“We sing this Psalm to the praise of God, because God is with us, and powerfully and miraculously preserves and defends his church and his word, against all fanatical spirits, against the gates of hell, against the implacable hatred of the devil, and against all the assaults of the world, the flesh and sin.” – Martin Luther.
Psalms 46 is often called Luther’s song because it was one of Martin Luther’s favorite songs to sing. When anyone was worried or surrounded by trouble, Luther would say, let us sing Psalm 46.
Psalms 46 is a Psalm of Confidence. It is a Psalm to be sung when we are afraid, when it feels like our enemies are surrounding us. Luther wrote 36 hymns but his hymn based of Psalms 46, A Mighty Fortress is our God:
A mighty fortress is our God,
a bulwark never failing;
our helper he amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe
doth seek to work us woe;
his craft and power are great,
and armed with cruel hate,
on earth is not his equal.
Louis FitzGerald Bensom writes about this hymn his book, Studies of Familiar Hymns:
“It is true picture of his simple faith in Christ, and of his immovable trust in God, his forgetfulness of self and entire consecration of his life and all that he held dear to that Savior who, he doubted not, would speedily, gloriously, and forever, triumph over Satan and all his hosts, by that word which he was the honored instrument once more to proclaim to the world.”
It is by far his most famous hymn. The exact circumstances that inspired Luther to write it, are unknown, but the majority of historians believe because of the printing history that surrounds it, that Luther wrote this hymn in October, 1527 when the plaque was approaching. There were no copies of this hymn beforehand but there were several copies afterwards.
One of the earliest copies of his hymn was found published in a 1528 hymn book. Perhaps Luther had written this hymn years earlier, but during this severe epidemic of 1527 when in the city of Florence, Italy 25,000 lost their lives, this hymn spread in the hearts of God’s people, strengthening them and bringing to their heart this great truth that God is their safety.
This would have been a time in history as many people looked around and sought safety from the approaching plague for themselves for their family and loved ones and saw none.
It is times like these, that the word of God truly does mysteriously come to life and begin to light up and sparkle to us as a hidden beacon, as we read it. The word of God, becomes like a lighthouse to us, as we are tossed on a dark, stormy sea of circumstances in an area that we are unfamiliar with. These circumstances often appear as rigid unmovable rocks, which threaten to break apart our lives if we are tossed against them. We are surrounded. They are all around us. It’s unsettling and it may feel as if we are at the mercy of the waves and the wind, which move us but know no mercy. Where is our hope in such a time as this?
The Psalms have the wonderful power to calm the heart. Saul when he was tormented by an evil spirit would often send for David, who would play the harp and the evil spirit would flee from Saul and Saul would find peace. Evil spirits cannot stand the worship and praise of the Lord. When we sing, it often refortifies the fortress of God’s truth around our hearts and minds, God’s word begins to surround us like a stronghold. We find God’s word in the very center with us and on the outside surrounding us. Evil thoughts and fears can no longer find an entrance to assault us.
We have been fortunate in America during our generation, that we have not experienced the dangers of wars, military or civil and been forced to seek sanctuary from enemy assaults as many generations and nations have and still do in violent territories. In these place, refuge is often taken in the house of friends, basements, cellars, water towers, churches, government embassies, from the military and riots, etc.
We have for the most part, grown up and enjoyed an environment of security and peace. However enemy assaults do not have to take the common form of government military or civilian militias. Enemy assaults can take the form of plagues, diseases, famines, natural disasters, floods, tornadoes, mental disturbances, political battles etc. Anything that would put our life in jeopardy and harm us. From these we are not free. Even though we try our best to control and limit them through medicine, vaccinations, tornado watches and warnings, gun control, education, social aid organizations, laws, government, prisons, mental health facilities, police stations, fire stations, national guard, etc.. all of these are man’s attempts to defeat the enemies of life, the evils of life and to create a fortified an environment of peace in this world that citizens can enjoy free from the fear of harm. These are places of refuge that we run to when in trouble for help and assistance in danger.
Many of them are great and resourceful places to get help from and they are a part of God’s grace to us in our generation. What would we do without agencies such as the Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc? God does often work through these agencies and many others even though they fail to acknowledge His leading, they still accomplish His purposes. Ironically, even though some would deny Him, yet they act as His servants, pouring out His resources on the poor and needy. This is God’s common grace poured out on all mankind without distinction as the rain waters the fields of all man. So God’s grace is often poured out over all mankind to provide for us in our times of need.
