If you'll take your Bibles and
turn with me to Psalm 46. Psalm 46. You're looking through
this entire chapter, Lord willing, tonight in small segments, but
I've entitled this message, A Comfort and Remedy for Dark Providence. A Comfort and Remedy for God's
Dark Provenances. The scripture here, the psalmist
begins with such a wonderful message of security. Security, and that's my first
point is this, the security of Christ, our refuge. The psalmist
says God God in the Trinity of His persons, God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, but especially Christ. This is
especially speaking of Christ our God. God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble. To you who believe
tonight, you, listen, believers in Christ, this is for your comfort. This is for your assurance. This
is for your comfort and blessing. Know this, that Christ is your
refuge, your shelter. This is a comforting word of
God to you, that He's our shelter from every storm of life. Every wave, every trial, every
difficulty, He is our complete, perfect refuge. He is a refuge
from the storms of troubles, all troubles. He is a refuge
from all trials. He is a refuge from all temptations. And above all, He is a refuge
from the wrath of God. the wrath of God, a refuge from
the storm of God's justice that is set on every sinner. Everyone outside this refuge
will and must experience the wrath of God themselves. But everyone that is in Christ
will never experience the wrath of God simply because Christ
Himself endured the wrath for it. Isn't that what a refuge
is? A refuge is something that endures the storm for all those
who are inside the refuge. That's Christ. He's endured the
wrath of God. The Scriptures are clear. For
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. How? By Himself being
made a curse for us. What a blessing! What a blessing
to be in Christ. He is our refuge. And notice what He's a refuge
from. He says, verse 2, Therefore will
not we fear, though the earth be removed, though the mountains
be carried in the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof
roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the
swelling thereof. There is a river, the streams
whereof make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles
of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She
shall not be moved, God shall help her and that right early. The heathen 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." Notice, it doesn't matter if
the heathen rage. It doesn't matter if the world
rages against you. It doesn't matter if Satan himself
roars at you with all his strength, all his accusations. It doesn't
matter if your conscience strikes at the very root of your heart
because of your sin. Now this flesh can and will suffer
persecution in this life. He is not a refuge from pain
and refuge from suffering. No, in this world you shall have
what? Tribulation. He promised that we should suffer. Now that's not what He's a refuge
for. He's a refuge against the leaving,
the removal. He said, you shall not be removed.
Though the earth shake, though the mountains give way, this
flesh will suffer persecution, sickness, and even death. So
then, consider this, if the whole world went away, If the mountains
beat, mountains. Mountains are something we think
are going to last forever. How many times have you thought
something's going to last forever? You look at, how about this country?
Let's just think about that. We think this country is going
to last forever. What if this country goes away
tonight? What does that do for us who are in Christ? What does
that do to us? Absolutely nothing. Though the
mountains be removed and they be cast in the midst of the sea,
God says, that's nothing. That's nothing. We're not going
to fear if that happens. Why? Because we're in Christ.
The Scriptures are clear about the accusations of Satan in the
world. Scripture says, Who is He that
condemneth? Who is He that accuseth? It's
God that justifies. Who is He that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea rather is risen again. And so then who
shall separate us from the love of God in Christ? Paul said,
I'm persuaded nobody and nothing. God is our present help. That's
why we shall not be moved. He is our refuge and our help.
In Christ, this stream, isn't this stream of God being our
refuge, isn't that the stream that flows through? Imagine that,
the whole world's collapsing and there's Zion and there's
a little stream. How peaceful is that? Little
stream running right through Zion and the people drinking
and having, safe, they're safe. And though the world is collapsing
around them, God says this little stream's gonna make you happy.
It's Christ, the stream. and we shall not be removed.
Now, I want you to really get a sense of how safe you are.
