Pastor Derek Berry "Summer in the Psalms" - Sermon 2 (6/14/2026)

Life inevitably brings unexpected storms - health crises, financial pressures, relationship struggles, and uncertainty about the future. When everything seems to be falling apart, Psalm 46 reminds us that God is our refuge, strength, and ever-present help in times of trouble. The word refuge means shelter and protection, painting a picture of running to God for safety. While everyone runs somewhere when trouble comes, believers are called to run to God as their safe place. God's presence changes everything because He is not just around us or near us, but in the midst of our troubles. The safest place isn't where life is easy or comfortable, but wherever God is.

Transcript

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We'll journey over to Psalms 46. You're welcome to find your place there. But what I like about this particular one that we're going to study this morning is this idea that God is our refuge. The word refuge is a shelter, a place of protection. And what I like about it is when you think about in this aspect, when everything around you is shaking, God remains unshakened. And although the world around us may feel as if things are not making sense, the uneasiness of life, what I find and what I am encouraged with this particular Psalms in 46 is that God remains unshakened. And that is encouragement to me, and I hope that it will be encouragement to you as well. Last week we began looking and we looked in Psalms 1. And we saw in chapter number one, we discovered a few things. For one, in chapter one, we saw that there are two roads, and those two roads will ultimately lead you and I in two different directions. And we saw on the two roads, in the two different directions, that the directions of my life determines what destination I'll end up at. And I get it, right? It made sense. Two roads, two places you'll end up. But if I want to be honest with us and honest with myself as I was preparing and studying, even though there's times that I feel like I'm walking in the correct path, I'm walking on the right road, there's still some times where I look at life and think, man, life is still hard. And so what I never want to put across is that, man, just because we're on the right road doesn't mean that there's not going to be struggles. Because we know that life serves struggles no matter what. And although, yes, Psalms 1, two roads, two destinations, today we're going to look at, man, when troubles come, what about God? What does he do then? Because I don't ever want to show you and say it a certain way and portray it a certain way that, man, you think, man, if I'm doing everything right, there's not going to be any trouble. That's not it. See, following God doesn't exempt you and I from trouble. I wish it did. Man, I wish it did. We would have no troubles following the Lord. But listen to me, sometimes in life, troubles do come. Sometimes the road that God calls you and I to walk on, the one that he leads you and I down, even that road may sometimes go through some valleys. Sometimes the road that God's leading you and I on, that you get out of a valley and there might be a storm. There might be a season of uncertainty. And that's where I believe Paul helps you and I, or it's not Paul. That's why I believe the solemnist helps you and I so much in Psalms 46. Because when life serves struggles, when there's uncertainty in life, what do I do? How do I continue on? Before I read Psalms 46, I was thinking, and you might be reminded about this truth here, is uh about 12 years ago in 2014. Do you remember where you were in January when the storm hit and cars got stranded? That was a weird time because the news, we didn't expect uh Glenn Burns to get it right, you know. We expect him to be um getting it incorrect. And he was, I think, one for a thousand that year. And that was the particular time that he was accurate. And if you remember the storm, the the snowstorm or the ice storm that sort of shut down roadways and got people stuck. Most people woke up that morning and thought it would just be another day. They thought it was just another winter forecast, and man, I'll get home for dinner. Kids went to school, people went to work, meetings were scheduled, life seemed normal, the inches of snow and ice began to fall. And within hours, everything changed. What they thought they were going to do that evening, they didn't. Roads became parking lots. People were literally on the side of I-20, on the side of major thoroughfares, sleeping in their vehicles. In some cases, cars were abandoned on the interstate. People got out and walked. They walked to nearby schools or even hospitals to sleep in the waiting room. A story I always like is when Freddie Freeman, who was a brave at the time, got stranded and couldn't get home, and Chipper Jones got on his four-wheeler and drove all the way to where he was and got him home. Why he was stuck. He couldn't get any farther. Listen, there was times where parents couldn't get their kids out of daycare because they couldn't get there and they spent the night. Now I remember that very well. I made it home, praise the Lord, but I got to watch on the news. I got to watch on social media, see different videos of people that were stranded, hearing stories who people of people that did not make it home like I did. And what stuck me the most, and what I sort of get a hold to wasn't the snow. I could have a little fun, make a snowman, throw a snowball or two. What stuck out to me the most was how quick life changed. They didn't anticipate it, but it changed very quickly. That morning they were planning dinner, and that evening they were sleeping in their car. That evening, people were