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. – James 1:17
There is also an uncommon grace offered that goes beyond the common. As with all things created in this world and governed by this world, these great organizations and places of refuge all have limits to the assistance and protection they can offer us. They are limited by their own ability and strength. It is the very best of their ability which is often very great and very, very appreciated. Sometimes and I would even say very often, we need something more, something or someone even greater then what any of these great organizations of refuge can offer in ways of protection, provision and wisdom. There are times, many times, that none of these can offer us any help or aid from our personal troubles or dangers. They can only do so much.
We are limited, finite beings and everything we do is limited to our strength. But our God is infinite and His strength is infinite. When our greatest strength is exhausted; His is not even dented.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Cor. 1:25)
God is continually trying to open our eyes and help us see just how great He is and how weak we are. You wouldn’t think this would be so tough for us to comprehend but it is one of the hardest things in this world for man to comprehend is his own weakness, his own finiteness, his own dependencies and dependent nature upon the common and uncommon graces of God. Our very breath is dependent upon God.
The world has seen a lot of great tragedies in its past, many have been quite great incompressible in their devastating impact. Just in our lifetime and even recently, we have seen a 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti in January 2010 when 200,000 people died, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 caused $81 billion in damage. The Indian Ocean Eathquake in 2004 was 9.15 quake that lasted ten seconds but caused a great tsunami that killed 200,000 to 310,000 people on the coastlands of Indonesia, South India and Thailand. These are just a few recent natural disasters, then you have recent man-made disasters, remember the BP oil spill in 2010 that killed 11 people and injured 17 people which took roughly 48k people 90 days to cap the well and they are still working on clean-up efforts and measuring environment effects. In 1986 Russia had a nuclear reactor explode that caused worse radiation exposure than Hiroshima . 350k people had to be evacuated and it took 500k to fix it. Recently in 2011 Japan had a meltdown in Fukushima after a 9 earthquake damaged 3 nuclear plants and 100,000 people had to be evacuated. Besides these natural disasters, man-made disasters, you have wars and regimes, Hitler and all his devastation, Bin Laden, War on Terrorism, WWI, WWII, Vietnam War, American Civil War, Russia Civil War, this is another unending list.
You have accidents, railroad accidents, crimes, plagues, it seems there is no end to the tragedies and terrors of this world. Despite our best efforts to eliminate them and create a controlled environment of peace, peace is far from us.
“Only the dead have seen the end of war.” – Plato
The world has known a lot of tragedy in its past. We have barely scraped the surface. It has also seen a lot of joy, a lot of good. I would still say the good by God’s grace outweighs the bad. The world has much, much knowledge of evil. Sadly the world will still see a lot of great tragedies in its future, yet it will never see one greater than the world’s greatest tragedy, it’s greatest disaster which is the root cause of all disasters and all pain and all evil in the world. The fall of man that happened over 6000 years ago in the Garden of Eden. This was the greatest and mightiest disaster the world ever saw. Tozer says:
“The flowers are still as beautiful as God meant them to be. The sun still shines yonder with spacious firmament on high. Evening shadows fall and the moon takes up the wonders and tells us whether the hand that made us is divine. Bees still gather their honey from flower to flower, and the birds sing a thousand songs and the seraphim still chant “holy, holy, holy” before the throne of God. Yet man alone sulks in his cave. Made more like God than any creature, has become less like God than any creature…..The mightiest disaster ever known in the world was the soul of man, more like God than anything, and more fitted to God’s sweet music than all other creatures, with the light gone from his mind and the love gone from his heart, stumbling through a dark world to find himself a grave.” – A.W. Tozer, The Purpose of Man: Designed to Worship.(pgs 44, 45)
In Bernhard W. Anderson’s book, Out of the Depths – the Psalms Speak for Us Today, he speaks about how some of the historic worship songs of Psalms, especially those about creation, were influenced by Israel’s Canaanite environment. This is similar to how the church has borrowed pagan or “secular” melodies and poetry. The Israelites would substitute the name of Yahweh, for the name of the pagan god the worship song was originally sung to. For instance, Psalm 29 was an adaptation of the Canaanite hymn which was originally sung to a Hadad, the god of the storm. In the modified version by the Israelites, it is Yahweh’s voice that is heard in the thunderstorm. You can almost say the Israelites corrected and redeemed these worldly hymns, literary forms and cultic practices.
