KEEP CALM
Notes
Transcript
Psalm 46 can be called the KEEP CALM Psalm. It is a song of confident trust. It was the Psalm of the Reformation. Martin Luther wrote his beloved hymn “A Mighty Fortress is our God” from this Psalm.
He wrote his great hymn during a debilitating time of extreme crisis. It was the summer of 1527, and the bubonic plague was sweeping through Europe. This vicious pandemic struck the country of Germany where Luther ministered. A large number of deaths occurred because of the plague. People were living in fear. Many were escaping town in search of safety. The issue for Luther was: should he flee for the health of his family and his own preservation? Or should he stay and minister to those who remained and expose himself to the deadly disease?
Luther made the difficult decision to stay in order to shepherd the German people. With his wife Katy, Luther turned their house into a hospital for the dying. Tragically, their young three-year-old son Hans contracted the disease and nearly died. During this season, Luther became so overwhelmed mentally and emotionally that he fainted at the dinner table more than once and had to be carried to his bed.
It was in the middle of this grim situation that Luther anchored himself to Psalm 46. In a time of weakness and pestilence, Luther wrote “A Mighty Fortress is our God” as a testimony to the strength he found in the Lord Himself.
One of the verses of this famous hymn reads, “A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing/Our helper, He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.”
Many before Luther and many since have found the teaching of Psalm 46 to be true. . .
God will not fail when everything is falling down around us.
God will not fail when everything is falling down around us.
The Psalm has three stanzas with a refrain (chorus) that repeats twice. The first two stanzas teach us who God is and the third teaches us what we should do.
We can be assured that God will not fail because of His personhood.
God will not fail because of His personhood.
God will not fail because of His personhood.
Notice again that the Psalmist begins his song with theology. All great worship songs are great not because of their tune but their theology. Theology (the study of God) before trouble. Your theology will determine your therefore. Theology empowers me to live an “even though” life.
It is an easy matter to manifest the appearance of great confidence, so long as we are not placed in imminent danger: but if, in the midst of a general crash of the whole world, our minds continue undisturbed and free of trouble, this is an evident proof that we attribute to the power of God the honour which belongs to him.
God is for us powerfully.
God is for us powerfully.
Elohim means He is extraordinarily all-mighty, declaring omnipotence upon omnipotence. This Hebrew word Elohim is used in the first verse of the Bible: “In the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).
God is a dependable refuge for His people when everything around them seems to be falling apart.
for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.
On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God.
Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Selah
I cry to you, O Lord; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
His safety and strength gives us a foundation that when everything is failing down around us God will not fail.
His safety and strength gives us a foundation that when everything is failing down around us God will not fail.
He doesn’t protect us in order to pamper us. He shelters us so He can strengthen us to go back to life with its duties and dangers.
but they who wait for 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.
God is for us perpetually.
God is for us perpetually.
The verb is speaks to His perpetuity - meaning His constancy. When Scripture says God is it is speaking of His eternality - meaning this is who He has always been and always will be.
His perpetuity gives us faith that when everything is falling down around us He will not fail.
His perpetuity gives us faith that when everything is falling down around us He will not fail.
This truth is reinforced by the phrase “very present” means - exceedingly closer than our own selves.
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
He is this for us “IN TROUBLE”. God is with us in our prosperity and in our problems. It is during the intense trails of life that we discover whether we are leaning on the Lord or the props of this world. This Psalm repeats those needed words when we are in trouble “He is with us”.
These two truths concerning God power and perpetuity produce a resolve - “THEREFORE I WILL NOT FEAR EVEN THOUGH”.
So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
Sound theology produces an even though life. It says “no matter the outcome I will not live in dread. God is in the Heavens therefore He remains in control and He lives in me therefore I will not collapse.
We will not fear, is not to be understood as meaning that the minds of the Christ followers are exempt from all uneasiness or fear, as if they were destitute of feeling, for there is a great difference between numbness and the confidence of faith. He only shows that whatever may happen they are never overwhelmed with terror, but rather gather strength and courage sufficient to calm all fear.
The Psalmist chooses extreme events that will cause the most confident of people to panic and become fearful. He uses earthquakes to remind us that when the abrupt events of life come He will not fail. He uses storms to remind us that even those storms that can be anticipated still require an anchor.
In life’s most cataclysmic events will God will not fail and we will not fall apart because He fortifies us with His presences.
We will not fall apart because He fortifies us with His presences.
We will not fall apart because He fortifies us with His presences.
Notice again the verb is - a constant never ending flow. The word river is a metaphor for God himself. Notice also the word streams - speaking of abundance. When God is with us
We are satisfied.
We are satisfied.
When God is with us we are sustained.
When God is with us we are sustained.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.
The mighty God is in the inner most part she will not be overthrown or collapse.
When God is with us we are solidified.
When God is with us we are solidified.
God will (Resolute)
For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.”
Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life.
Help (support, sustain, uphold) when morning dawns ( most vulnerable to attack).
He concludes the first two stanzas of His hymn with these words of resolute confidence.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
These first two stanzas have taught us who God is and now stanza three tells us what he has done and what we must do.
We prevail as we behold His works.
We prevail as we behold His works.
Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth.
Come - Walk over here and take a look
behold - fix your gaze on something important. Don’t become so preoccupied with what’s in front of you that you fail to remember what is behind you.
works - plural
Come and see what God has done: he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
We prevail as we be still.
We prevail as we be still.
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
We hear the Lord singing in verse 10.
Be still - cease from striving - take your hands off (imperative)
We like to be “hands-on” people and manage our own lives, but God is God, and we are but His servants. Because Hezekiah and his leaders allowed God to be God, He delivered them from their enemies. That was the way King Hezekiah had prayed:
So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”
When the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites came against Jehoshaphat he prayed.
O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s.
Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel.
You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”
Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.
And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.”
And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed.
For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.
When Judah came to the watchtower of the wilderness, they looked toward the horde, and behold, there were dead bodies lying on the ground; none had escaped.
know that I am God - You don’t know that He is God if you don’t cease from striving. Your striving is your attempt to be God.
I will be exalted - is our good.
We prevail as we repeat the refrain.
We prevail as we repeat the refrain.
As we are cease from striving we never cease from singing. Be still by be singing
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
When Luther began to experience depression, desperation, and fear he would often turn to his friend and co-worker, Philip Melancthon, and say: “Philip, let us sing forth the forty-sixth Psalm.” And this is how it sounded: