Into the Unknown - Psalm 46 (New Years 2022)

Into the Unknown

It was many years ago now, that King George VI, addressed the British Commonwealth on Christmas evening. He spoke at the turning point of a moment in history, wehre the whole world stood on the brink of a great uncertainty.

You see, the year was 1939 - it was just over 3 months since Great Britain had declared war on Hitler’s Germany and despondency was heavy in the air. People didn’t know where to turn.

Still, with the war so freshly begun, as the king gclosed his Christmas Eve message, he had no way of knowing that much of the world would be engaged in the bloodiest war of all time. People from every nation would pay dearly in suffering and blood.

King George sat in front of 2 large microphones, on a table in his palace, dressed in his uniform as Admiral of the British Fleet. And, with all the uncertainty of a fragile world, stretched out before him, he uttered these memorable words:

“A new year is at hand. We cannot tell what it will bring. If it brings peace, how thankful we shall be. If it brings continued struggle, we shall remain undaunted. In the meantime ...”

And with this, the sober king concluded:

“… I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: ‘Give me a light, that I may walk safely into the unknown.”

“Give me a light that I may walk safely into the unknown.” Who wouldn’t ask for that - a light to illumine the pathway before us?

“… And he said to me: ‘Go out, into the DARKNESS,’ and put your hand into the hand of God … and it shall be to you SAFER than the light and BETTER than the known way.’”

This morning, I want us to look ahead at the New Year that is upon us and the vast uncertainty that stretches out before us. There is no possible way for us to know what this year has in store for us.

From a strictly human perspective, the next 363 days could unfold exactly as we hope - fresh start, people learn the lessons of the past year and 2022 could be filled with rainbows and unicorns and chocolate ice cream sprinkles.

… Or they could be days of great trial.

At this time, last year - do you remember how social media was buzzing? People were bidding ‘Good riddance’ to 2020. Everyone was ready to see 2020 disappear in the rear-view mirror. People were ready to give 2021 a kiss on the cheek and a big old bear hug.

And then, 2021 happened. … And it kept happening. I don’t need to remind you of what we have experienced in the past year, viruses that stripped us of our normal experiences of day to day living, to heat waves, to forest fires, to smoke, to floods, to …. On more than one occasion, you may have felt that we were living through the book of Revelation.

As we look forward to 2022, who knows who of us will still be here on December 31? Whatever the case may be, I want to encourage you who are Christians, to move into the unknown with nothing less than hope.

Let’s dig into our Psalm. If you look at the supercription at the top of the psalm, you see that the authors are the sons of Korah. Chronicles tells su that they are a sort of singers’ guild, descendants of the tribe of Levi. Let me remind you that the psalms, in the book of Psalms, were used in Israel’s religious life. They were written to be sung in worship. Psalms is a hymnbook for the nation.

And as you read Psalm 46, you can see that the main point of this particular song is that if you are part of the People of God - then for you - no matter where you are at in life, no matter what number of year it is … for you, FEAR IS NEVER LEGITIMATE.

Why? Because the Almighty God of the universe is always with His People as their Mighty Protector.

We’re going to divide this psalm into 3 parts and look at each part in turn.

1 The PROTECTION WE NEED, vv. 1-3, 6; 2 THE PROTECTION PROMISED, vv. 4-7; 3 AN INVITATION TO SAFETY, vv. 8-11

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1 THE PROTECTION WE NEED, vv. 1-3, 6

The psalmist begins by making sure we know that he understands the world we live in. He lives in the same one. See that in verse 1: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help IN TROUBLE”.

It’s a DANGEROUS world out there, he says. And it’s dangerous in all sorts of different ways. First of all, NATURE is dangerous.

Psalm 46:2-3 “Therefore 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. Selah”

Remember back to the beginning of the BIble - how Genesis 1 describes the state of the universe BEFORE God did his creating work? “Darkness was over the face of the deep.” Water was everywhere. To the Hebrew, singing this psalm in worship, the sea symbolizes the forces of chaos, disorder … To the Jew in Jesus day, even - the sea symbolizes everything that’s hostile to life.

It’s no accident that when God brings about His ordered creaion and reigns in the chaos - one of the very FIRST things Genesis mentions is that He sets up boundaries for the sea. On Day 2 - He separates the waters from the waters - with sky. Then on Day 3 - God gathers the waters UNDER the heavens together - so that dry land appears. He doesn’t do away with the sea altogether - He just puts boundaries around it - He makes it obey His command and controls it.

Then, later on in Genesis, we get to Noah’s day - you remember at that time, the sin of humanity is so great - so badly has the human race polluted God’s good creation that He says, “It’s time for a deep clean” - and He pulls up the fences and lets the sea sweep over the earth again - almost destroying His creation.

