Psalm 46, and the title of this
psalm is, To the Chief Musician for the Sons of Korah. As many
of these psalms that we've been reading here recently have been
addressed to the sons of Korah. A song upon Alamoth, that word
Alamoth means woman. It means young girl. We're not
sure exactly uh... what that uh... has referenced
to but uh... possibly uh... has referenced
to the uh... that this was a uh... hymn that
was given uh... psalm that was given specifically
for the young women to sing uh... you know the lord has made uh... the voices of people uh... different and of course not to
say that men can't sing the high parts of songs because they can
and they do uh... but and generally speaking when
you when you hear me and saying you hear a lower uh... voice uh... uh... more base tone
or more perhaps less melodious you might say a voice than that
which the lord has given to women and uh... the lord made a difference
between men and women in many ways and uh... we live in a society that seems
bent on of disregarding that. And, you know, every case and
everything that you can think of, it's just almost you wonder,
well, who's going to come up with something next? I mean,
you know, I've gotten to the place where nothing surprises
me anymore. I mean, it's just a total it's
an evidence of the rebellion of men in general, I would say
men, men and women, I'm talking about mankind, the natural rebellion
of men. And one latches on to it and
another gets it, and then it's like they all come together and
they say, well, you know, there's strength in numbers, so now we
can rise up just like when they built the Tower of Babel. And
they all came together and said, well, nothing can stop us now,
we'll just build a tower to heaven. And so that is what you see,
you know, all around us. And may the Lord deliver us from
it. And may we ever know that God made male and female. I mean, that's what the scripture
plainly says that he did, and that's what he set forth. And there are those things that
are different between the two, and they never can be the same,
and they're not intended to be the same. And may the Lord's
word be our point of refuge, even as this Psalm goes on to
begin. God is our refuge and strength. a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though
the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. The streams whereof shall 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. The earth
melted. The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works
of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He
maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh
the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot
in the fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Now, if you notice there,
this psalm is actually like a hymn that has two verses with a chorus. And the two verses, the chorus
is, the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge,
selah. It says that in verse seven,
and then he repeats it again in verse 11. The Lord of hosts
is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge, selah. And so, this is a... A glorious psalm often read at
funerals in times of trouble and sorrow. But, you know, and
surely it is our something to rely upon when we have trouble. But yet, that's not the only
time that God is indeed our strength. He's our refuge and our strength.
Now, we could just stop there. God is our refuge and our strength. We didn't say anything else.
Now, he goes on to say there, a very present help in trouble. He's not a late help, but He's
a present help. That doesn't mean that God is
Johnny-on-the-spot preventing our troubles, but He does not
forsake us in the midst of our troubles. Now sometimes it may
seem that He is. Sometimes it may seem that He's
slow in coming. But as the prophet said, that
weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. The Lord is holding His children
in the palm of His hand. He loves His children with an
everlasting love, and He'll never forsake them, but He'll always
be that one who will hold them up, even in such times as they
wander. You know, the Lord has to bring
us often to that place where we don't think He is going to
help us, so that when He does help us, we realize that He was
always helping us. You know, we kind of sometimes,
in our weakness and fear, just like the disciples, when the
Lord slept in the ship, we sometimes say, well, Lord, I mean, what's
going to happen? Are you just going to let us be destroyed?
Don't you care anything about us? He didn't care any more about
them whenever He awoke out of His sleep than He did when He
was sleeping. You see, His love for them was constant. And even
though they didn't see that, see, we think of things in the
now, we're impatient as it were. But the Lord is a very present
help in trouble. He is that one who is ever with
us in the midst of our trouble. Therefore, will not we fear though
the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea? Now that's, as it goes on even
in this next verse, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,
though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, we won't
be afraid, even if these things. There's a song we sing that's
kind of like that. Safe in the arms of Jesus, safe
in the shepherd's fold. Safe. How's that go? Yeah. then scramble save the
stars grow dim under the blood of Jesus I'm secure in Him. That's right. And so it doesn't
matter what happens to this earth. Now, we're tied to the earth. It's the only place we know about.
But the scripture speaks of the earth as something that is a
temporary place. Now men, you know, again I believe
this is just a part of man's rebellion. This, the idea that
we're going to preserve the earth. You know, we're going to keep
the climate from changing, and if there's an asteroid or something
that's fixing to hit Earth, we're going to keep that from happening,
and we're just going to preserve the Earth. And then if we can't
do that, you know, we're going to go and inhabit some other
planet somewhere. Well, you know, I'm not saying
that men won't ever go to another planet, but the Scripture says
the Lord made the Earth to what? Be inhabited. Now he might have
made Mars to be inhabited, but it doesn't tell us so in the
scriptures. It says he made the earth to be inhabited. And so
the earth is the place that the Lord gave us. The earth and the
fullness thereof belonging to the Lord, he gave it to men.
The Scripture says that He created man in His own image. Now much
has been made out of that, I think in a wrong way, but I believe
that when the Scripture says that the Lord made man in His
own image, it primarily has reference to the fact that God put man
in the earth as the dominant creature in the earth. and gave
him dominion, the scripture says so, over all the earth. And in
that fashion, man is made in the image of God. That is, he
is a God over this world. I mean, the scripture says, in
one place, year God. And so in that way in which we
have dominion over the earth and we are made in the image
of God. But certainly when it says we
are made in the image of God, it does not mean that we are
like deity or we are somehow or other. special in the sense
that we have an intrinsic worth of our own. The only worth we
have is what God has been pleased to give us. He made us worthy
because it pleased Him to do so. And what is man that thou
art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou didst visit
him? Why did He make us being lower than the angels, why did
He exalt us above the angels? because it pleased Him, not because
of something that's in us. You know, people talk about,
oh, well, we have a creative nature. Man doesn't have a creative
nature, except as God is pleased to give him the ability to make
things and do things. But where does the wisdom and
understanding to do it? It's like Basaliel and the holy
bar. How did they get to know how
to do these things? Because God taught them how to
do these things. Men can't come up with anything.
Men talk about, well, we're going to come up with the cure for
cancer. Well, man won't ever come up
with a cure for cancer. God may show men the cure for
cancer. And some man might say, well,
buddy, I came up with it. I'm smarter than everybody else.
No, he won't be smarter than everybody else. He'll just be
blessed to be the one that the Lord showed that to men through.
But all of these things We will not fear, though the earth be
removed, because we know who it is that made the earth." See,
we're not worried, at least I'm not, I mean maybe y'all are,
some of you, I don't know, about climate change and all this stuff
we're hearing and unfortunately is being drummed into the ears
of our children in the public school systems of this country. I was listening to something
on the radio yesterday about some of that stuff. It's almost
a form of brainwashing. The other side of that coin is
not being allowed to be said because that doesn't fit. The
model. And it's all a part of man's
natural rebellion against what this psalm is talking about.
We'll not fear if the oceans rise and cover the earth. We'll not fear. Noah, the Lord
preserved him, did he not? Why did he preserve him? Because
he loved him. And he kept him. And so if the
Lord causes the oceans to, the polar ice caps to melt and the
oceans to rise and all that stuff, we'll not fear. Because we know
this, that it is in the purpose of Almighty God to do it. And
if he would have us to build a wall around the country to
keep the water from coming in, we'll build a wall around the
country. But we won't worry about those things. Though the earth
be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of
the sea. Now what does that mean? It means that the mountains won't
be the mountains anymore. Now, when Noah, when he was in
the ark, Scripture says that the waters covered the earth.
There wasn't any land to be appeared. Now, some people say, well, that's
just not possible, that the water ever got that deep. Well, the
Scripture says it does. So it doesn't make any difference
to me if men can figure out how it was. The fountains of the
deep, were opened up. In fact, I was reading something
the other day, and this was some scientist, and they weren't necessarily
trying to promote anything other than they were talking about
the fact of the amount of water that's still down in the earth,
and if all that water came to the top, then it would cover
the earth. And these weren't men that were trying to prove
the flood. They were just saying that's just the way that it is. God made it that way. And so
we won't worry about those things, because our trust is in the Lord,
whether the mountains fall into the sea, whether the earth be
removed, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though
they rise and cover us. Now, you know, it would be amazing,
would it not, if one of these politicians stood up and just
read this passage of Scripture and just said, that the climate can be altered
by anything that men do, nor can they keep the ocean from
rising. God has set the bounds of its
habitation that it cannot pass. Now that doesn't mean that it
may not go from where it is now, but if whatever the bounds of
the rising of that water has been set, has been set by Almighty
God, and even if it covers the mountains, The seas roar, and
the earth be troubled by it, though the mountains shake with
the swelling thereof." The swelling of what? The swelling of the
water. I mean, dear brethren, the Scripture
has answers to all things. These are not things that men
need to be concerned about because there's nothing you're going
to do about those things, even though you might think you can.
And of course, it's just all foolishness. Again, that arises
out of the rebellion of man's heart, but God's people are called
upon and are called to trust him. They can't do anything else.
Not in men or any government program that's gonna prevent
some of these things from happening. There is a river. Now this is
the river that we're interested in. I'm not interested in the
Gulf of Mexico. I mean, it's a beautiful thing.
I'm thankful that the Lord made the Gulf of Mexico like it is,
but I'm not, that's not the water that I'm interested in. Suwannee
River, I like the Suwannee River. I like the Itchtucknee River.
And I like all of that. I like to see that, it's beautiful.
But that's not the river that the people of God are concerned
with. Here it is, there is a river.
The streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy
place of the tabernacles of the Most High. See, that's the river,
that river that flows out from the throne of God. Remember,
one of the prophets, I don't remember if it was Zechariah,
I believe it was, who talked about that, or Ezekiel, maybe
it was, said that the water was flowing, you know, out of that
city, and he got in it and it flowed and it kept getting deeper
and deeper as he went in it. That's the river, you see, that
flows out from the throne of God. That's the one that we're
interested in. And we know that's not, we're
not talking about literal water, we're talking about the blessing
of God. We're talking about the goodness of God. As He's pleased
to meet with His people, God's in the midst of her. She shall
not be moved, and God shall help her in that right early. These
streams shall make glad the city of God." See, the people of God
are glad for that stream that flows out. The world never can
be, because the world's preoccupied with the world. But God's people
are preoccupied with the God of all glory and grace and blessing. And He's that one who sends out
that river. God is in the midst of her. She
shall not be moved. Though the mountains crumble,
the seas roar, God's people shall not be moved. He's in the midst
of that holy place, the tabernacles of the Most High. Now the Scripture
says that the Lord inhabiteth eternity. and with that man with
a broken and contrite heart. You see, the Lord inhabits eternity,
but He also inhabits His people. He dwells with His people. He
keeps His people in the palm of His hand. He loves His people.
And she shall not be moved. God's in the midst of her. God
shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged. The
kings were moved. That's not the way it is. Heathen
raids, even today. I mean, you get up and tell folks,
some of these people, there's no such thing as man-made global
warming. And see what happens. You already
see what happens. I mean, they get mad as fire. I mean, they're ready to kill
you. I mean, because the world is going to be destroyed because
of you. And the heathen raged. But what
difference does that make to us? The heathen raged. They have
always raged. Unbelievers have always raged
against the light. They hate the light. They don't
want to dwell in the light. They want their own way. The
heathen raged. The kingdoms were moved. But
he uttered his voice and the earth melted. Now the scripture
says that the Lord is coming and he's coming with flaming
fire, taking vengeance on those that know not God. And Peter
said that the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Now I don't know what the picture
of that, I don't know if that is, I believe it is a literal
description of the final day when the Lord comes to judge
the earth. I believe that it is indeed that
the elements, that is those things that you and I see, these things
are gonna melt. They're gonna be destroyed with
a fervent heat. They're gonna cease to be. It
says right there, He uttered His voice and the earth melted.
That is, it no longer had its form. The earth was without form
and void before the Lord caused it to be what it is. And He's
going to bring it back to that place. The Lord of hosts is with
us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.
See, that's the refrain. We've sung the verse, now we're
gonna sing the refrain. This is it. The Lord of hosts
is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.
The same one that met with Jacob and called him out of that country
that he was in, met with him. The scripture said, Jacob have
I loved, but he saw have I hated. And so the God of Jacob is our
God. He's not a different one. He's
the God of Abraham. He's the God of Isaac. He's the
God of his people in all ages. The God of Jacob is our refuge,
say law. We don't take refuge in other
gods. Now, the world has many gods. In fact, the world believes that
just any god will do. I mean, really and truly, this
is primarily what all of our politicians, basically, what
they believe is that it does not really matter which god you
choose, just choose one and go worship it. In other words, you
need to have faith in something. Well, that's not worth anything,
according to what the Bible says, because faith that is not in
the God of Jacob is in the wrong God. He's the God of all gods. He's
the King of all kings. He is that One whom He is pleased
to cause His people to worship. He is our refuge. Come behold
the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. I
mean, he's made it empty and void. Just go look at the Sahara
Desert. If you don't believe in desolation,
go look at that. I mean, that's a desolate place.
Go look at the South Pole. I mean, that's a desolate place.
I mean, there's desolations in the earth. That is, the Lord
just stripped them bare. and he can do it at any time,
any place on earth that he wants to. I was reading this morning
about, I'm sure you've probably heard of this and read of it
back in 1909, I think it was, and it was on this day in 1909,
June the 30th, 1909, that they assume, they don't really know
what it was, but there was a gigantic meteor that exploded over the
forest in Russia. And it, I think it was 500,000
acres of the forest, of course this was out in a desolate place,
that it flattened that. Can you imagine? I mean that,
I mean, we would, I don't know what would happen if that happened
nowadays, people would go into complete panic, you know, they
would, they'd go, no, global warming has finally come or something
or whatever. That happened, but the Lord made
that place desolate, bang, just like that, with just a little
old... We don't know what. They think it was a meteor. It
might have been just the hand of the Lord. I mean, we know
it was the hand of the Lord. Whatever He chose to do to use
it. But the Lord come behold the works of the Lord. See, when
we see things like that, rather than We're primarily about the
science behind it. We ought to best marvel what
God did in the moment in the twinkling of an eye. When the
tsunami hit over there and wherever it was and killed all those people.
Where was it? Sri Lanka. I mean that was a
terrible thing, was it not? But you know, for the people
of God, there's one thing that we can say, it was according
to the will of God. I mean, He brought that to pass.
Now, I don't know for what His reason was specifically or all
of that, but I know there's not one thing that a man could have
done at any point in time in history to have prevented that.
Couldn't do it. The Lord. behold the works of
the Lord what desolations he hath made in the earth now look
listen to this he maketh wars to cease now diplomats think
they do you remember back when though uh... jimmy carter he
was uh... he had brought in a lasting peace
over there in the middle east remember how long that last it
lasted about six months i think and then they were back at it
again And the Lord said, He said, there will be wars and rumors
of wars till the time of the end. Now, should we try to have
peace? The Scripture says, seek peace
and pursue it. You know, we ought to be working
for peace. I'm glad when countries are trying
to work together for peace, but I don't hold out any hope for
it. I don't have any expectations that they will, because until
the Lord is pleased to bring peace, and how does He do it?