According to Benson, these surrounding cultures would often sing to a Power behind creation in the known cosmic order. A Power that lived at a distance from people and their circumstances.
“For in modern times the notion was developed – perhaps in a more radical fashion than at any other time in human history – that “God” is outside our historical world. Few people go to synagogue for church today expect God to be actively involved in the human world: the civil rights struggle, the war against poverty and oppression, the tragic suffering in Africa or India, or the harsh political realities of the strife between the great world powers. The popular notion is that God is, if not “up there,” at least “out there” a transcendent deity “located in some never-never land beyond the universe.” For all practical purposes, this God who is “out of this world” is “strange from the human situation,” distant from the places where historical being terminating, suffering, and deciding.”
Benson goes on to contrast that the worship songs of the Israelites, unlike those of the surrounding cultures, were birthed out of “root experience” of deliverance from trouble and liberation from bondage that was engraved in their memories. Benson records:
From early times Israel confessed its faith characteristically by telling the story of its life: “We were once slaves of the mightiest emperor of the day but the Holy God intervened gives a future.” The ancient confession of faith opens, like a symphony pathetique, in a minor mode: the portrayal of the human situation of oppression and limitation; and this minor strain modulates into the major key of praise to the God who opened a way into the future out of a no exit situation.
I love these quotes. “A no exit situation.” These are situations when we feel surrounded. In a pit, with walls on every side constraining us, with no exit, with no hope of deliverance except for God.
It also reminds us, that these Psalms, these worship songs, are based on and written out of, real life experiences. They address real life situations. They are the story of Israel’s life, their testimony of how God delivered them from no exit situations. They are also the story of our modern life and our testimony. When God delivers us we also sing. We join in with them hundreds and thousands of years later, singing the same hymns and psalms of confidence, remembrance and thanksgiving because we have lived and shared the same story, the story of God’s deliverance.
These quotes from Benson, also remind us of the mental strongholds that we labor daily to defeat and to tear down in our minds and the minds of others. The false belief, that God is somewhere out there and not involved in our world or daily lives.
For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. – 2nd Cor.10:4-5
This is the purpose of this Bible study. To find these hidden false beliefs and eliminate them by exposing them to the truth of God’s word. Our God is a God with us, and he has a name, Yahweh. Beside Him there is no other god. He is not far away. Instead, he is a very present help in trouble. And this leads us into Psalms 46 verse one.
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Notice that God is not only present, but that He is very present. His presence is emphasized. This word means “well proved”. God is a well proved help in trouble. This is not merely an empty pacifying idea that God is present in our troubles being emphasized here, but the truth that God’s presence is actual, real and well proven.
It is in times of trouble when our hearts, minds and enemies stare us straight in the face and ask, “Where is God?” When something goes wrong the first person we often begin to look around for, whether we are believers or not, is God Himself.
The presence of God is often difficult to See in such circumstances. David often laments about it:
“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” – Psa. 13:1
“Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” – Psa 10:1
In such times of trouble, our hearts yearn for God to reveal Himself to us, to help us make sense of the situation, to help us understand what he is doing, why he allowed this to happen and to enter our lives and often we are met with silence. We have only God’s word, that we hold in our hands and there seems to be a great discrepancy between His written word and our world that we try to justify and fill in the gaps with to make sense of it all. We know His word is true but everything around us is saying it is anything but true. His higher purposes remain hidden.
David struggles with this. We struggle with this. Unbelievers use this to validate their position that there is no God. There is no justice. There is no divine order. There is no heavenly presence in this affliction. For all outward appearances, they appear to be correct. It is an unfair and an unjust situation. It is an evil situation devoid of God’s righteousness. It is against the known ways of God and His word, His plan and His purposes. We can agree that the situation for all outward appearances appears to be ungodly and devoid of the presence of God.
These situations often cause weak believers, to doubt and to waiver. Sometimes, when great enough, these situations cause even strongest of believers to waiver in their faith for a moment. It risks uprooting believers by the great forcefulness of these arguments and outward appearances that would bend a man’s mind and will.
Psalms 1:4 “Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.”
Eph. 4:14 – “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.”