Genesis 7:19-20, “And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits (22 feet) deep.”

Here in verses 2-3 of our text, the psalmist is talking about the worst trouble possible - earth surrendering, mountains crumbling into the heart of the sea, the chaos is taking over. This is ‘UN-Creation’ ...

I would say this is a pretty timely message for us in BC - especially in Abbotsford, as we start 2022 - We’ve seen what happens when the boundaries of rivers don’t hold - we’ve seen the flooding and destruction - some of you are still putting the pieces back together again.

There are people within the sound of my voice who are living with a sense of dread foreboding about the future of the natural world - Climate Catastrophe is in the headlines ...

So many forces of nature are completely beyond our ability to control - if one big rainstorm can bring a province to its knees - what else is just around the corner that we can’t see yet.

Nature isn’t the only threat we face, though. Verse 6 points out another kind of threat: the threat of HISTORY:

Psalm 46:6 “The nations rage, the kingdoms totter ...”

As the Israelites sing the words of this song in worship - they’re painfully aware of THIS kind of threat. Their small nation lies along a major international highway - the route that people travel for business - and for war.

Israel has felt the thunder of armies, trudging across their land, on the way to battle and on the way back home again: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon - the superpowers of history have all fought over this land, trampling its holy soil under their pagan feet. God’s people have seen the nations rage - they’ve literally felt the breath of angry armies. Every period of precious peace last for such a short time before warfare erupts and breaks the calm again.

Do you see the relevence of this part of the psalm to us? If you pay any kind of attention to world politics - how likely do you think it is that 2022 will be a year marked by world peace?

Peace was a great quest in the 20th century - After World War 1, the League of Nations was formed to prevent another tragedy like that from ever happening again. In 1939, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain came back from a meeting with Hitler, proudly declaring to the British people, “We have achieved PEACE for our time,” only to have war break out within months.

Then after World War 2, the United Nations came into being - how well has that done? It doesn’t seem to matter what organization we form, what banner we fly - there’s always another war, just around the corner.

And why wouldn’t there be hostility on the global stage, when world leaders are people just like us. You can’t have peace between nations, if there isn’t peace between individuals. And how do things look on that front? If you were to describe the atmosphere on social media - would you use the word, ‘peace’? I wonder - over the course of Covid - how many of you have lost a relationship because of hostility over different perspectives?

There’s the danger from nature, the danger from history … there’s also the danger from economics. The news is regularly carrying stories now about inflation - you see the prices at the gas pumps, every time you go to the grocery store, your food gets more and more expensive … there are people who have suddenly found themselves out of work.

Some of you are preparing for a career right now - you’re working hard in your studies - and in the back of your mind, you’re haunted by the reality that you can work as hard as you want - but when you’re done, there’s no guarantee that anyone is going to be looking for your skills.

Danger after danger after danger. If you are depending, for the stability of your happiness, on your ability to manage and manipulate the circumstances of your life, then I ask you friend … how do you plan to do that in 2022?

In this world of TROUBLE, if you are going to have a firm foundation to stand on - you are going to need strength from the outside. You need a REFUGE that’s bigger.

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2 THE PROTECTION PROMISED, vv. 4-7

Now so far, this hasn’t been a very encouraging way to begin a new year. “What a party pooper”, you may be thinking. “Danger, danger, trouble, trouble ...”.

That’s how a lot of people do feel right now. I haven’t seen many people say very much hopeful about 2022. Some bashing the awfulness of 2021, but I haven’t seen much in the way of ‘crowning’ a new year, and certainly no bold statements that ’22 can’t be worse than ’21. It seems like there is a tone, posture, and expectation change when it comes to this new year.

One piece of advice I read online: “Nobody claim 2022 as ‘your year’. We’re all going to walk in real slow. Be good. Be quiet. Be cautious and respectful. DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING.”

But the psalmist is no pessimist as he pens Psalm 46. He’s a realist. He looks at the world and he sees it as it really is.

There IS trouble and turmoil there. Oh, but if you are one of God’s people - then friend, there’s no need for despair! On the contrary.

Notice that immediately after the chaos threatening in verses 2-3 comes - Verse 4, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God”.

How does that fit?

Look at the very way our psalm is put together: Verse 1 - “God is our refuge and strength ...”.

Verse 11, “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

And right in the middle of the psalm - look at v. 7, “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

Don’t you love the way God puts His word together for us: the very progression of this psalm is a microcosm of the whole of Scripture: Over the course of history there may be mountains falling and seas roaring … the very earth itself may be threatening to break apart ...

But at the beginning, THERE IS GOD: “Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

At the end of history, THERE IS GOD: Revelation 22:1-5, “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

At the turning point of history comes the event we just celebrated at Christmas - John 1 tells us that “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word WAS God. All things were made through him. .... And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

If God is in full control at the beginnning, and if He’s in full control at the end … if He has joined himself to our humanity and come to rescue us at the turning point of history ....

