Psalm 46

Sermon preached at Barclay Church, Edinburgh by Rev D. Graham Leitch
30 June 2002

As I was preparing what to say to you this morning three things were present to my mind influencing not so much what I would say but how I would say it:

THREE THINGS TO START WITH
* the first was the wise remark of Charles Haddon Spurgeon over a century ago, commenting on long-winded preachers, that (as he neatly put it) “a good sermon need not be long and bad sermon ought not to be.”

* the second was the knowledge that the Sacrament itself which we’re celebrating this morning is visible preaching. The symbols of the Sacrament (the bread and wine) can at times be more successful in proclaiming the wonderful truths of the Gospel to us that the words of any preacher.

* and the third was that there will be some who are anxious to watch Brazil play Germany in today’s World Cup final which begins at 12.30pm.

While this final consideration, alone wouldn’t be enough to justify a shorter than usual sermon, the three combined, to my mind, are. Just as it isn’t the length of a prayer that matters but its strength - so that a single inarticulate cry may accomplish more in a second than hours of pious verbiage - length matters more than strength in preaching too.

PSALM 46
In our series - the God of Songs in the Songs of God - which began last week - our focus this morning is going to be on the lessons God’s Holy Spirit - who is after all their Divine Author - can teach us in Psalm 46:1-2:

“God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear
though the earth give way
And the mountains fall into the
heart of the sea.......”
(Psalm 46:1-2)

I firmly believe that the lesson God wants to teach us the Bible are neither theoretical nor merely theological... they are practical - that is, they apply in daily life; and they are functional - that is, they work when we put them into practice!!

What then are the lessons these verses yield. I find THREE in the very first verse:
“God is our refuge and strength.”

The Bible doesn’t trade in airy fairy ideas but in down to earth, relevant, practical facts.

1. GOD IS....
Notice the first two words..."GOD IS....” Here is one of the great things that separates the Christian from the humanist and the agnostic. The humanist insists that there is NO God - indeed many humanist are quite anti-God! The agnostics shrugs their shoulders and say “I just don't know!” But both are separated by an immeasurable gulf from the Christian’s emphatic YES... because the Christians emphatic “YES” is not just to the idea of the divine or the notion of some “first cause” -

“God IS......!!”

One of the great things that distinguishes the Christian is his belief in GOD - that there really is a God - one God - the only true - the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. This means that even if the Christian was alone in the world - an Adam without and Eve (or an Eve without and Adam!) - even if the Christian was alone in the world he would still have Someone to turn to and Someone who loved him.

“God IS......!!”

“He who has seen me has seen the Father!” Jesus declared - the Son is the revelation of the Father.

The world with a million fingers points towards God. But in Jesus we meet Him face to face. Here is the first important lesson from Psalm 46:

“God IS......!!”

If it is wonderful that there is a God - and that life therefore has meaning and death need not be the end - if it is wonderful that there is a God, it is more wonderful by far what he is like!!

GOD IS OUR REFUGE
He is, the Psalmist tells us, our refuge in time of danger and our strength in time of testing. Of course He can only be this as we trust Him, but as we trust Him (and insofar as we trust Him) that’s what we’ll find Him to be.

“JEHOVAH GOD” says the Psalmist “is our refuge”

Whatever pressures we are facing, whatever worries pursue us, whatever doubts assail us, whatever spiritual assaults or turmoil beset us, we are to make God our refuge. I can think of three pictures that the writer offers here:

There is the picture of the asylum seeker. In many ancient near eastern communities there were designated place of asylum to which the threatened and those guilty of of crimes (or if you like of sin) could flee. In the Sacrament today the sinful are invited to flee to the city of refuge which is Christ.

There is the picture of the pursued animal - of the hare chased by the fox seeking its bolthole; or the fox chased by the hounds hastening to its den; or the antelope pursued by the lion or tiger,

Whenever life gets too much for us; whenever temptations threaten to overwhelm us or worries crowd in or the weight of life’s demands threaten to break us we can make GOD our refuge.

He is an ACCESSIBLE REFUGE for He is never beyond our reach. And he is an IMMEDIATE REFUGE for faith is the ever-open door to the SAFETY of his arms and unending love.

There is the picture of the asylum seeker; the picture of the pursued animal And then there is the picture of the routed army in retreat. When we try to fight life’s battles with weapons of our own manufacture they all to often prove inadequate to the task and defenceless, and learning our lesson, we must retreat to the mighty and impregnable fortress of our God.

There are times in life when we must retreat, and then there is no safer place to run than into what the old version calls “the everlasting arms.~”

“God” the psalmist says “is our refuge.”

But if there are time in life when we must retreat there are other times when retreat is not an option - either because the right thing to do is to stand our ground and not retire or, perhaps, because withdrawal or retreat is not an option.

As an example of the first take campaigning for justice for the oppressed or for mercy for the weakest in society - when it would be wrong to throw in the towel.

Or, as an example or the second (where withdrawal or retreat is not an option) - the crying baby who won’t settle, the demented spouse requiring patience and 24 hour care, or the long road back to full health after major surgery.

GOD IS OUR STRENGTH
When withdrawal or retreat is not an option - it is then that the lesson of this verse that God is not only our refuge but may be our STRENGTH comes in.

It isn’t weakness or failure to admit that there are times when we can’t manage unaided; when we can’t cope alone. How heartening it is that that the Bible offers God to us not only as our refuge but as our strength.

“God is our refuge” - yes! But God is also “our strength.”

This is not meant merely in some abstract way. As I said earlier the Bible truth is is not theoretical or merely theological, it is first and foremost PRACTICAL. The choice is simple - I can live my life, face my worries, deal with life’s challenges alone and by myself. Pride and stubbornness sometimes conspire together to make us do this. I can live my life looking in ( to myself) for strength. I can live my life looking out (to others) for strength. Or I can live my life looking UP (to God) for strength.

When we look up to God for strength - just because God uses means - it may sometimes come to us through others, but there can be no doubt that the secret of coping in difficulty and peace in the storm is letting GOD be our Strength.

Notice the personal pronouns:

“God is OUR refuge and OUR strength..”

The personal pronoun is the possessive pronoun - to say God is MY refuge and MY strength - to take Him as that and to trust Him as that is the secret of knowing Him as that!!

What lessons! What a challenge!! What an invitation spoken to unfaith - that God can be all this to you (and more) if you will but trust Him! And what encouragement spoken to faith!! But there’s more!

“God is our refuge and our strength,” we read, “ an ever present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way....”

WHAT KIND OF HELP?
Notice that here we have taught to us the KIND of shelter and help the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is to those who trust Him:

i) A PROVEN HELP
He is a PROVEN help. All that he has been to the saints of the past - to our fathers and their fathers in the faith since Christianity began - all that He has been to them he will be to us - he is the same unchanging and ever merciful God still. As he has not failed his saints in the past so he will not fail his saints today. The words translated “ever present” come from Hebrew words literally meaning “found sufficient.”

God offers himself to us with an unconditional guarantee of satisfaction.

“I am the LORD...” God tells us in the Bible, “those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”
Isaiah 49:23

ii) A PRESENT HELP
He is a PROVEN help.He is a PRESENT help. He is the God who is closer than breathing. He is with us now. He is beside us always and though we may have walked out on Him, He will never walk out on us!!

“God is our refuge and our strength,” we read, “ an ever present help in trouble.”

iii) A SUFFICIENT HELP
And finally, He is a SUFFICIENT help.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness” he once told Paul. “Our sufficiency is of God” Paul once told others. Our hope is in Him, not in ourselves; Our strength is in Him not in ourselves; our very lives are in Him, not in ourselves!!

Listen to this marvellous quote (as you might guess) from CH Spurgeon:

“As of old a Roman had but to say “Romanus sum” - I am a Roman - and he could claim the protection of all the legions of that vast empire, so everyone who believes in Jesus Christ has omnipotence as his guardian, and God will sooner empty heaven of angels than leave a saint without defence!”

Therefore we will not fear though the earth give way....

AMEN
What more can I say? What more is there to say?!! Except “Amen!” and “Thank God for being there, for being here and for being FOR US not just occasionally, or some times, or most of the time but always!”

AMEN