The Lord maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth, He
breaketh the bone. He takes away the power of the
powerless. Now, you know, we live in a country
that prides itself on being the most powerful nation on earth.
And well, we may be. Maybe we got the most advanced
weapons and all of that stuff, but I'm telling you this, if
the Lord is pleased, they wouldn't want one of those bombs go off.
You ever had a shell that you put in a gun and pull the trigger? I mean, it wasn't any different
than any other, and you've shot them a hundred times just like
it, and you put one in the gun, and you pull the trigger, and
it just clicks and don't go off. Why is that? Well, I know there's
probably some rational explanation people could bring up and figure
why it didn't do, but I'm telling you just in the same fashion,
the Lord can cause the most powerful nation on earth to be humbled
before Him. He can break their bow. Take
it away. Cause it not to work. Now, I've
never done any bow hunting or shooting a bow and arrow, but
just think if you were fixing to, you had that big buck in
your sights and you had that thing to throw back and ready
to shoot and the bow broke, what would happen? You wouldn't get
the deer, would you? But the Lord is able to break
the bow and He will. When it pleases Him, He breaketh
the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder, He burneth the chariot
in the fire. Old Pharaoh found out, didn't
he? They were powerful. They were going to get these
rights. They kind of hoodwinked them,
they felt like, and they were going to go bring them back.
But the most powerful army on earth was swallowed up according
to the good pleasure of God. He burneth the chariot in the
fire. Be still and know that I am God. See, that's the place,
that's the privilege that's given. to those who've been given an
understanding of who God is. And he said, be still. Just like
Moses told those children of Israel when they stood there
on the banks of the Red Sea and the army's coming, a big cloud
of dust back there, and he said, oh no, what are we gonna do? We got out of Egypt and here
we are now, they're gonna come and they're gonna kill us. And
Moses said, stand still. and see the salvation of the
Lord. The Lord said, Be still and know
that I am God. Don't worry about the things
that you can't do anything about. Wait upon the Lord. They that
wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount
up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they
shall walk and not faint. Or they shall walk and not be
weary, they shall run and not faint. You see, the Lord is the
salvation of His people. Dear brethren, we don't need
to be frightened about all these things that are going on in the
world. Don't need to be, you know, but
we need to be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But brethren,
our confidence is not in the things that men do or can do.
Our confidence is in Him. And He says, be still and know
that I am God. Same thing He said to Moses. He said, I am. I am God. I will be exalted among the heathens. It's going to be. Every knee
shall bow and every tongue shall confess. He will be exalted. We may not see the manifestation
of that in our lifetime, in the totality of it. But dear brethren,
He's already brought it to pass because He has, He says that
He has brought captivity captive. He has made a show openly of
all of His enemies. He has triumphed over them. And
He is that One who will be exalted. Why did the Lord create the earth?
That His name might be exalted. Why do we preach the Gospel?
That His name might be exalted. Why do we go about living our
lives? That His name might be exalted.
See, be still and know that He's God. Pause. Consider it. The Lord of hosts, and we're
going to sing the refrain again, the Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge, say Lord. He is that God who
is above all God. It's always a blessing to me
to read David's consideration as he spoke about those that
have gods that see not, They have ears that they don't hear. But he said, but our God is in
the heavens. He hath done whatsoever he hath
pleased. Now that might not always be
pleasing to us, but it's always pleasing to him. And he said,
be still and know that I am God. Even when you don't like something,
be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen
and among my people. I am the Lord, and there is none
else. I am God, and there is none like
me. Oh, that he might be worshiped,
and that we might every day, when we consider that this one
who brings desolations in the earth, is the same one that sent
his only begotten son into the world to die for sinners. Didn't need to. Didn't have to. Nobody could have said anything
if he didn't. But he did. And that's the glorious thing
as we consider this one who does all these things and yet is full
of mercy. and to those whom he loves, and
saved as such as be of a broken and contrite heart. Those that
come to him, those that call upon him, he will not desert
to our foes.