Growing Up with the Psalms: (Part IV)

THE COMFORTING PSALM

Psalm 46:1-11

In life, troubles are inevitable. No matter who we are or what we are doing, the fact that we are still in the world, we will all face many troubles. Jesus Himself said:

With these words of Jesus, the reality is: we are either in a trouble right now, or we're coming out of trouble, or heading towards our next one. One thing for sure, most of us are conscious of our life's troubles. If you notice, the Psalms we have submitted during my survey in March are generally Psalms that can provide comforts during our times of troubles. Go back to the chapters in Psalms we have covered (23, 34, 37), and you will find this common theme of finding comforts in God.

Once again, as we come to our assigned text today, we will take on the same theme. It has been said that this Psalm was written by the Sons of Korah, the Levites assigned as worshippers in the temple, after God's people had been delivered from the Assyrians during the time of King Hezekiah. Since then, this Psalm had been a great source of comfort to many of God's people. If you can still remember, the first two verses of this Psalm was read by the Rev. Billy Graham at the National Cathedral after the tragedy of September 11, 2001.

Last Tuesday, I had the opportunity to pray with the Mother of Annie's cousin who died after being hit by a car. There are no words to describe her anguish because of the tragedy. My heart was so heavy for her when she was asking me - Why would God allow this to happen to her? Honestly, I don't have the answer for her. I can only pray that she and her entire family would find their comforts in God. Probably, some of you are also pressed with some troubles this morning, allow me to help draw our attention back to God and let Him speak to us through His Word.

As we consider Psalm 46, we can easily find the major divisions in the text through the help of the short word, Selah. In the book of Psalms, this word appears whenever the author wants the reader to pause and meditate in order to better understand what has just been said. In our text, you see this appear at the end of verses 3, 7, 11. Therefore, if we follow this, our natural divisions would be verses 1-3, 4-7, and then 8-11. Now, when you carefully examine every section, you will discover something about God that could be the basis of our comfort in times of troubles. Let's begin uncovering them:

I     GOD'S ABILITY: (vs. 1-3)

One of the great things that sets apart a Christian is his belief in God. This belief that is determined by his or her personal knowledge of God becomes the basis of courage in our most difficult times. The Psalm begins in declaring three glorious descriptions of God. Perhaps, that's a great suggestion for all of us. Most of time, when we are faced with some troubles, our main focus becomes our troubles, instead of our God. For the Psalmist, we should begin with God. What should we remember about God:

A. Our Refuge:

For the Hebrews, a refuge is a shelter in times of danger. During the ancient times, this is a place to hide when the enemies are on the attack. Literally, we can reach out to God and trust Him to provide us security and safety whenever the devil is trying to destroy us.

There is something about our enemy, the Devil, and our troubles that we should not fail to understand. Yes, the Devil sends us troubles, but He has to seek permission from God first before they get to us. This is perfectly shown in the life of Job:

Satan cannot touch us without God allowing Him. Whenever God allows him, rest assured it is because God can use it to bring us to a higher level of spirituality. Job's assurance should be ours every time we go through some troubles:

There is no such thing as purposeless troubles. All will be used for our own good. So reach out to God, and let Him cover you for protection.

B. Our Strength:

He is not only our refuge, He can also give us the strength to endure and overcome our burdens. He is able to empower us when we feel weak and helpless.

Earlier we have read John 16:33 saying that we will definitely face troubles while we are here in the world, but I hope you did not miss the last part of the verse, "But take heart! I have overcome the world." In other words, because Jesus had already overcome everything, His power, which is working in us would allow us to overcome everything as well. Do you believe that? Paul had clearly held this conviction:

Truly, there is no trouble much bigger than our God. If we rely on Him, He can make us victorious.

C. Our Ever-present Help in Trouble:

The phrase "ever present help" suggests that God is a source of consistent help in times of trouble. You were able to count on Him in the past, you can still count on Him today, and you can definitely count on Him tomorrow. What kind of troubles are we talking about? Verses 2-3 is talking about the worst possible troubles. The terrible earthquake here represents any frightful tragedy we can think of. In all of these things, we should never be afraid because God is our sure helper.

Let me again encourage you to revisit the things you know about your God. Are you willing to rely on Him in the midst of your troubles? He is the only true source of courage and confidence to us.

Now, pause and meditate on this (Selah)

II    GOD'S ACCESSIBILITY: (vs. 4-7)

As we move to the second big section, the Psalmist will talk about the accessibility of God because He dwells with His people. His presence is pictured like a river that flows within a city. What's the significance of that? Well, during the ancient times, cities that had rivers flowed within her resulted in the building up of the cities. The river provided abundant water for farming and accessibility for trade and commerce. For Egypt, it was the Nile; for Babylon, it was Euphrates, and then for Rome, it was Tiber. In contrast, for Jerusalem, which is the city of God, there was no major river that flowed. Only the presence of God within her provided them with the abundance they needed.

To have God in your life is to have the Almighty on your side. You don't have to go very far to find help; with God, your help is right where you are. Reading verse 6 is like reading verses 2-3, you have the worst scenarios like nations in an uproar, kingdoms falling, but again the source of assurance is the fact that the Lord Almighty is with us. I hope we really take to heart this truth. God made this same promise through prophet Isaiah:

As children of God, you may be passing through one of the most difficult times of your life. You are never walking by yourself in this life. Whatever your situations are, you can reach out to God. Let me also say that when God says you are "passing through," it indicates that there will be an end. There's an end for the trouble - the waters and fire will subside. If you keep walking, you'll eventually walk out of your problems. Peter reminded us about this fact:

The Bible is clear, they are just for a little while. So, endure them for a little bit more. I want to also remind everyone that knowing God may not change your circumstances, but knowing Him will make it possible for you to respond to your circumstances with greater peace and courage. I know for a fact that we don't have any control over what will happen to us. But, we can definitely control how we respond to what is happening to us. Rest assured that He is always accessible to help you. Again, let's pause and mediate (Selah).

III   GOD'S ACTIVITIES:

Lastly, beginning in verse 8, we have an invitation to pay close attention to God's extraordinary activities in saving His people. When the Psalmist spoke of God bringing desolations on earth in verse 8, this simply means that God has destroyed their enemies. And then in verse 9, the Psalmist explains how God brought peace to their nation by destroying the weapons of their enemies.

Beloved, we should never go through life being insensitive with God's providential dealings. When we look at what's happening around us, we need to ask the Lord to open our eyes so that we can see His mighty hand at work.

This reminds me of one occasion in the life of prophet Elisha which is found in 2 Kings 6. During this time, the nation of Aram was at war with Israel. The king of Aram was so frustrated because every time they would attempt to attack the Israelites, they were always prepared for their coming. First, he suspected that they might have a spy among them; but, later he was told that it because of Elisha the prophet who was giving warnings to Israel. So, the king of Aram sent an army to destroy God's prophet. Here's what happened:

Oftentimes, we are like the servant of Elisha, we are not conscious of the fact that "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them" (v.16). What can help us see God's activities more clearly? The Psalmist tells us in verse 10, "Be still, and know that I am God." Is it possible that we are too preoccupied with our complaints or too busy trying to solve our problems that we are failing to see God's work around us? Let's not forget, He is with us and He wants us to trust Him in everything even with our troubles. When we trust, He will never fail us. At the end, He will be exalted. He will receive all the honor and glory because of everything He has done (v.11).

Time and again, we would find ourselves going through some troubles. Let's all be swift to run to our Almighty God who is so close to us. He is our ever-present help in time of need!