You are as safe as Noah was in the ark. Now, how safe was Noah? Was there any possibility that
the storm would rain on him? No. You are in Christ, you are
as safe as Noah was. How about Rahab? You are as safe
as she was on that wall in Jericho. What about the manslayer who
fled to the city of refuge and after the priest died? Christ
our priest is dead. He died and rose again and making
sure that the manslayer, that the avenger of blood cannot come
on us anymore. You're as safe as the man who
fled. Now I'm going to give you something
even more safe than that. You are as safe as Christ is
in God. Is there any possibility to remove
Christ from God? Then there is no possibility
to remove you from Christ. That's how safe you are in this
refuge. This makes glad the city of God.
We shall not be moved. Now look back at your text. How
safe? That's safe. Isn't that safe? Do you feel unsafe? You shouldn't feel unsafe, you're
safe. What if I, no, you're safe. What if I die? You're safe. What if I lose everything? You're
safe. That's what God says. That's not what I say. It's not
my opinion, is it? Have I said anything is my opinion? No, it's
all God right here. He just said it. Let the heathen
rage. That doesn't matter. Why? Because the God of Jacob
is our refuge. Now look at verse 8. He calls
us now from looking at our refuge to looking at the work of God.
Verse 8. Come, behold the works of the
Lord, what desolations He hath made in the earth. The work now
to be considered is this. How is it that you are safe in
Christ? You are safe if you are in the
refuge, you are safe. Now how is it you got there?
That's what he's going to talk about, the work of God. You in Christ is a work of God. It's not a work of your work.
You didn't put yourself in Christ. You cannot put yourself in Christ. In fact, God did that long before
there was ever time. The scripture says in 1 Corinthians
1, verse 30, But of Him are you in Christ Jesus. Who of God is maiden to you,
what? Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. Everything you need for salvation
is then the work of who? Of God. It's the work of God.
And his work is a work of love. It's an immutable work, it's
an eternal work, and it is a work of love. God says, behold, I
have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving
kindness have I drawn thee. His work is a work of salvation. Isn't salvation, I like this
scripture in Psalm chapter three in verse eight, I believe it
is. Salvation, now listen, belongs to God. It belongeth unto the
Lord. So who has salvation? Who owns
salvation? God. God. Jonah said salvation
is of the Lord. Christ said this is the work
of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent. So faith and
everything, every operation of salvation is the work of God.
This is vitally important in distinguishing between true and
false religion. True religion, true salvation
is completely the work of God because nowhere in Scripture
is salvation attributed to your work or your will or any other
part that you do. Salvation is completely the work
of God. So then, you that are in Christ,
now consider His work. Consider His work, the work of
God. What is this work? Look back
at your text. What desolations ye have made in the earth. What
is this speaking of? This is speaking of how you were
saved. He made Christ to be a desolation
in the earth. He made Christ to be a desolation. When Jesus Christ was made a
desolation of God, He was made that when God imputed our sins
to Him. When God made Him to be sin,
who knew no sin, who did no sin, who thought no sin, who felt
no sin, yet in this mystery of mysteries, God made Him to be
sin. Not just an over... Kind of a,
we think like it's in the ethos somewhere, there's a thing called
sin floating around. No, that junk in your heart,
in your mind, in your soul, that's what God made him. He made him
your sin. And my sin. and the sin of every
believer in Christ. God has put it on His Son, put
it in His body. The Scripture says that He bore
our sins in His own body on the tree. This is the work of God. And that by Him we should be
made the righteousness of God in Him. By our union with Him,
by the election of grace, and by His death, and by the experimental
union of the Holy Spirit. Consider then the work of salvation
is the work of God. Verse 9, He maketh wars to cease
unto the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow and cutteth
the spares under. He burneth the chariot with fire.