However, the righteous, despite these great winds will not be moved but will actually cling tighter and take deeper root in God.
Proverbs 12:3b “but the root of the righteous will never be moved.”
Psalms 112:6a “For the righteous will never be moved”
Jeremiah 17:8 “He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.””
Hebrews 12:25-28 speaks of God shaking the world in his judgment so that what cannot be shaken remains.
“See that ye refuse not Him that speaketh, for if they escaped not who refused Him that spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him that speaketh from Heaven, whose voice then shook the earth. But now He hath promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.” And these words, “yet once more,” signifieth the removing of those things which can be shaken, such as things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain .Therefore, we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.”
These circumstances shake our world like a storm. They uproot everything that can be uprooted in our lives that are not firmly clung to, tied down and secured.
C.S. Lewis, in his book, a Grief Observed wrote:
“You never know how much you really believe anything until its truths or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. It is easy to say that you believe a rope to be strong and sound as long as you are merely using it to cord a box. But suppose you had to hang by that rope over a precipice. Wouldn’t you then first discover how much you really trusted it? “
Trouble tests the very root of what we profess to believe. Circumstances can tear at our hearts with tornadic type winds that threaten to pull us away from the places we run to and hide in for refuge during a storm. Storms can take the form of grief from the death of the loved one that causes us to question God’s goodness and sovereignty, they can take the form of financial troubles and famines, which cause us to doubt God as our provider. They can take the form of diseases, plagues, illnesses that threaten our life as an enemy in war. Storms can take the form of an actual war and persecutions that threatens our safety or the safety of our family.
There are a variety of storms, common ones and uncommon ones, but they all have one purpose. The danger of all storms is to pull us away from God. To shake our faith. To cause us to quit clinging to him and hiding in him and let go. It is our response, to hide in God’s word, to take refuge in him, and to hold on during these times specifically and not let go.
We are in tornado season here in Tornado Alley. We have already seen a lot of damage and devastation from these storms that have ripped through Texas. Van, TX specifically this year was hit hard.
- Therefore we will not fear.
It’s seems that our environment of peace that God created and intended for us to enjoy was replaced by an environment of fear. There is much to fear in this world.
“The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.” – Oswald Chambers
The phrase “Do not fear” or “Fear not” appears 365 times in the bible. This is a daily reminder from God for us not to be afraid of the world or anything in the world, man himself, ourselves, disasters, wars, etc..
Surely there is a time when we should start fearing. A time when we can say our fear is justified. But look at these extreme examples given to us of times when we should specifically not fear:
What is the secret to peace? True peace? Lasting peace? Especially when we are forced to live in a world as chaotic and unfair as ours. Is it even possible to obtain and to enjoy? God would tell us yes. All is not lost. We can still have peace but it is not found and cannot be found outside of Him. It is in Him. In Jesus Christ that we can enjoy peace, even in this chaotic world around us. It doesn’t mean we don’t grieve, that we don’t know evil, we know evil just as much as anyone, but through Jesus Christ, we have access to that elusive Tree of Life that now nourishes us, and allows us to enjoy God and all his benefits, his peace, his provision, his protection in this fallen world.
We know this peace is from outside of this world, but we possess it internally inside the center of our hearts, when we possess Jesus Christ. We possess another kingdom within us, another king within us, a kingdom ruled by God with Jesus Christ at our center. It is God Himself, His Word that becomes a mighty fortified fortress around us when we enter into his truths by faith.
Testimony
I wanted to share with you a story of when the truth of God being our place of refuge and shelter became real to me. It was always true but there are times in our lives when truths light up like a lightbulb and we enter into an understanding of them and their applicableness. It was about 5 years ago or so when I had been praying about trying to understand what it means to abide in Christ. I was studying 1 John and over and over it again it calls us to abide in Jesus. To remain in him. I understood that Jesus lives in us, but I could not comprehend what it means for us to live in Him.
I had a dream one night that unlocked this mystery for me and opened up the Psalms to me on what it truly means to have and to enjoy God as our place of refuge and our fortress. I cannot read the Psalms without remembering the symbolism in this particular dream that God illustrated this truth in child like terms that I could understand to my heart so that I could enjoy it. I pray that it has the same impact on you.
