the chariot. It’s even possible that chariots in this day and age were armed with iron scythes in the wheels so that you couldn’t go to the sides of the chariot either or you would get slashed by the scythes. Understandably, a nation’s military strength was easily communicated by the amount of chariots they had, much like today we would be concerned about nations who possess nuclear weapons. The psalmist says that even these nations, no matter how militarily impressive, are dwarfed by the power of the Lord of hosts. I want to show you another psalm that I think gives a really good picture of this. This is from Psalm 2…

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”” It is in vain that the nations plot against God. They don’t stand a fighting chance against the Lord of hosts. Verse 4 says that God laughs at them. The thought that God’s authority could be challenged is a laughable idea in the courts of heaven. It says, “the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury.” The charade of any nation assembling themselves against God goes on only as long as he allows it, but the moment that God lifts his voice, they are brought to terror. The psalm ends like this: “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” Those who come to God and take refuge in him are blessed, but those who align themselves against God bring his wrath upon themselves.

You know, there’s a serious problem in modern theology. We’ve turned God into this cosmic teddy bear. And I hesitate to say it that way, because I don’t want to give you the idea that it’s wrong to be amazed by the love of God and to be thankful for his grace and for his mercy, but I think the church has emphasized these attributes of God, not alongside, but at the expense of things like his wrath and his justice. And again, don’t get me wrong. I’m not trying to paint you a picture of God who is angry and vengeful, sitting on a cloud and waiting for someone to cross him so he can strike them with lightning. God is our Father. He bears all the qualities that you would imagine a perfect Father would have. He is abounding in steadfast love, he shows mercy to a thousand generations to those who love him. He provides for your every need according to his wisdom, love and mercy. All of these things are truths that Scripture tells us about the character of God, but he also is just. He also has wrath. He repays the iniquity of those who hate him. These are also truths that Scripture tells us, and we can’t shy away from them. If God does not judge, if God has no wrath toward sin, then we may have a God that seems a little more palatable, but we have completely forfeit all reason to hope for justice. Here’s what happens when you remove God’s justice and wrath from his character – you get a God that loves you a whole lot, and is willing to forgive you for every wrong and stupid thing you’ve ever done, but when it looks like the world is spinning out of control, when people do things that are evil, when the nations of the earth are raging, he is at best unwilling to act, and at worst, completely indifferent. What kind of God is that? Friends, we have to stop treating God as a spiritual ibuprofen that we take when we need to feel loved, or we feel guilty for something we did. And the temptation is always there – don’t think I’m not preaching to myself, too. God is the sovereign king of the universe. When the nations rage, we look to him who rules the raging nations. This is how we have confidence in all circumstances.

Look at verse 10, then. This is language that hearkens back to Exodus 14, where Moses says to the people of Israel on the banks of the Red Sea, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”” Think about this: Israel in Exodus 14 is fleeing Egypt, and as they get to the Red Sea, they see that they are being pursued by the Egyptians. The Bible tells us that Egypt was pursuing them with 600 chosen chariots, plus all the other chariots. We already talked about the chariot and the military advantage they give, so now consider the fact that Israel has 0 chosen chariots, 0 regular chariots, they don’t have any weapons – this does not look good. It gives you a little more empathy toward Israel when they say to Moses, what are you doing? Did you bring us out of Egypt just to die in the wilderness? But God acts for this reason: “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” Israel can be confident that God will deliver them from Egypt because he does not allow those who come against his purposes to get glory over him, and he has chosen to intertwine his being glorified with the good of his people. He is glorified by crushing the nation that sets itself against the Lord, and he is glorified by preserving a people for himself that will praise him for his awesome deeds. And as Israel hoped, so we can hope. I will be exalted among the nations, says God. Those who take refuge in the fortress that is the God of Jacob can be certain that he will preserve those who come to him as he exalts himself in the sight of all the earth.