wondering if they'll ever make it home. Listen to me. One day, one storm, everything changed. Listen to me, life can feel like that at times. Life can feel that way, not because of snow, but because of one phone call. Life can feel that way because of one diagnosis, one accident, one text message, one conversation. One moment where everything feels stable, the next moment everything feels uncertain. And that's exactly what we're gonna read about in Psalms 46. So if you found your place, let's dig in and see what the scriptures are gonna show us. And I want to give you this quick reminder before we dig into it is this. This particular psalm is not necessarily about comfort. Sometimes I'll get comfort in the word, and hearing what is gonna happen will comfort me. Listen to me, this is not a necessarily a comfort psalm, although it can give us comfort. Here's what it is to me it's about confidence in the middle of chaos. This psalm is about having confidence in the power and the presence of God when chaos is all around us. So know that as we dig in. Verse one, God is our refuge and strength. So he starts off right off the top. God's our refuge, he's a shelter, he's our strength. Verse one, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, because of that, because he's our refuge, and because he's our strength, and because he's a present help, we will not fear. Even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Then there's a pause and in my Bible it says Selah, which essentially means for you and I to pause and consider. It's to reflect. Because if we're not careful, we'll read it super fast and we'll sort of miss what the Lord is trying to show you and I. So he reads the, he lays out these three verses and then has a pause, has an element of something for you and I to pause and reflect and sort of stop and consider the the reality and the truth and the depth of what he just stated. Then he goes deeper in verse number four. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. Verse 5 God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her just as the break of dawn. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved, he uttered his voice, and the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. Then he uses the word Selah again. Calm, reflect, pause, drab this in, let this digest and meditate within your heart. He's trying to make us soak this all in. Verse 8, come before the works of the Lord, who has made desolation in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear to two in two. He burns the chariot in the fire. Verse 10, be still, and know that I am God, and 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 refuge, Silah. So it's to pause again and reflect. What I love about this particular psalm is eleven verses, and these eleven verses are super empowered, they're super powerful. They're something to grab a hold of in our heart. And what I love about Scripture is he naturally lays out the pauses. So I'm going to break it apart so that you and I can get a hold of it the same way the Psalmist wrote it. He pauses after verse 30 and after verse 7. So our points essentially will look at the first three verses and then four through seven, then eight through eleven, because that's the way it's laid out so that you and I can get the full depth of the scripture and what is behind all of it. Remember, it's not just merely comfort, although it does comfort me. This scripture is about having confidence in the middle of whatever chaos is around you, because we all have it. Having confidence in who? In yourself? No. Having confidence in that it's all going to be okay? No, it's going to have confidence in having the presence of God within us and with us because He is our refuge, He is our shelter. Remember it as we go. Confidence in the chaos. Here's the first thing I'll give you, and we'll look at three different thoughts this morning. But here in the first three verses, that sort of come together right off the bat is this God is our refuge when life falls apart. God is our refuge when life falls apart. Refuge, again, is the word shelter. It's a place of protection, a shielding if you were. And he's letting us know that God is going to help us, shield us, protect us when life falls apart. Because no matter how old we all are, there's going to come a point in time when we feel like our life's falling apart. And then there's going to be days where it feels fine, and then there's going to be days where it feels like all things are falling apart all over again. That's the life that you and I live in. That's what happened with sin. Everything didn't make sense after it. And the scripture tells us and shows us several things in these three verses. Before we go any much in depth, we've got to look and realize that before the writer here is talking about mountains falling into the ocean, and before he talks about the oceans roaring, he begins and talks about God. Right off the bat in verse number one, he says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in our time of trouble. Notice what he did not say in that text. He did not say that God is a help after trouble, although he can't help us after trouble. He's saying he is in the middle of our trouble. That's what I love. I love that. I'm reminded sometimes of my kids. I don't know if your kids do that. Did they break things and then try to fix it on their own and then come tell you? And I'm thinking to myself as a man, I could have saved a whole tube of super glue and my roll of duct tape, and it would have looked a lot better if you'd have just came to me long before you tried to fix it all up. But how many times do we do that in life? Man, I'll get a tube of duct tape or a tube of super glue and some duct tape and try to fix my life. And man, what I should have done is just went straight to the Lord. That's what he's trying to show us in this text. He says, you don't have to wait till after trouble. He doesn't even say that God is helping around the trouble. No, no, no. What does he say? He says in verse number one that God is a help in trouble. It doesn't matter what you're facing today, God's presence can help you through it. In the room today, we could pass a microphone around and say, man, who's got something going on? We all got a story. We've all got a worry. We've all got a struggle. Let me tell you something. God is present in every bit of that trouble. Let me break it down a little bit further. God's presence is greater than any panic that you'll ever have. Sometimes we panic, get worried, get uptight. We all know those, right? Those people that they get news and they, and then you got some that are cool and collective. We're all different. That's okay. If we were all the same, that'd be weird, right? If we were all like me, everybody'd be hyper. No, I'm just kidding, okay? Listen, it's okay, we're all different, but listen, God is greater, his presence is greater than any panic that you'll ever have. And I know that because look at our verses. Verse 2, back to the scriptures. Verse 2, what does he tell us? He tells us not to fear. Then he says, the earth is removed. Now imagine the magnitude of the situation. The earth is gone. Then he says in verse number two, that the mountains were carried into the sea. Remember, I'm showing you that God's presence is greater than any panic. And he's illustrating that the earth is gone, that the mountains have fallen into the sea, and that the waters are roaring against whatever they're in. And he's saying, everything that feels unstable, everything that feels uncertain, everything that feels shaky, in verse number two, he says, listen to me, do not fear. Now I struggle with that because he doesn't say the storm's gone, does it? Don't fear. That'd be easy, man. When the storm's over, I don't got to fear any longer. No, no. He doesn't say because the storm left, don't fear. No, what did he say? He says, because God's presence is with you, that's why we shouldn't fear. Matter what you face, God's right there with you. Faith does not deny reality. What I love about this particular psalm is that the psalmist isn't pretending that everything's fine. We all know people like that, that we just pretend that all things are fine, although they're not. Sometimes as a parent, we have to do that with our kids so they don't worry about things. It's gonna be okay. And all the back of our head, we're thinking, me and though me and Megan are making the eye contact. But we don't know, but we try. But listen to me, this Solomist, I love this because he's not pretending everything's fine. Faith isn't saying that there's no storms. Oh, there's no storms, everything. No. What is faith saying? Faith is saying that there is a God in the storm. Storms are gonna happen, struggles are gonna happen, seasons of uncertainty are gonna come our way, but the Lord's presence is with us through it all. See, many people sometimes think that as a believer, as a follower of Christ, that we should not struggle, that we shouldn't have any worry or even never have any hurt. But that's not true. There's times in our lives where we have struggle, we have to give it to the Lord. We have to work, we worry, but what does he tell us? To give it to him. And when we have hurt that comes upon us or our kids, and we have to sort of protect them through it. But what I love about this is biblical faith is not pretending that none of that stuff exists. Biblical faith is trusting God through it all. That's the difference. I don't want to pretend it's not there. I just want to trust the Lord through it because if I can trust him through it, I'm telling me, I'm telling you, I can get back, I can get through it a lot easier. What I love on these first three verses is that refuge means shelter and protection. You know what I like to think about? It means running to God. Sometimes can you visualize just running to the Lord? Now, I don't know, some of y'all can't even visualize running. You ain't ran in a while. I think the next church event we have, we're gonna take a jog and see who can run. I'm gonna challenge everybody to a race. Listen to me. In life, he's talking about refuge talking about running to God. See, what I found is that when trouble comes, somebody, everybody runs somewhere. I see these funny videos sometimes on life where they'll pretend that there's something going on and everybody just takes off running in different directions. And they don't even think about what's going on, just run. But the truth of the matter is when something happens, everybody runs. If there was a fire that took place, we would run out of here, and some would go out that way, some would go out that way, some would go out that way, and we'd all run as fast as we could. So when troubles come, we all take off. But what is God saying? He's saying, run to me. He's saying run to me. Well, this is what I figured out in life. When troubles come, there's the people that believers including, sometimes when we don't immediately run to God, where do we run? Remember, I said, we all run somewhere. So when troubles, a season of storm, uncertainty, struggle come our way, sometimes if I'm not running to God, sometimes I'm gonna run to anger. I've seen it. People that were never angry before all of a sudden get angry. Oh, I've seen some people that didn't run to God. Instead of running to the anger, they run to fear. They get overwhelmed with fear and they let the fear sort of take the wind out of their sails. Oh, I've seen this one. The