What did Christ do when He was made desolation? He made an end
of that war between you and God. He made wars to cease. We, by nature, are at enmity
against God. Scripture's clear in that, isn't
it? Romans 8, verse 7 says man is enmity. The natural man is
not at enmity. He is enmity against God. He despises God and everything
there is about God, that's who we are. We by nature are haters
of God, children of wrath even as others. But you know what? Even before I spouted my first
rebellion, God put an end to the war. God had already put
an end. How? He made peace by the blood
of His Son. The only peace that any man could
have with God, don't you ever think you're going to make your
peace with God. That's a foolish thing to think. That I'm going
to one day go up to God and make my peace. If you make your peace,
there is no peace. The only person to make peace
with God is Jesus Christ, His Son. He made peace. He didn't make the possibility
of peace, He made peace. He didn't make a possibility
of peace and then left it up to you to sign the contract.
No, He put an end to war. He put an end to it by His death. And what is the result of this?
God says this to you and me who are in Christ. God says, Behold,
I have blotted out. I have blotted out. Not you.
I have blotted out your transgressions as a thick cloud and your sins
as a cloud by the blood of Christ, therefore return unto me, for
I have redeemed thee. This is God's message to you
who are in Christ. I have blotted it out. I've made
peace. This is my work, God said. You behold my work. You praise
my work, not your work. You've got no part in this. I
did it all for myself. What a wonderful God. I did it. He accomplished it. And this work, this work of putting
us in Christ, this refuge that Christ is for us, is my next
point, that this work was not done by accident, it was on purpose. This work that we are considering
of God is by purpose, decree, and the will of God. This salvation
that I'm speaking of is of the sovereign will and grace of God. It was purposed by the Father
in love to save every chosen precious child. It was the purpose
of the Father to save His children and it was the means that was
chosen of God was by Jesus Christ. According as He had chosen us
in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be
holy without blame before Him. In love predestinated us unto
the adoption of children. Listen. by Jesus Christ. That was purposed. God purposed. And then He put us in union,
and Christ, in a covenant of grace, agreed to be our surety. This is on purpose. You know,
when you make a contract, you've got to think. You've got to plan
out. Set all the contingencies. That's
why contracts are so thick, because everybody's thinking of ways
to get around them. Friends, this is an ironclad
contract between God Himself. And it's not something He wants
to get out of. It's something He purposed to
do. And He purposed to give all of His elect to Christ, and Christ
agreed to be their surety. The Holy Spirit then on purpose
penned this book. You got it right in your hands.
This book was penned by the prophets as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit. for this purpose that this gospel
should be preached and the elect should be regenerated to life
and faith in Christ. This is the purpose of God. That at the appointed time, you
realize you were saved at the appointed time? You were saved
on purpose at a particular day, a particular time, because that
was purposed of God. It was purposed of God. And now
it is by the grace and power and love of God you are kept
in the faith until Christ returns. So then, we know, we who are
in Christ, we who consider the work of God, we know who God
is, we know what God purposed, we have experienced it ourselves,
we are His witnesses. We know this of God, that God
is the Creator, the Ruler of all things, and as He has purposed
our salvation. Therefore, He has moved all things
according to His own sovereign will to accomplish all He's predestinated
to do." Everything that God is predestinated
to do, He's going to do. What is predestination? I'm going
to give you this definition. It is very succinct. Here it is. Predestination is
the sovereign, eternal, immutable, unchangeable purpose of Almighty
God by which He has ordained and ordered according to His
own will and good pleasure all things that come to pass. It
is the sovereign, immutable, unchangeable purpose of God as
He has ordained all things. All things will come to pass
are predestinated of God. Predetermined. Purposed. That's what I mean by purpose.
I mean it's on purpose. Everything. Everything. The other day we were in our
house looking out the window and it started to rain. It rained
on the other half of the street. I mean, you could have took a
line and drew a line right down the middle of the street and
on that side it rained and on this side it didn't. Predestinated
of God at the exact time so that I should witness and marvel.
Predestinated. That's what I mean by predestinated.
That's what I mean by purpose. What then is divine providence?