I use to constantly dream of tornadoes. It always been my reoccurring dream and my greatest fear. I grew up in Tornado Alley in Illinois and have always lived in it my entire life, I moved to Arkansas when I was going on 18 and later moved to Texas. I love living in the South but one thing I do not love is the fact that I still have to deal with tornado seasons as we are in right now, but without a shelter. When I was a child in Illinois, we always had a basement to run to and my friends had cellars. We would grab our blankets and pillows and there were many evenings we would spend in the basement when we were under a tornado watch and warning. I can remember a few damaging ones, but we were always fortunate. The small village I grew up in had once been a much larger city but it had been destroyed by a massive tornado and then later finished by a fire. This town history was always in the back of my mind.
Due to my fear of tornadoes it never surprised me that I would often dream of tornadoes. They were great tornadoes off in the distance coming at me in my dreams and I was always running, trying to find my friends and family, looking for a safe place to hide before the tornadoes got too close. I was woke up in fear before they hit and I never could get to that safe place.
One night, this all changed. I had my very last dream about hiding from tornadoes that took away my fear. It came to me one night after I had been praying to understand what it meant to abide in Christ. This dream started off the same, there was a tornado coming, a great storm was approaching that I was trying to find once again a safe place to hide from. Only this time, this was the greatest storm the world would have face and it was world-wide. I had no place to hide. No one in the entire world had any place to hide. I could remember considering in my dream the idea of going to Canada or Mexico to get far from it, but those ideas were out because this storm was world-wide. Everyone all across the world was trying to prepare for this storm. I began looking around at everyone around me and how they were preparing. Some were seeking high ground from the flood waters and I remember thinking this would not work because you have to stay away from high grounds in tornadoes. Other people were digging holes in the ground as their safe place, but I remember thinking, this was not safe either because of the flood waters, they would drown. I looked at the others around me and they were all tearing down branches and sticks from the surrounding trees to make their storm shelters out of and I remember thinking how hopeless this was but I was being forced to make a decision on what I was going to make my shelter out of. Who would I join? Time was short and I had to decide what I was going to do.
Then I looked up and off in a distance I saw a trailer. Yes, a trailer which I knew to be one of the most unsafest places to be in a storm. But there was something different about this trailer. It was long and all white and had lots of windows like a passage train car and they were all lit up with light so that the trailer glowed in the darkness and seemed to beckon me to run to it. In an instant of revelation, I knew that trailer though it appeared unsafe, was the safest place in the world for me to be and God wanted me to run to it. I knew that trailer represented Jesus. I ran for it and ran inside the door and sat down facing the open door with my back against the wall. I looked quickly around and the trailor was empty except for myself. There was lots of room. It was completely comfortable, with kitchen and everything a person could want or need on the inside. Storm shelters usually lack basic life necessities and so I was greatly comforted inside knowing that my needs were met for the long term. I could remember looking out the door and watching the storm approach and I knew I was completely safe in Jesus. Oddly two burley men, who I instantly knew to be thieves were walking by the front windows headed toward the open trailer door. But I was not the least afraid. I knew they would have to go through Jesus to get to me. I knew they couldn’t enter through Jesus. He was the door.
Then I woke up. The dream would not leave me alone. I knew God was trying to show me something through the dream and I prayed about it until He revealed it’s meaning to my heart in a way I would never forget and have not forgotten. I dream of tornadoes because I feared the future. I feared those things in life that always looked like pending disasters on the horizon that were headed towards me. I spent my entire life looking for shelter, as a runaway, p child, all the way to this point in my life as an adult trying to protect myself from those pending disasters that always threatened me, always threatened to steal from me. I lived a life of fear and of running and seeking shelters that never offered me any kind of real protection. Until now. Jesus was my shelter. Jesus was my refuge. Jesus was my fortress. He alone was my place of safety. As long as I was in Him, I had absolutely nothing to fear in this entire world because it would always have to go through him to get to me. It would have destroy him before it could destroy me.
