Psalm 46

God, our Champion

Psalm 46 ESV

To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 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 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. “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

Intro

When Bro. Keith asked me to fill in for him, I began praying that God would guide me to the passage that He would have me to cover. In the process, this is what came to mind. Psalm 46. Well, technically the first thing that came to mind was Psalm 23, hence why we read that earlier in our service. But as I studied through this Psalm, I was drawn to the 46th. I was drawn to this idea of God being our fortress. Why was I drawn to this? Well, I’m going to be honest with you...

I do not know if anything that I say this morning will be beneficial to any of you. What I do know, as selfish as this may be, is that in my studying through this passage, the Holy Spirit drew me to some truths that I needed to be reminded of, and my prayer is that the same will be true for you.

For starters, this Psalm does not state that because Christ is our fortress our lives will be easy. Instead, this Psalm begins by reminding us that we still live in a fallen world.

The second thing is that it reminds us that this world still has its nations and kingdoms, and they still rage, but God ultimately rules over all, and therefore we have nothing to fear.

Last, it gives us comfort of what is to come. He will be exalted.

All of these truths were truths that I needed to be reminded of. I don’t know about you, but with everything going on in my life, it can sometimes be easy to lose sight of these truths. Over the last year alone, I have had some of the highest highs that I have ever experienced, and I have also found myself in some of the lowest places that I have ever been. And I’m going to be honest with you- in those low lands, it can sometimes be hard to focus on the goodness of God. And I know that I am not alone in that. One of the leading questions keeping people from putting their trust in Jesus is this; “If God is so good, why do bad things happen?” It’s called the problem of evil. And while it’s easy to point fingers at non-believers for having these questions, it is still very easy for believers to have these questions too.

At these times, I’m reminded of a man like Abraham. In Genesis 15, when his name was still Abram, God tells him, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” God had already promised Abraham that he would be a mighty nation, but he wasn’t seeing it. He was faithfully following the LORD, but he was having his doubts that the LORD’s promises would actually happen. Just like Adam and Eve in the garden, he was struggling to remind himself that God was good, and that His words were trustworthy. So, the LORD reminds him of His character. This is when God establishes His covenant with Abram. He draws his mind back to the truth of who God is, and the wording that He uses is that He is his shield.

As I prepared for this message, this was the question in my mind. “What does it mean for a church in Alabama, in 2022, that God is our fortress?”

We have no guarantee that life will be easy.

(v.1) In the first verse of this Psalm we see God identified as our refuge and strength, a helper in times of trouble.

This starts us off by letting us know who we are talking about. Everything that comes after this takes place with the understanding that the main character is our refuge, our strength, and our helper in times of trouble. The first thing we have to remember is that this is who God is, so that we can read the rest in light of this.

(v.2-3) He then goes on to say that we will not be afraid, even though the entire world around us may crumble.

In this life, we have no guarantee that it will be easy. In fact, Jesus painted a picture for His followers that looked pretty grim. Yet, even though this world will have its problems; even though the physical may be destroyed, we can rest in the assurance that we have because of God.

God rules over all, even the kingdoms of this world.

(v.4-5) God will make His dwelling with His people.

This not only alludes to the coming of Christ, but also the coming of the Holy Spirit, and ultimately the second coming of Christ. Because of this, God’s people shall not be toppled. Because their dwelling is with the Most High, where this world cannot hurt them. Their strength isn’t in their walls, or their defenses, but rather in the LORD who is their fortress.

This understanding is part of what makes Christianity so radical. Think of Stephen, who even though we was about to be stoned, looked up and saw Jesus, before going to sleep. Look at the disciples, all of whom were martyred except for John, who was exiled after a failed murder attempt. Andrew was crucified in a specific way that lasted longer so that he would suffer more, and he spent his time on his cross proclaiming the Gospel to all who would listen. What made these guys so radical was that they understood the Gospel. They understood who was the most powerful. They understood that no matter what the kingdoms of this world could throw at them, it couldn’t compare to the glory of an eternity with Christ. God dwelling with His people. That was what they longed for. That was what they knew was ahead of them.

(v.6) The nations may rise up against Him, but they will melt away at His voice.

This is a recurring theme- nations warring against the LORD and His people. However in this instance, it is used to show that those who rise against Him will melt away like ice.

I had a professor say it like this: “the point … isn’t that God always strikes dead those who oppose him, immediately; that’s not the point. But the point is that He ultimately strikes them dead. Those who oppose God will finally be judged; will finally be destroyed.” - Dr. Schriner

(v.7) This could be read as the LORD or armies. This is how the CSB states it.

This shows that we have the backing of the army of the LORD, as He is with us, serving as our fortress.

This also serves as a great segway into the final section...

He will be exalted.

When I think of this section, here is what comes to mind. A leather strop.

When you’re sharpening a knife, you use some sort of sharpener. I personally have a wet stone that I use and love, but you could use any variety of sharpeners. And what sharpening does, if we get technical, is it shaves off microscopic pieces of the blade edge. What that does it cause these little burs on the edge of the blade. Once you’ve finished sharpening, if you’ve done it correctly, you will not have those burrs anymore, but you will still have microscopic imperfections on the edge. So, you take it to a strop. A strop is a piece of leather, and by stropping the knife with this leather, you are removing any tiny remnants of anything that could prevent a razor sharp edge, and truly honing the blade to make it razor sharp. This not only makes it more effective right away, it also helps the blade to maintain an edge longer.

When I read this part, that’s what came to my mind. The first two sections have already told us that the physical world will go away, and the nations will rage against the LORD, but they’ve both also reminded us that the LORD is in control even still. So why reiterate it again? I believe that this one serves to remind us, if we start to forget the first two, that this is true, because God will ultimately be exalted above all. This puts our minds on eternity, should the first two not get through to us.

He will desolate the earth.

He shall end all wars (which are ultimately against Him).

He is God.

He will be exalted among the nations.

He will be exalted in the earth.

He is with us.

He is our fortress.

NT Connection

2 Corinthians 4:16–18 ESV

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Story of John the Baptist’s death.

Conclussion

What can we, a church in Alabama in 2022, learn from this?

No matter what is going on in this life, we have an eternal hope, because we know that God is our fortress. No amount of sickness, no governmental institutions, no amount of persecution, could ever take away from us the eternal hope that we have because of this. And here’s the best part. While this was written to the Jews, becasue of the work of Jesus, we have now been grafted into the promises of God. We, Gentiles, a people who had no claim to these promises, have been brought into the fold. This is how we can have a peace like the disciples, who were willing to die for what they believed, knowing God’s promises to be true, because if we are in Christ, we have the very same Spirit inside of us, empowering us for the work of the Lord, until our physical life should stop, or His eternal reign should start.

The way that we have this peace, knowing that we are sealed in Him, no matter what this world may do to us, is because of His Spirit inside of us. To those who don’t have the Spirit, they don’t understand how we can be so hopeful, when everything seems so bleak. It’s because we have the Spirit, and we know that the LORD is our Fortress, our stronghold.