Divine providence is simply the accomplishment of what God predestinated. It is the fulfillment of all
the sovereign purpose of God. That's what it is. That work
of salvation we talked about, the divine providence is the
working out of that salvation for all of His elect. That's
what providence is doing. Therefore, all things that happen
are according to the purpose of God. Not one action, not one
thought of man, not one circumstance, not one creature or creation,
not one creature works outside the eternal purpose of God. Not
one. Our God is in the heavens and
had done whatsoever He had pleased. Our God says this, declaring
the end, when? When did our God declare the
end? From the beginning. From ancient times. The things
that were not yet done. Not yet, the divine providence
had not yet worked it out. Not yet done. Saying, decreeing
this. My counsel shall stand and I
will do what? All my pleasure. So what's happening
right now? All His pleasure. In your life,
in my life, in their life, in this world, in this country,
in this universe, everything is happening according to His
divine will. That's what's happening. Are
you confused about what's happening? Don't worry about it. It's happening
according to his will. Believer in Christ, it was God's
eternal purpose and counsel to save you. And according to His divine sovereign
will, He by the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ, perfectly, completely,
without your works, without your will, without your help, saved
you. He redeemed you without you.
I love that. Salvation is something accomplished
by God outside of me. It didn't have anything to do
with me. One article I put recently, it's
an unmessable salvation. I can't mess it up because it
didn't have anything to do with me. It was all Him. It was all His work. It's perfect. And in divine providence
God moved all creation and people and events to bring us to that
appointed time of love. So God in providence kept you
alive until you heard the gospel. Until He quickened you. That's
what we call provenient grace. Grace that went before. He moved all things and brought
you to hear the gospel preached, opened the grave of your heart,
and called you by name to life. And in grace He gave you faith
in Christ, for by grace you are saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves. It is a gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. in predestination purposed our salvation by divine
providence, and is working out of His will, He has brought it
to pass effectually in our hearts by the Spirit of God. So then,
you were saved when He planned it, you were saved where He planned
it, you were saved by the preaching of the gospel, who he determined
to preach that gospel to you, by what text he determined to
preach that gospel to you. He even put the thoughts in your
heart and mind so as that you would need that at that time
and by grace gave you life so that you could receive it. This
is it. This is the work of God. Have
you considered this? You consider how safe you are?
You know how safe you are? This is the work of God. You're
in Christ. He's your refuge. And God's work
is to save you because He purposed to do it. He'll do it. He'll
do it. And so then nothing is left to
chance. That's false religion, friend.
That's false religion. They leave everything to chance. They leave everything to man.
God doesn't leave anything to man. He does it all Himself. You realize there was nothing
in heaven, in earth, or in hell that could have stopped us from
coming to Christ? Was there anything to stop Lazarus
from coming out of the grave? Anything! Can you imagine anything
to keep him in the grave? When Christ said, come forth,
Lazarus had no choice. He came forth and he was alive. And that wasn't by will of Lazarus,
that was the will of Christ. So it is with us. Now then, seeing
all this, this is important. Now listen here, I'm going to
pose a question. I'm going to pose a question. seeing that
we are in Christ, seeing that this was the work of God and
the purpose of God, and nothing stops the purpose of God in saving
you, here's a question for you. What then do we have to fear? If that's true, and it is, believe it or you know it is,
then why do we fear? Why do we fear? What will ever happen in this
life that was not purposed and will not be accomplished for
our good and salvation. If God purposed it, then what
will stop it from happening? The answer is nothing. Matter
of fact, everything's gonna be moving toward that. Listen to this scripture, you
know it very well. We know that all things work. What? What? Together. We look at an individual circumstance
and we say, how can this be for my good? God never told you to
look at an individual circumstance. He told you to look to Christ.
He told you to look to Him. He did not tell you to look at
your circumstance. He said this, all things, including
your circumstance, will work together for your good. Not the individual circumstance. I know we get that confused.