I never dream of another tornado since. My life of fear of the future ended. I live and a enjoy a life in Jesus in a chaotic and tragic world. There are lots of things in this world to fear, but I don’t live in fear anymore. I live in Jesus. I enjoy peace. This doesn’t mean I live a life free form tragedy. I know evil as much as anyone because I live in this world. My trailer is set on the land of this world. I can’t escape life’s storms, but I can escape their impact.
though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
Are these literal or figurative language? Are these hyperbolic exaggeration for emphasis? The mountains are never going to move right? Jesus does use this exact figurative language in Mark 11:23
Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. – Mark 11:23
Mountains are symbolic to us of giant immovable circumstance. They are also symbolic of kingdoms. Babylon is symbolized as a great mountain being hurled into the sea in Revelation
The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. (Rev 8:8)
Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, ? So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more… (Rev 18:21)
And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and the earth nations will be in distress, anxious over the roaring of the sea and the surging waves.” – Luke 21:25
The sea roars and foams, so much so that the mountains themselves tremble at its swelling. The big truth being expressed here is that even the greatest roaring, foaming, swelling of the sea is not to make us fear. This could be literal or it could like the mountains be figurative. In the bible, people, large crowds are often symbolized by the word sea. They roar, they foam and swell, are dangerous and powerful in force and can overthrow a nation, causing “the mountains to tremble at their swelling.” Many authority figures are easily swayed by the people.
Once again, regardless, we are not to respond in fear or let their swelling trouble us. We have a fortress, a barrier that cannot be moved, that cannot be the least bit swayed.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
Here we have more symbolic language. First what is this city of God? It would be Jerusalem, it would also be Zion, the city of God and God’s people. Zion is the spiritual city, the holy city. It would also make it the church. It is God’s gathered people, together united as one nation, one great city where God dwells in their midst.
This city is well supplied with water sources. It has a main water source, a river that flows into it and feeds it and which breaks off unto several strands watering the entire land. It is a picture of the main vine and all its branches, it’s a picture of a main artery and all its blood vessel carrying its life throughout the body. It’s a picture of a root that shoots and branches out beneath the ground quietly providing nourishment.
Such is the river of God to us, it runs continuously and quietly making us continually glad. This water source does not rage, it does not foam or swell but trickles to us as a whisper would trickle to us.
Just as, according to Gen 2:10, a stream issued from Eden, to water the whole garden, so a stream makes Jerusalem as it were into another paradise: a river – whose streams make glad the city of Elohim – K&D
In times of war, the first thing invaders would attempt to do is cut off water sources into a city. They would dam up the rivers and the inhabitants would quickly run out of clean water for drinking, cooking or cleaning. We have a river that runs to the city of God that cannot be dammed up. It cannot be dried up by the enemy. It continuously flows to us, its riches are new every morning and makes us glad. It is living water, pure water that is as clear as crystal, free from all pollution which revives the saints and quickens the spirit of the dead. Everything that drinks from it is fruitful and flourishes and causes those who plant themselves around it to enjoy leaves that never whither. It refreshes us and brings us joy. The streams of this great river are our life source.
You shall make them drink of the river of Your pleasures’ (Psalm 36:8)
It’s presence and it’s work show that it is the very tabernacle, holy dwelling place of the Most High, the sovereign One. He brings about a life that is everlasting and does not diminish.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
In Her Midst
God has assured his church of his special presence with her. He is in her midst. He walks among the candle sticks and he walks among us. The world can ask where is God in times of trouble, but we know that he is with us, he is a very present help in times of trouble and he is our midst, not at the edges or the outside but in the middle of things.
The world may not see him with us, but we see him and have faith in his presence with us and his presence that gives us strength and support. God is with us. He is in our midst.
God calls is to live godly lives in this position, in this place, not another when times are good and calm are we called to have and display faith in God but especially in trouble in the midst of experience.
Built Upon A Rock
Everything may change around us on the greatest scales we can imagine, entire mountains displaced and thrown down into the sea, the greatest and seemingly immovable powers and positions being displaced and quickly cast down but God is immovable. Jesus is our rock. Everything has changed but nothing has changed. God’s relationship to his people has not changed. His character has not changed, his promises have not changed. His presence has not changed
The presence of God in her midst and at her very center offers her a center of gravity that the world knows nothing of. She cannot be moved. God stabilizes her. She stands on a rock that does not move. She is a rock.
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. – (Matthew 16:18)
The church will still stand in the end of all things. Heaven and earth may pass away but Gods word will not. Because we have his word at the center of our being, we cannot be moved. Everything may change in the world but nothing has changed within us.
