God Is Our Refuge & Strength

Psalm 46

Over the past few years, I have experienced a lot of things. As a pastor I have been a approached by some with troubles and faced troubles myself. It seems in our encouragement we are filled with cliches and quick little things that we hope will settle them or us at that time.

I wonder what effect it has going forward. We say things like: “it will get better with time”, “we will pray that it gets better”, “we not going to let that happen”.....so on and so forth....... Me in my little wondering mind, wonders if we are making much of an impact, in the soul of the person or ourselves.

I wonder what if the earth is removed and the mountains crash into the sea, and everything around us is shaken, what then??? What do we say or believe when everything in their/our lives has been shaken?

You know for some people this is happening in their lives right now! I always try to make mention during Christmas that there are some in the world that is not having an earthly merry Christmas. What do we say to them? What is the reality of God that will keep people’s hearts and minds, when all falls down around them?

I had an encounter this week similar to what I just talked about. I had this encounter right after I heard verses 1-3 of this passage. Amazing how God moves in our hearts and minds to try and get us to the truth.

The truth is what matters! Who God is, that is what matters!

S.M. Lockridge said that we are killing ourselves trying to live! The devil has stirred our fleshly/human desires in presenting many instruments of what some would call life or happiness. I am sure you can name some, probably are seeking them or have them yourself. We are killing ourselves trying to attain those or to hold on to them. Bro. Lockridge said that he had came that day to declare to us that he knows where a poor man has a chance....it is in Jesus Christ.

This is the essence of this song! Psalm 46:1-11.....originally I was going to work backwards, but the Lord steadied me and so we will start as He starts.......

God is our refuge.....Elohim is the word for that is translated God here and throughout the chapter. Elohim is defined as a plural word but in the original transcript it is not meant to be plural, it is meant to mean “extreme majesty”.

God is......this declares an active refuge, this is not something that comes and goes but is constant and is always there.

Refuge....this is our fortress, a place where we are free from danger! Impenetrable safety!

Strength.....great power or might.

It seems everyone would come running to this. This is a very present help, meaning a help found. This help is found by those who seek God to be their refuge and strength.

Proverbs 18:10 “The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.”

Now, we get to the part from where my thoughts lay. In this song verses 2-4 are a declaration because of.....”Therefore will we not fear, though......” This is a statement, it is not a question of what will we do if all the other things happen. We will not fear when things fall a part because I have found refuge and strength in God, not me!

Matthew Henry: “If the earth be removed, those have reason to fear who have laid up their treasures on earth, and set their hearts upon it; but not those who have laid up for themselves treasures in heaven, and who expect to be most happy when the earth and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up. Let those be troubled at the troubling of the waters who build their confidence on such a floating foundation, but not those who are led to the rock that is higher than they, and find firm footing upon that rock.”

What are we looking for is the question that measures our safety and strength!

I can speak of God Who, through His Son has given me safety and life, of which I never had!

No matter what goes on around me, my treasure is built upon the rock!

When the earth is removed, the mountains fall into the sea, the waters roar and are troubled, and the mountains shake, the ones who will be affected by those things will be the ones that cared the most for them.

We of the Gospel story, however, do not have the treasure of our hearts on things that pass away.

Psalm 93:4 “The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.”

Luke 21:33 “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”

God is what matters, it is not how my family does, the government, the earth, nor any other thing! God through the person and finished work of Jesus Christ His Son, is where safety and strength are!

I think about my encounter this week, what earthly refuge can I give her??? Sure, there are good things that you can do for folks, but those good things done in the name of Jesus Christ, is the only effectual way to minister to people.

The name of Jesus Christ, it is not just a word, He is! He is our refuge from sin, guilt, shame, the temporary, depression, addiction, sorrow!

Everything that we have and know about Jesus is everything we need for safety and strength!

SELAH!!!!! This is the end of the first stanza of this song! A pause!

“There is a river”!! If you were ever in a bad spot and you needed to be delivered and somebody you trusted told you of a place you can go to be freed of that bad spot, wouldn’t you go!

God has been telling us this through His Holy Spirit for 2000 years! We can’t find it, cause we don’t want that deliverance!

2. This must be understood spiritually; the covenant of grace is the river, the promises of which are the streams; or the Spirit of grace is the river (John. 7:38-39 “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive:.....”), the comforts of which are the streams, that make glad the city of our God.

a. Make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles, this speaks of His church, us! Within every believer is the Temple of God where God’s Holy Spirit resides and those believers populate the city of God!

b. The believers are glad! Even when the calamity comes, we are glad for we rest in safety and strength!

3. God is the midst of her (bride), the church is encompassed by God, there is not an entry way for the enemy to bring permanent destruction!

a. 2 Corinthians 4:16 “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”

b. I shall not be moved!! God is my helper

i. Hebrews 13:6 “So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”

c. They can’t stop my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I am in the midst of Him and He is in the midst of me!

4. Let the heathens rage and the kingdoms get shaken, God will just speak a word and the earth melts! it is nothing to Him, He just speaks the word!

a. We are waiting for the earth to get better and God is waiting to burn it up!

b. I am going to rest in His safety and strength which is not of this world!

Selah!! Let’s pause and get our breath!

Now let’s sing again! Behold the works of the Lord!!! He made earth desolate!

Ezekiel 12:19-20 “And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They will eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water with horror,, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein. And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.”

Verse 9 speaks to me of all those who have counted on the world and their own strength, God stops them, He breaks their weapons, and He burns their inventions!

Now, the moment of truth.....Be still: this has a meaning of coming to the end of yourself, stopping all of the human efforts! Literally: “hang limp, be in a state of lacking power or force.”

I used to say this was “shut-up” to me, but it is even greater than that! Keep your hands off, recognize the lack of strength and know-how and let God be God! Let God be the God that He truly is!

I have come to a place now, that God is my refuge and strength, it is constant! Right early when I awake from sleep, I find my safety and strength, in Jesus Christ!

When it is time the heathen and the earth will acknowledge that He is God......Philippians 2:11 “And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge!! That is good news to us because we are grafted into the house of Jacob!

Romans 8:31-39............What shall we say then??? How do we comfort those who do not have any hope in their earthly lives? I must tell them about the refuge and strength of my God, The Love of God through Jesus Christ, the love that will stand in the midst of the tempest!

The One Who bore the cross for my sins, to give me a place of refuge forever!

It is said that whenever difficult times would come, Martin Luther would call to his friend and say let’s sing the 46 Psalm. During a pandemic, the bubonic plague, he said the same thing. This Psalm also inspired him to write the hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is My God”