And we think, well, every circumstance should be... No, that's not what
He said. It worked together, not for everyone's good, but
for them that love God, to them who are called according to His
purpose. I've just been spending a lot
of time talking about His purpose. You've been called according
to His purpose. And because you've been called
according to His purpose, what? You love God. You love God. I like this one. One time a preacher
was asked by a lady who didn't believe in the election of God.
She said, I don't understand the election of God. You believe
in election and I don't understand you believe in God's purpose.
I don't understand. And the preacher just simply asked, did God save
you on accident or on purpose? And she immediately answered,
well on purpose. He said, then you believe in
election. You believe in election. Election is God's salvation on
purpose. According to His purpose, the scripture says. It was on
purpose Christ died for our sins. For all the sins of His life.
And it was on purpose that you were called to life and faith.
And we love God, friends, on purpose. God's purpose, not your
purpose. His purpose. We love Him because
He first loved us. Because He saved us. And we know
who are saved and called know that all things work together
for our good. Friends, this is not a question. It's a statement,
a fact. It's a promise of God to all
who are called. All things, therefore all things
have, all things are, and all things shall work together for
our good. What then do we have to fear
being under such a sure refuge? What do we know? Seeing that salvation is the
purpose and work of God, what should we fear? Listen, nothing
and no one. Nothing and no one. Pastor, you don't know my trouble. No, I don't. But you don't know
mine either. We don't fully understand anyone's
troubles. We try to, we try to enter into
one, but I'll tell you this, I know this, God has many dark
providences. There are many times God sends
great troubles and we don't understand why. If you look over in Psalm
44 and verse 15, this is what the psalmist said about God's
dark troubles. He said He let the enemy come
in. The enemy is destroying us. And he said, my confusion is
continually before me. He's confused. Are you confused? Have you been confused by God's
dark providences? Friend, look in your text and
you're going to get a remedy. Now listen, you're going to get
a remedy for fear during these dark times where you don't understand
what's going on. Here it is. Look at this in verse
10. Be still. Be still. Moses said that, didn't
he? Stand still. and see the salvation
of the Lord. What is the first thing we do
when trials come? Do we stand still? Normally we
get busy. We start trying and running around
trying to devise a plan to get ourselves out. We'll use any
means necessary obtained by this flesh and by our own merits and
efforts to get us out of our trouble. That's the first thing
we do. It's always the wrong thing to do, but it's usually
the first thing. We usually, by means of sin or
compromise to the Word of God, by deception or shifting blame,
trusting the flesh or trusting men, will do anything but trust
God and stand still. The flesh will do anything but
trust God and stand still. But believer in Christ, in order
to remedy our fear, we must cease to strive against the providence
of God. Otherwise, it will run you over.
You got that? If we strive against the providence
of God, it will run us over. Why? The providence of God does
not move. It doesn't change course. It's
always straight. one in Proverbs, I believe, Ecclesiastes,
that we studied a while back, the crooked providence of God.
How can you make straight that which is crooked? Remember, God's
providence only seems crooked to us. It's straight. But because
it crosses you, your will, you think it's crooked. It's not
crooked. We're crooked. We're crooked. Believer, when trouble comes,
let us first recognize It has come by the will of God. And
then simply trust and submit. We would find it most restful
to simply trust and submit. Instead of being like the bullock
unaccustomed to the yoke kicking. And yet we do. I know you do.
I know I do. But this is His message to us.
Sit still. Stand still. For a believer in
Christ, God intends this not for your evil, but for good. I'll read this to you in Zephaniah
chapter 3 and listen to this. The Lord hath taken away thy
judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy.
The King of Israel, even the Lord is in the midst of thee.
Now you hold on to this and you grab ahold with both hands of
faith and sit still with this in your lap looking at it, believing
it. Here it is. Thou shalt not see
evil anymore. That's what God said. Now you
sit down and you grab ahold of that morsel of food and you eat
it. Be still. God says, I know my thoughts
towards you, thoughts of peace, and I will not turn away from
them to do them what? Good. Believer in Christ, even
though we cannot see how God will come Good will come from our sorrows
and afflictions. We must be still. We must be
silent. Now this does not mean we should...