The Promise of God’s Help
She has the promise of God’s help. The wicked will sometimes call on God in the day of trouble but God does not hear them. God does not turn his ear to them, to hear their cries, but he hears the cries of his own. He has promised that He would help her when in trouble. She has nothing to fear though the mountains give way.
Morning Dawns
Her world may be dark but it is only a temporary darkness as a night that passes. The power of darkness will be broken by the morning light. She waits for the rising of the dawn, she knows her Lord is coming, her help is just over the hills.
I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
and in his word I put my hope.
I wait for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the morning,
more than watchmen wait for the morning. (Psa. 130:5-6)
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The nations roar as the oceans roar. They are in an uproar. They foam. They swell and rise up in their pride but they will be cast down. This is an explanation of the figurative language of the oceans used earlier. The nations are the seas. The mountains are the kingdoms. They seem powerful and immovable but they will totter and fall.
How powerful the voice of God is. How powerful are his words that it is by his voice alone that causes the nations to fall and the earth to melt before him like wax melts at the light of the candle.
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth (Psa. 97:5)Look! The Lord is coming from his dwelling place;
he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth.
4 The mountains melt beneath him
and the valleys split apart,
like wax before the fire,
like water rushing down a slope. (Micah 1:3-4)May you blow them away like smoke—
as wax melts before the fire,
may the wicked perish before God. (Psa. 68:2)
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
“The LORD who commands armies is on our side! The God of Jacob is our protector! Selah” (NET)
If God be for us, who can be against us?
The Lord of hosts – The Lord who commands armies
The God of Jacob – The God who appeared to Jacob in his distress and saved him out of all his troubles. The God who appeared to Jacob’s descendants and keeps covenant with them. The same God who never changes will deliver them.
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
Come gaze at the works of the Lord. We don’t get to participate in these. Our position is watching. I don’t think we could move if we wanted to.
The word desolation here is shammah which means, astonishing, desolate rune, wonderful things the Lord does on the earth. You think we can cause desolations? Our eyes grow big and our hearts grow fearful at the nuclear reactors and bombs and oil spills and other man made desolations. Even natural disasters and tragedies have never been on the scale that these desolations will be on. They are immeasurable and astonishing. We have not scene the desolation that God can cause and will cause on the earth.
Come and see what God has done,
his awesome deeds for mankind! (Psa. 66:5)
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
the burns the chariots with fire.
This is one feat the world has never been able to do, put a stop to all wars to the ends of the earth. He not only makes them cease, but he does so permanently, he breaks their bows and shatters their spears, their weapons of war are destroyed, their forms of transportation are burned up. They are immovable.
no weapon forged against you will prevail,
and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
and this is their vindication from me,”
declares the Lord. (Isa. 54:17)
“War and peace depend on his word and will, as much as storms and calms at sea do.” – MHHC
There he broke the flashing arrows,
the shields and the swords, the weapons of war (Psa. 76:3)
I am against you,”
declares the Lord Almighty.
“I will burn up your chariots in smoke,
and the sword will devour your young lions.
I will leave you no prey on the earth.
The voices of your messengers
will no longer be heard.” (Nahum 2:13)
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
Everything is moving and changing around us, when the earth is shaking, the oceans are roaring, everything is telling us to run, God says be still. Don’t move.
The righteous don’t move because they are standing on a rock that doesn’t move.
This is probably the hardest time for us to not move when everything is moving and being hurled around us but it’s probably the safest time not to move. God knows where we are at and tells us to be still.
Sometimes our movements get in the way of God’s actions. Sometimes we have a tendency to put our self in danger. Like a child, God shields us and tells us simply to be still, this is his battle. He will fight for us. We only need to watch, “Come & behold the works of the Lord” That is our task as he brings desolations on the earth.
He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. (2 Chron. 20:15)
I will be exalted among the Heathen
Any nation that was not of Israel was considered Heathen. God will be exalted among the Gentiles, among the foreign nations. At his name every knee will bow.
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:9-11)
He will be exalted in the earth.
Creation itself will not longer be worshiped. God will be and God alone. There will be no other false idols lifted up.
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Repeat of verse 7. Why is it we have no reason to fear? When is a good time to be afraid? Never.
Let’s close with a rewrite of Psalms 46 by Isaac Watts.
Psalms and Hymns of Isaac Watts
Psalms 46 Part 1
The church’s safety and triumph among national desolations.
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PSALMS 46 Part 2
God fights for his church.
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