… then doesn’t that give you the confidence that, if you pay close enough atention, we’ll see that He’s in control all the way along. That’s exactly what Psalm 46 tells us.

Verse 4, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.”

See what God does there - He takes that old, raging sea … and shapes it into a river that flows along the course which He controls .... and instead of destruction, it brings REFRESHMENT to His People.

Verse 5: “God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.” No force of nature can so much as cause God’s people to lose their footing.

What an amazing assurance here. Where are you at with the LORD? The Bible says that if you have made the critical jounry in life, from your feet in self-assured pride, to your knees, in humility and have surrendered to Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord of your life … then the LORD GOD ALMIGHT IS WITH YOU.

To you, God says, in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you. (6) So we can confidently say, ‘The LORD is my helper … I WILL NOT FEAR; WHAT CAN MAN DO TO ME?”

Back in Psalm 46 - we see over and over again, God is referred to as a refuge and a fortress. Those are important, vivid words.

The word ‘fortress’ points to a protected place specially made for security. Like Masada. Many of you have heard the story of the famed Masada - some of you haven’t. Let me tell you about it.

Masada is a boat shaped mountain that towers 1500 feet above the level of the Dead Sea. Herod the Great fortified the place and then, in 72 AD, Herod was gone and the Romans had come in to wreak devastation on the Jews. They sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. Masada was the last remnant of Jewish resistance in ALL of Judea. The people huddled behind its walls refused to surrender to the Romans - so the military commander of the legion laid seige to it.

Inside that mountain fortress of Masada, there were 1000 Jewish men, women and children. A skeleton group of a conquered country - desperate to hang on.

At the foot of the mountain were 15 THOUSAND highly-trained Roman Soldiers - killing machines who had just finished demonstrating their ferocity by destroying the rest of the country.

And that mere handful of Jews held off the Roman forces for TWO ENTIRE YEARS. It’s an amazing story of determination … and of what a good fortress can do.

Christian - as we enter a new year, God promises to be YOUR FORTRESS. But, unlike Masada, He is promising you, not stones and engineering genius … He’s promising you HIMSELF - the fortress that will never be broken down.

Remember back to childhood, some of the firsts of childhood - first day of school. You were excited to go to school for the first time - like a big kid. Excited to get your first lunchkit and wear your school clothes for the first time ever and to walk to the school - just like you’d seen the big kids do, when you used to watch them walk past your house - longingly.

Now you had arrived - You were going too! And you stood outside the class with mom or dad - everything was so exciting. You had finally arrived. It was the mark of ‘growing up’ and you couldn’t be more excited … more proud

.... Until the teacher came outside and it was time for all of the students to form a single file line and follow the teacher right into the classroom .... and leave mom behind. WAIT! You hadn’t thought that far ahead. And you went from EXCITEMENT TO TERROR in zero seconds flat.

I know - some of you were the kids who didn’t worry at all. Some of you have kids like that - you remember how scared you were - and you were determined to do everything you could to protect you tender child from the separation wounds you are still dealing with today - you’re intent on staying with little Johnny for as long as it takes for him to feel comfortable. And then you get to the first day of school with him - and he walks into the class without even so much as looking back at you. Not a single tear? And then the end of the school day comes - and THAT’s when he cries. He’s having so much fun - he doesn’t want to go home.

That wasn’t me.

Our text tells us that God is a VERY PRESENT help in trouble. He never stands outside the classroom to leave you terrified inside.

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3 AN INVITATION TO SAFETY, vv. 8-11

Notice how, in verse 10, the speaker in the psalm changes. No longer is it the psalm writers voice that we hear, encouraging us along - to live with confidence. Now the speaker is God Himself - and He demands a response from us.

Verse 10, “Be still and know that I am God.”

Who is God speaking to here? Well, this is definitely a message to His enemies. God is saying, “Don’t even bother with your pitiful rebellions … you have no chance of prevailing against my plan.”

That’s true. But the way this psalm is structured with God’s presence with His people being the bookends that frame the whole thing - that makes it primarily a message to God’s people.

“Be still - Quiet yourself and know that I AM on the throne … You will not fall.”

O, how oftern are we like the seed of Jesus’ parable - the seed fallen among the thorns of the world. In that parable, the sower throws out his seed and it lands on different kinds of terrain. The seed that lands among thorns - hears the word of God - the Good News that there is actually a Saviour … that there is rest, there is hope, there is strength in Him .... but the worries of this life … choke it out. Worry dominates. And the Word is unfruitful.

When you think about the message that you are going to hear out there - what do you think it’s going to be this year?