If you're sick, go to a doctor. That's not what it's saying.
It's not sit in your little room and be idle. That's not what
it's saying. In that same passage in Zephaniah chapter 3, He said
don't let your hands hang down. Don't quit working, don't quit
praising, don't quit worshipping God. Matter of fact, in the midst
of your trials, we should be intensely worshipping God. We
should not be idle, but we should not be striving against the providence
of God, but rather, resting in it. Knowing that this is not
for our evil. Look at this next thing. Go back
to your text. Look at this next thing. He says, Be still and
what? Know that I am God. Believer in Christ, if God is
God, if God is almighty and all-knowing and all-just and all-loving and
all-merciful, if He is our God, then what in the world do we
have to fear? If God be for us, what's the
rest? Who shall be against us? Who
shall be against us? To the believer we must take
comfort and peace in our hearts. If God is our God, who then shall
stand against him who desires our good? And notice this, he
says this, I... Let me see if I can get back to my
text here. In verse 10, he says this, know that I'm God. I will
be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. This is a faithful promise to
us that whatever happens, whatever dark providences, whatever difficulties
in this life, it is not only for our good, but it is for the
glory of God. I want you to really understand
this. I've got a lot of notes on this,
but I want you to grab this. I'm just going to give it to
you out straight. Don't you realize that your salvation is tied to
the glory of God? Just as much as you are in Christ,
the glory of God is tied to your salvation. In other words, if
anyone of God's elect is not saved, the glory of God fails. In Ephesians chapter 1, how many
times did he say that? I don't have it written down,
but I read it several times. Ephesians chapter 1. Listen,
our election, verse 6, is under the praise of the glory of His
grace. Our redemption in Christ is according to the riches of
His grace, having made known the mystery of His will according
to the good pleasure of His purpose in Himself. Verse 12, that we
should be to the praise of His glory. Don't you see that everything
is to the praise of His glory? All our salvation from start
to finish is according to His glory? And so then, God says, listen,
I will be exalted. My glory will be exalted. Psalm
76 and verse 10 says, Surely, without a doubt, without debate,
the wrath of man shall praise Him, and the remainder of wrath
He shall restrain. You know this, that everything
is working for the glory of God? Everything, even the wrath of
man, even the hatred of man, even the hatred of devils, even
the work of evil men, all of it is working according to God's
will. You remember God did that at
the cross, didn't he? He said, you, by the determined
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you, by wicked hands, are
taken and crucified. They did what they wanted to,
but in doing so, they were doing exactly what God determined.
So then, in all your dark providences, see this, that God is running
the show, friends, and He will be exalted. And if it doesn't
exalt God, listen, it won't happen. Whatever is happening to us is
for the glory of God. And God says, I'm going to be
exalted. I am. I'm going to be lifted
up by whatever it is that's taking place. I'm going to be exalted
in the earth. Everything that man desires to
do but is allowed or restrained or done is for the glory of God. And when it's all finished, And
time is no more when eternity dawns in all men. Those who are
in Christ will forever glorify God and give glory to Him. And even those in hell will submit
and recognize that all things were for His glory. Therefore,
believer, what have you to fear? Now, I don't know if I've got
over my time, but there are five things I need to give you. Five
lessons, five things that every believer should understand. I'll
give them to you as quickly as I can. Five things for everyone
who is saved by the grace of God. For us to be God's children,
we have entirely too many fears. Since God said, fear thou not,
for I am with thee. Be not confused. Be not dismayed. For I am thy God, I will strengthen
thee, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee by the right
hand of my righteousness." We fear entirely too much seeing
that we are saved according to the purpose of God. Seeing we
are in union with Christ, we have too many fears. Isn't that
true? We have too many fears. Secondly,
we have too much anxiety and worry. entirely too much. We worry too much about earthly
and material things when the Word of God simply says, My God
shall supply all your needs according to what? Here's the source, His
riches in glory by Jesus Christ. In other words, whatever He earned
is yours. So, Jesus said take no anxious
thought of your life. And yet, we entirely take too
much anxious thought. Friends, I promise you, I'm preaching
more to your pastor than I'm preaching to you. These things
are things that I'm preaching to myself. I have entirely too
many anxious thoughts. Number three, we have entirely
too much doubts concerning the mercy and love and grace of God. How often do we spend so much
time saying, will he forgive me? Has he left me? Oh, I'm afraid it's past gone. Entirely too many times. When he said, I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of My hand." If He said that, then what do
we doubt His love? How can we doubt love? I can
doubt my love, because my love is weak, my faith is weak, but
how can I doubt His love for me? We spend too much time grumbling
and complaining instead of trusting God's providence. John 16, 33, These things have
I spoken unto you, that ye might have peace. Listen, in the world
you're going to have tribulation. But be of good cheer, I have
overcome the world. Troubles to us should be a strange
thing. It should not be a strange thing.
We must be tried as gold is tried. We must be put through the furnace
of affliction. Too many times at the first sign
of trouble cries the old man, why me? Why me? Murmuring and
complaining just like Israel did. The song, one of the hymn
writers said this, shall I be carried to the skies on flowery
beds of ease while others fought to win the prize and sail through
bloody seas? Why not me? That's a question
we should be asking, why not me? What's a remedy? Be still and
know that I'm God. Number five, we are too much
attached to this present life. have too much fear, too much
doubt, too much anxiety, and we have too much of an attachment
to this life. Seeing that what it lays in store
for us in the next life is so far above this life, why do we
spend so much time holding on to this one and not looking forward
to the next one? The only way to escape such doubts
and fears and grumblings and attachments to this world in
this present life is by being still and looking to Christ. Let me ask you this question,
and I heard it long ago from someone else. Is it safe to trust
God? Trust in the Lord with all your
heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge
Him and He shall direct your path. Is it safe to do that? Let me ask you this. Is it safe
not to? I'll tell you, it's safe to trust. Remember, I'm going to give you
an illustration of this. Remember in the Old Testament, there were
three times a year, those people were supposed to leave, those
men were supposed to leave their villages, leave their homes,
leave their wealth, and go worship God. And God says, when you are
gone, I won't even put it in their heart to touch your stuff. And that happened every time.
Is it safe to trust God with everything? Not just your soul.
I'm talking about your money, your time, your wealth, your
health, your family. Everything is safe. Listen, it's
not safe to not trust Him. It's safe to trust Him. What
about when these dark providences come? I'm going to close with
this illustration. You remember when God led those
people out of Egypt, He put them in that entangled position. They
had the sea before them, the mountains to this side, and the
desert to this side, and Pharaoh was caught on their trail. And
what was the first thing they did? They murmured. They feared,
and then they murmured, the Scripture says. Isn't that the first thing
we do? Fear and murmur, fear and murmur.
What is His answer? Stand still. Be still. and see
the salvation of God. And you remember what happened.
That pillar of fire, pillar of cloud moved from before them
and took behind them. How many times does God remove
His presence from before our face and put us behind Him? And you don't know what's happening. What was God doing? Without their
understanding and knowledge, He was protecting them. He was
saving them, and they didn't even know it. What is God doing
when you don't know something? He's saving you. Why? It's His
purpose. It's His purpose. And so in the dark providence
of God, find comfort in this. Christ is your refuge. You're
as safe as Christ is in God. You are safe in Christ. And this
is our refreshment. Here it is. The work of God.
It's His purpose. It's His plan. It's His will
to save you. What is your part? Be still and
know that I'm God. Trust me. Believe me. I will deliver you. I will save
you. And nothing can stop me. I will
be exalted in the earth. I will be. That's God's promise.