people that don't run to God, I've seen them run to isolation. They'll isolate themselves from everybody, and the Lord included, and they sit there and have a pity party to some degree. And I know that's the natural thing for humanity to do, but as a child of the king, I've got to overcome that and run unto the Lord. Sometimes I've seen people, not they don't, maybe they don't run to isolate, maybe they run to worry. And the worry of life consumes their ever thoughts. The believer should run to God. I want to remind you of that. Why? Because he is our refuge, a place of protection, a shelter, a safe place. Somebody in the house needs to run to God. And he's saying, Come, come unto me, run unto me. God says, run to me. That's what he means by refuge. Let me give you an example. I want to sort of paint a picture for you to get what I'm trying to get across in these first three verses. I was beginning to look at uh at the uh uh at the end of Jesus' life as he sort of made his way to the cross. I was thinking about the disciples and how they had followed him for three years faithfully. They left their livelihood and threw the nets down and went after Christ and followed him. Did they all struggle? Of course, but they continued on and continued on. And then I think about the moments that led up to Jesus being placed on the cross. So we know that for three years that the disciples followed Christ. We know that as they followed him and towards the end in the garden and he was arrested, in the moment it took the, it felt like they probably got gut punched. Because everything that they followed, they were not ready for that moment. And so when Jesus was taken out of the garden, arrested, then he was tried. I'm sure they felt like their hope was beginning to dwindle. Go away. And as he hung on the cross, they were helpless and hopeless to some degree. In the moment that Jesus died on the cross, and then they put his body into the tomb, in that moment you can read and see that some of the disciples did different things. Some ran and hid. John was at the cross. Peter ran away broken because he had denied Christ three times as Christ predicted. We know that moment after moment that led up to that, these guys were scared. The cloud was dark when it did not used to be. Their hope had dwindled away. They felt that everything that they were following for those three years was now gone. What were they going to do? They felt so helpless. They were hiding, their hope was gone, and everything that they believed in seemed to have been falling apart. And yet, what I realized is that while they, the disciples, thought that God was absent, God was actually accomplishing the greatest thing ever, which was salvation. They couldn't see him, so they just assumed that God wasn't at work. But yet in the background, God was working all things out. He was, Friday night, he was dying, died, laid his life down for you and I, placed in the tomb, and then on Sunday, he arose again. In those days of waiting, God was working behind the scenes, doing something that you and I desperately needed, or else you and I would never get to go to heaven. And I'm telling you, what they didn't see God doing, God was doing even though they couldn't see it. They felt hopeless and saddened. What I think is in their mind, what looked like defeat actually became victory. What looked like an end, let me tell you this, was actually just the beginning. And they thought it was all over. And Jesus is saying, no, man, this is just the beginning of good things. Listen to me, there's times in my life where the storms are blowing and I feel like it's all over, and God says, Man, I got you. Remember, God is our refuge even when life falls apart. Why? Because his presence is with you and I in the middle of the storm. Listen to me, they looked and thought everything was falling apart, but Sunday was a coming. Let me make some application for you. There's some people today, maybe you, that are living like the disciples lived on Friday night. Hopeless. Worried. Thinking that everything that they've done over the last several years is worthless because they don't see God at work right in this moment. The world you live in might feel like it's fallen apart on Friday night. Your future on Friday night might look uncertained. Your prayers might just seem to be getting unanswered. No doubt, I'm sure those disciples that had hidden ran were praying for God to do something. They thought that it was unanswered. Listen, I want you to remember this just because you cannot see God doing something doesn't mean that God isn't doing something. They never saw God working behind the scenes, but God was working it all out for you and I. Let me give you this thought, and we'll Move to our next verses. When life falls apart, listen to me. God has not fallen off the throne. When life falls apart, God has not fallen off the throne. He's still there. The same yesterday, today, and forever. You might feel like he can't hear you, but maybe, just maybe, he's working it out for the betterment of you. Let's dig in a little deeper. Verse 4. So the first three verses show you and I that God is our refuge when life falls apart. Look at the next few verses are going to show us that God is our refuge when trouble comes close. Verse 4 shows us that there is a river whose stream shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. Verse 5 says God is in the midst of her. Who's her? He's referring to verse number four there. Verse number four, the city of God. What's the city of God? Jerusalem. Israel, right? The presence of God. Visualize it like that. God is in the midst of her. He's in the midst, his presence is in the midst of all of her. Then he goes on, she, still talking about the city of God, shall not be moved, which means shakened. God shall help her just at the breaking of dawn, right in the early morning. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice. He, God, uttered his voice, and the earth melted. And then verse number seven, I like verse number seven. It says, The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. So verse number seven and verse number 11 use this term, the uh the Lord of hosts. And here's what it means. The Lord of hosts means the commander of the heaven's army. The commander, the one that's in the rule and the reign of all things. He's simply saying in the text, the Lord of hosts, the commander of heaven's army is with us, is what he's saying, you and I. Look at this verse, these verses, we break them down. God's our refuse when trouble comes. Listen, it's one thing when trouble is somewhere out there. I can read about it on the news, I can hear about it. My friend can tell me about something that happened to his buddy's cousin's friend, and it's like, I hate that. But listen, it's another thing when it shows up on your doorstep. When trouble shows up down the road, okay, I mean that's tough. But when sh when when trouble shows up at my house, that's when things get tougher, when it shows up at your house. Most of us can handle a crisis as long as it happens to somebody else. But when the crisis happens to us, we fall apart. The crisis could be a child, it could be your health, it could be finances, it could be a relationship, it could be a marriage, it could be anything. That could be the crisis, and everything changes, and then that's where verse four takes us. If you read back in verse number four, there is a river whose stream shall make glad the city of God. And then you get in verse number five. God is in the midst of her. See, God's presence changes absolutely everything. You gotta make a middle note of that. God's presence changes everything. And I know that because in verse number five, it says that God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. The city's not going to be moved because God's presence is there. Notice what it doesn't say. It doesn't say around her. It doesn't say near her. The presence is around, it doesn't near, no, it says it's in the midst. It's all right in the middle of her. In your troubles and in mine, God's presence is in the midst of it. And what I love about this is the difference wasn't that the city gained strength. The difference was that God's presence was there. And see, if I read this verse and think, man, it got streaked, therefore it was fine. No, I would think that that means the stronger I am, then I'm good. No, I am strong when I'm weak. When I am weak, then I'm strong, is what Paul says. And why is that? Because I stopped relying on me and start relying on him. The point of the matter is, is I've got to realize that I can do nothing without him, but he can do all things, and I have to let him do it. And that's what the scripture is telling us. Not because of their strength did God not get moved. No, it was because of God's presence the city didn't get moved. God's presence changes absolutely everything. See, listen to me, trouble may surround you, but can I tell you something? It cannot separate you from God. I know that firsthand in the text and in my own life. First hand, the text, the threat was real. The battle was real. The pressure is real. But let me tell you something else that's real: God's presence. God's presence was real. And I love how Paul wrote this in Romans 8, verses 38 and 39. There's several things he wrote in this latter part of chapter number 8, but in a nutshell, verses 38 and 39 says, Nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God. He's talking to believers, Paul is in Romans 8, verses 38 and 39. And he essentially says a lot of things, but essentially he's saying, nothing is able to separate us as believers from the love of God. I love that word separate because the word separate means to remove, to pull apart, to take away. Nothing can divide what God's love is for you and I. The devil could take away the byproduct of salvation, the joy, the peace, the happiness, the enthusiasm, the contentment, and all those things. But he can't take away the presence of God. Now, what he can do is make you stop focusing on the presence of God. That's what usually happens. And I've got to focus on him and him alone. And when I focus on him, I realize what I have in him, the wealth and the love and the power that God has. The safest place is where God is. The safest place is not where, the safest place is not where life's easy. The safest place is not where life is the most comfortable. The safest place is wherever God's at. Wherever God's at. You can read that all through Scripture. Oh, I got a good illustration for this one. I was reading in the Old Testament. Man, if you want some excitement in your life, read, read 2 Kings chapter 18 and 19. And you can also read Isaiah 36 and 37 and read the sort of the same story. But what I love about this story that I want to sort of give you as an example to make sense that God's our refuge when trouble comes is this. There was an army that was very powerful, the Assyrian army. And we know that they were the most powerful army around at the time in a very powerful nation. Because you can read through 2 Kings and read about the amount of cities that they overtook and took all the stuff for themselves and literally just killed whoever and took all the stuff. They were a very powerful force at that time. And as I read about this particular army, I started to think this enemy that was an enemy towards the people of God. I believe that there is some level of an Assyrian army that we all have to deal with. We all have an enemy, the devil, of course. And I began to ponder on this, and I'll show you a little bit more about that story, but most of us have an Assyrian army that battles us. Now, not literally, but something, let me just say it like this, something that keeps you awake at night. And I'm not talking about heartburn. You understand what I'm saying? I'm talking about that something that keeps you awake at night. It's something that grabs your attention. It's something, listen to me, that you can't fix. It's something that you can't control. It's something that feels bigger than anything that you have or anything that you are. The Assyrian army that I'm talking about in your life is something that keeps your eyes staring at the fan when you should be asleep. And you may doze off and wake back up again. Now, for some of us, it could be a prodigal child that's left and you're waiting to return. It could be a financial pressure. It could be broken relationships. It could be a diagnosis. It could be uncertainty about your future. That could be the Assyrian army in your life. Uncertainty about the future. But every morning you may wake up and say, Is it still there? I want to go to sleep not to think about it. And you wake up, is it still there? Is it still present? Imagine being Hezekiah in this day. You wake up, let me tell you the story. He woke up, and the Jerusalem wall were all around it. He wakes up, and as far as his eyes could see, he saw enemy. The Assyrian army was all around them. From his standpoint, he could see tents, he could see enemy soldiers, he could see weapons, he could see banners. And here's what's interesting to me when you read the story and understand it. The Assyrians weren't coming, they were there. He didn't get an email saying we'll be here in two days. He didn't have any sort of radar to detect their coming towards him. He woke up and saw an enemy all the way around. They didn't wait, they were there. They wasn't coming, they have arrived. The enemy was at the city's gates, ready to knock it down. Listen to me, fear was everywhere. Only imagine that. Now, the Assyrian army had a spokesperson, and that spokesperson began to openly mock God. That spokesperson began to mock Hezekiah. That spokesperson was saying all kinds of things about Jerusalem. And I'll read the verse to you. He said this, your God can't save you. Now just imagine looking around and seeing the enemy at all point of view. And now the spokesperson for the army, which 185,000 soldiers all around them, is saying that your God can't save you. Now, I believe there's many people in the house today that have been trying to deal with the struggle of their life, and the devil will probably say the same thing. God can't save you from this. God can't fix that. Are you sure God's presence is around you? Are you sure? The enemy is no different than it was back then. The enemy in fear makes you and I think all kinds of things. Listen to me. Fear always talks the same way. You know what fear says? You can't make it. You know what fear says? It ain't never gonna get no better. Fear says that. Fear says God ain't listening. Fear is gonna say, hey, God don't hear them prayers. That's why he ain't answered them. That's what fear says. Fear says there ain't no hope. That's what fear says. And the fear in that army was telling the God's people, mocking them publicly, saying, Your God ain't gonna save you. And then they, the Assyrian army, wrote a letter, a threatening letter, and handed it or got it to Hezekiah somehow. And as he opened the threatening letter, what I love about it is that what we read is that Hezekiah didn't panic. He didn't fret and worry. No, what did he do? He ran straight to God's house. And the Bible says that he spread the letter in the presence of God. He literally took it to the altar and laid out the letter, the threatening letter that they were going to come annihilate them. He took the letter to the presence of God. Listen to me, you and I, because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, you and I have access to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I don't have to wait. I can enter the mighty presence of God any moment that I would like. There's only one way to God, that's through Jesus Christ. I can pray, I can seek, I can go after, I can conversate, I can tell them my greatest fears, I can tell them my greatest worries. I don't have to wait to get here and spread it all out. I can spread it all out anywhere I want to. And Hezekiah went and spread it all before the Lord. And he began to pray and to seek the face of God. Let me tell you something cool. God answered. God answered the prayer. They woke up the next morning, and 185,000 Assyrian army soldiers were dead. They didn't have to pick a weapon up. They didn't have to fight a battle. You know what they did? They let God fight it for them. Many of you are trying to fight battles that only God can win. And you wonder why you're tired and wore out. Let me tell you something. God's presence can fight battles that you and I can't even wink at. Now listen to me, why did they die? Was it because Jerusalem all of a sudden got strong? No. It was because of the presence. See, listen to me, the miracle wasn't that the enemy showed up. To me, the miracle was that God was already there. To me, the miracle wasn't that the enemy showed up, the miracle was that God was already there when they arrived. That was the miracle to me. And because of the Holy Spirit within me, then no matter what comes my way, He's there. He's ready. He's ready for it. Let me ask you this, or say it like this, I should say. Hear me out, hear me clear. Some of you have looked at your problems for so long, all you can see is your problems.

SPEAKER_00 35:33

Telling you, you gotta stop and look up.

SPEAKER_01 35:38

We look at our problems long enough, that's all we're ever gonna see is the problems. That's why I told you from the beginning, this particular psalm is about having confidence in the presence of God in the middle of your chaos. This psalm essentially is causing my mind and my eyes to look up rather than look at the problems around me. God wants to remind you of something today. Verse number five God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. Let me give you this little nugget and then we'll be move on to the last thought. If God's in it, you don't have to fear it.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

If God's in it, you ain't gotta fear it.

SPEAKER_01 36:16

Let's go to verse eight. Verse eight is our last thought. We've seen this morning that God is our refuge when life falls apart, when troubles come close, and the last thing I'll show you is that God's our refuge because he is still God. He's still God. Verse 8. Come before the works of the Lord, who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear into two. He burns the chariot in fire. Verse 10, man. What a great verse. 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. Remember, the Lord of hosts is the commander of the Lord's uh of heaven's army. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. See, everything in these 11 verses builds, or the first nine verses, everything builds to verse number 10. God is our sovereign. God is still sovereign. He always will be. He's always the same, yesterday, today, and forever. And verse number eight, I believe, shows you and I that God is sovereign because it reminds me and you to look at God's works. Verse number eight, come before the works of the Lord. He's reminding you and I to look at the works that God's already done, meaning, kingdoms have rise, kingdoms have fallen, nations rag, but God remains the same. You would look at historical books and see about the nations that have fallen apart and things that have struggled and things that used to be that aren't any longer, but one thing remains the same is God. He is the same. Verse number nine shows you and I that God's plans cannot be stopped. He makes war cease at the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear to two. He burns the chariot in the fire. Verse number nine reminds us that God can bring wars to a stop. History might look like it's spinning out of control, but God is still directing the story. Why? Because God's all powerful. And verse number 10 is everything builds to it. I love it. Look at verse 10. Sometimes faith requires stillness. And I'm telling you, I struggle with that because I can't be still anyhow. I just can't sit still. But verse 10 says, be still and know that I'm God. And what I love about verse number 10, and when I realize be still, this is not a suggestion to relax. He's not suggesting you and I to take a nap. No, he is commanding you and I to surrender. See, most of us say that I'm being still by waiting on the Lord while I still worry to death about it. He's, that's not the same thing. You're not being still and still worrying, and you're not being still and still trying to work it all out. You're not being still and still and still thinking, man, I got to fix this and do this and do this. No, no, no. Be still is a command to surrender everything that you're worried about unto him. That means I can't continue to try to fix it, or I can't continue to try to panic. Essentially saying, stop trying to carry what God was designed to carry. I'm being still, but I'm still carrying the weight of my problems on my back. No, he's saying, be still and know that I'm God. Well, let me give you an example, an illustration for this. I'm telling you one that came to my mind that I want to share with you. I found it in Mark, chapter number four. But if you start in verse 35 and you kind of read throughout, you're gonna read this story about the disciples on the boat and Jesus asleep in the bottom. And what I love about this story is how vivid it makes my mind think about storms for sure, but you can't overlook the beginning when Jesus commanded, told his disciples to get into the boat to go to the other side. Now remember in verse 10, be still and know that I'm God. That's a command, not a suggestion. And if you think about this text that I'm reading and showing and sharing with you in Marks 4, verse 35 and on, he tells his disciples, commands them to get in the boat and go to the other side. And of course the disciples listen, they went. They get into the boat and they get in the middle of the sea, halfway across. And as they get halfway across, a storm develops, and the sea is tossing the boat here and there. The disciples are terrified, they're scared. The storm is raging, waves were crashing, this old boat, water was probably coming inside, and these men who were experienced fishermen before God called them to follow him were absolutely terrified, and they look around and they're sitting there thinking, where is Jesus in the middle of my storm? They realized Jesus was down bottom asleep. Now they got a little upset about that. They went and woke him up. Scripture says that they said, Teacher, why are you allowing us to perish while you're asleep? Now think about the text and think, man, they in their mind really did think that God had forgot about them, that Jesus had forgot about them, and he is getting tossed to and fro, and he's sound asleep, and they're trying to figure this whole situation out. There's many times in my life or in your life where we might be getting tossed to and fro, and we feel like Jesus is asleep, not listening to me pray and cry to him, but essentially he is. You just don't realize that he is. They show up down there. Why are you asleep? And I began to think, why would Jesus sleep through it? Because the storm never threatens the one who controls the storm. Storms never threaten the one that controls the storm. Jesus wasn't threatened by the storm because he controlled the storm. They woke him up. And what I love is that you realize in this moment that the disciples were focused on the waves, but Jesus in his sleep was focused on the Father. And many times in my life, when I realize the chaos around me is overtaking me, I'm looking at them rather than him. And as they woke him up, Jesus simply didn't yell at him. You ever get woken up from a sleep? You want to tell somebody to leave you alone? Leave me alone.

SPEAKER_00 42:23

Jesus didn't say, Go bother somebody else. Peace. Be still. What happened? The wave stopped. Immediately, the wind ceased to continue blowing.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

The disciples then asked themselves the question Who could this be? And even the wind and the sea obey him. See, Jesus allowed the storm to happen after he commanded them to get on the boat so that they would know that he is over the storms of life. Didn't bother Jesus because Jesus created them. And he let that storm teach them when they ask their self this question who is he? And even the sea and the wind obey him. That was a testimony that he is all-knowing, all-powerful God. The one that created the storm controls the storm. Here, let me ask you this, and I'll close in a moment. Many of us spend more time looking at our storm than looking at our Savior. You're never gonna get right till you get real with yourself. Many of us spend more time looking at our storm than looking at our Savior. Psalms 46 calls you and I to lift up our eyes and look. Not down here, but up there. Let me give you this little piece here. When you can't control your circumstances, remember who controls them. When you can't control your circumstances, remember who controls them. As we close in a moment, the I was thinking about the people that were caught in that ice snowstorm in Atlanta twelve years ago. You know what? They eventually made it home. The roads were cleared, life began to become normal again. But not every storm works that way. Some storms last longer, some answers take longer, some prayers take longer. Psalms 46 never promises a life without trouble. It promised something actually better. It doesn't promise that we will have no troubles in life, it promises something way better. It promises that the presence of God in the midst of trouble. It promises you and I to have the presence of God in the middle of our troubles. He didn't say I'll never remove your storms. No, he says that I'll be with you in every storm. And that to me changes everything. As I challenge you towards the end of our time together, this week I want to remind you of something. When fear begins, remember that God's our refuge, God's our strength, God's our help, God's our peace. And ask yourself this Am I looking at the storm or am I looking at the God who is greater than the storm? That's only a question that you can answer. Because when everything around you is shaking, God remains unshaken. Would you pray with me? God, I praise you. I praise you for the word that you proclaim this morning in hearts. I praise you for the way you speak to us individually and teach us. And God, I pray that over this next moment of invitation that you speak clearly to our hearts. I pray, God, if there's somebody here under the sound of my voice that perhaps doesn't know you as Lord and as Savior, God, that maybe today, that to be the day of their salvation, maybe the Holy Spirit would draw them and nudge them and grab them, allow them to take a step to you. Lord, I pray for that one that's in the midst of it. The troubles of life are overtaking them. And I pray, God, that Psalms 46, not my words, but your words, would just serve as a reminder for us individually to lift our eyes to you. Stop looking at the storm and start. Stop looking at the storm and start looking at the Savior. God, I pray in the name of Jesus that you would use this moment of opportunity to remind us of something. God, I pray you would prompt us and nudge us if we need to come to the altar and lay it out for you. Lay it out like Hezekiah did. Spread it before you and ask you. Lord, I pray in the name of Jesus that you prompt us. Let us be obedient to you, I pray, in this time, in Jesus' name. Amen.