#3 – God has secured our future

Now, you may be sitting here and think, wow, that’s great, but what good is that for me? How does this change the fact that I’m still going through whatever problem I’m experiencing? It still feels to me like the earth is giving way and that the mountains are being moved into the sea, and you say all of this about God coming to the aid of his people, but I’m not seeing it. I don’t see God proving himself as a help for me. And that’s real. Sometimes, for whatever reason, God doesn’t remove the circumstances from your life. Good, faithful Christ-followers die too young. Good, faithful Christ-followers are on the receiving end of injustice and are never repaid. What do we do with that? This is what we do – we anchor ourselves to this truth, that God has secured our future. You may remember that we skipped over two verses toward the beginning of the psalm. Psalm 46:4-5 says this…

If you are in Christ – that is, if you have placed your faith in him and are therefore redeemed by him and adopted as a son through his blood – then you have been granted permanent citizenship in the city of God. As Colossians 1:13 puts it, “[God] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” It is not an earthly city that we wait for, but a heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, where God will wipe away every tear. Though you may experience pain in this life, it does not diminish the greatness of the hope we have in God. Listen to this from Revelation 2. This is the first of two chapters which feature the seven letters to the churches of Asia Minor, and verses 8-11 contain a letter to the church at Smyrna. Listen to what Jesus says to this church in the letter: ““‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation.” Notice that – you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. Faithful unto death? That doesn’t sound very “well-proven help” to me. But the hope does not come in that God will deliver the faithful from death, but that he will vindicate the faithful after death. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’”

The river which makes glad the city of God stands in contrast to the chaos of the roaring, foaming waters of the sea. It instead represents life and peace. When describing the New Jerusalem, Revelation 22 says that there is flowing from the throne of God a river of the water of life, bright as crystal, with the tree of life on each side of the river. If you are in Christ, you will one day experience the refreshment and abundant blessing that comes from the river flowing out of the very presence of God. It says that God is in the midst of his city – that is, his people, his church, as Paul says, the Israel of God – and so she shall not be moved. We can pull two things from this. First, the surety of your future in the city of God. His kingdom is unshakable. It is the only kingdom that can never totter. It is the only mountain that can never be moved into the heart of the sea. Its bows cannot be broken, its spears cannot be shattered, its chariots cannot be burned. This is the city to which you belong if you are in Christ. Should the ground directly beneath you crumble, the worst that happens to you is that you will fall through the earth directly into the city that rests on an immovable foundation. Second, God is in the midst of you even now. He has given you the Holy Spirit, who dwells within you, for this purpose: that you would be reminded of what Jesus has said to you – that he has gone to prepare a place for you – and that you would be certain that you will inherit the place that has been prepared. Ephesians 1:13-14 say that the Holy Spirit is he by whom God has sealed us, meaning he is the royal seal by which we are unmistakably marked as God’s, and that he is the guarantee of our inheritance. If the Spirit dwells in you, that is the guarantee to you that, as Jesus says to the church in Smyrna, a crown of life awaits you one day.

And so, as the worship team and the deacons come forward, we prepare to take the Lord’s Supper together, and we turn our eyes to the cross. Whenever life brings trials and tribulation your way, look to the cross. Jesus didn’t die only for the purpose of forgiving your past, he didn’t die only for the purpose of giving you peace and joy in the present, but he also died for the purpose of giving you a future. Two weeks ago was Easter – Resurrection Sunday! – where we celebrate that Jesus rose from the grave, and that changes everything, friends. This is why we have to remember the cross and the resurrection always. Jesus rose as the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep, says Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, and in him all shall be made alive. The resurrection serves as a constant reminder that however long you live on earth, however difficult your life is, it will be a brief, fleeting trial on your journey to your home in the eternal city of God where you will experience the fullest joy and blessing. And when it seems like the mountains are being moved into the sea, the earth is giving way, and the chaos of life is roaring and foaming and threatening to sweep you away, you look to that cross, the guarantee of your future, and you sing to your soul, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness, I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name! When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace, in every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil! His oath, his covenant, his blood support me in the whelming flood, when all around my soul gives way, he then is all my hope and stay.” On Christ the solid rock we stand, and we are anchored in the storm. Though it may rage for years, though it may claim your life, your future in the city of God rests secure, purchased by something more precious than silver or gold – the blood of Jesus Christ.