Well, it’s going to be the same message as you heard last year - and the year before that:

“Be worried - be very very worried - Keep moving, keep working, keep running to keep up with the latest panic - because this world is a terrifying place and just like the hunter in the hunting party who wants to survive the charging bear … you don’t have to be the fastest runner - as long as you run fast enough to not be last … So run.”

The theme in media circles is, “If it Bleeds, it leads”. And you see the truth of that if you watch the news or read the papers: Keep the population in a constant state of hysteria.”

In a world like that, with chaos seeming to swirl all around us … let me ask you this: Where on your list of New Year’s resolutions, is the resolution to do Psalm 46:10, ““Be still, and know that I am God?””

I’m concerned that for too many people - it’s not on the list of resolutions at all.

A few years ago, in response to a spate of suicides on its campus, the University of Pennsylvania put together a task force to explore the mental health of its students. What they found was tragic, but sadly unsurprising. “The pressures engendered by the perception that one has to be perfect in every academic, co-curricular, and social endeavor can lead to stress and in some cases distress,” the task force’s report said. “[I]n turn, [distress] can manifest as demoralization, alienation, or conditions like anxiety or depression. For some students, mental illness can lead to suicide.”

The mercilessness described here hints at a tragic escalation of a phenomenon experienced not just by college students, but by everyone today—the pressure to perform, to make something of oneself, to become acceptable, to make a difference in the world, to justify one’s existence. It’s a phenomenon that cannot help but reinvigorate narcissism. It throws us back on ourselves, and when we falter in some irreversible way, we inevitably view self-harm as an option.

God is calling you today, from Psalm 46, with a very different message. The LORD of the universe is saying to you this morning, “STOP! Drop everything. All of your feeble efforts at self-preservation. Just stop.”

“I WILL be exalted”, He says. “On this very earth that seems to be spinning out of control. In this very society that seems to think that it has grown past its need for me … I. WILL. BE. EXALTED.

Be still and know that I AM GOD. I am your refuge. I will take your hand and see you through this crisis in your life … if you will give it to me.

Don’t you want to know that kind of rest in refuge?! Aren’t you tired of running, scurrying? THERE IS NO FORTRESS WITH FAITH.

Let’s take a minute for some sober self-examination. Take a look back on 2021 – sober self-examination …

I want to urge you, this morning – at the very beginning of a brand new year - - - to make it your priority to work on the discipline of SOLITUDE.

…. Ask yourself, “Why would God command us to BE STILL and know that HE IS GOD?” Isn’t it because of how terrifyingly easy it is to drown out His voice by our busyness?

Eugene Peterson, “Busyness is the enemy of spirituality. It is essentially laziness. It is doing the easy thing instead of the hard thing. It is filling our time with our own actions, instead of paying attention to God’s actions. It is taking charge.” (‘The Door’ Christianity Today, Nov/ Dec. 1991 – vol 36, no. 5).

How many times have I been consumed with worry about some crisis or another - - and God has tried to calm my spirit - - but I couldn’t hear His voice, because my ears were filled with too many other voices ….

ELECTRONICS …. How can you ever hear God’ voice when your nose is buried on your device and you are scrolling mindlessly up and down Instagram and the alert on your phone is constantly beeping with incoming texts?!

Jesus gives a radically different model. We think we have pressure. We think we know crisis. He literally carried the weight of the world upon His shoulder and every day He was faced with need after need after accusation

Lord, heal me! Jesus, save my dying child!

Imposter, prove yourself once more!

Can you imagine the incessant onslaught of pressure …

Yet in the midst of the swirling storm, it was Jesus’ practice, from the time of His baptism – testing in the wilderness, to the night before His crucifixion, there in that dark Garden of Gethsemane - - - It was Jesus’ practice, before every great new test - to get apart from the crowds - - to a place by Himself …. To be still.

Let me urge you today, whether you are in the habit of making resolutions or not - - let me urge you to make one commitment as we usher in this new year

…

DETERMINE – that this will be the year when you meet with God and learn what it means to rest in the Refuge of His presence.

Make a PLAN – Will not happen otherwise.

SET THE TIME - Some people are morning people, others are night-hawks - you know when you are at your clearest - choose a time that works for the way you are wired - and guard it.

SET THE AGENDA – What will You READ - there are so many reading plans you can follow - Maybe you want to read through the Bible in a year - maybe doing it in two years is more manageable - whatever you decide - just

SOAK IN GOD’S WORD TO YOU. And then, rest.

Somebody once told me, “When I worry, I go to the mirror and say to myself, ‘This tremendous thing which is worrying me is beyond a solution. It is especially too hard for Jesus Christ to handle.’ After I have said that, I smile and I’m ashamed.”

Psalm 46:10-11, ““Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah”