Verse 1 begins with these words,
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. It's a real tragedy of much religious
activity in our generation that would revise this verse to read,
not unto you, O Lord, not unto you, but unto us give glory. But that's not what the psalmist
is saying. He's saying, not unto us, as every humble child of
God will say, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name
give glory. Why? for thy mercy and for thy
truth's sake." And obviously, the psalmist is
having a little uneasiness feeling about the
loudmouthed heathen. He says, wherefore should the
heathen say? Why do they have the right to
say, how is it they're allowed to say, where is now their God? Verse 3 tells us, but our God
is in the heavens. That's where He is. And the rest
of verse 3 does not say what a lot of people believe. He hath
done what little bit He is able to do. It doesn't say that. It says He hath done whatsoever
He hath pleased. Oh yes, that's Him, that's who
He is. Numerous times we've Well, not numerous. I know two
or three times we've preached from further on in this psalm
about the heathens' idols of silver and gold. They're the
work of men's hands. They create their own gods, make
them idols. And of course, to make a statue
or a or a model, an idol, went on
and said, they've got mouths, but they can't talk. And they've got ears, but they
can't hear. And feet, but they can't walk. Dead, idol gods. And the psalmist is asking, wherefore
Should the heathen say, where's our God at? He's in the heavens. He hath
done whatsoever he hath pleased. Many years ago now, the Russian
cosmonauts went up into space and they came back saying, we
didn't see any evidence of any God. This God people claim to believe
in. We didn't see any evidence of
Him. That's the heathen. We're not concerned with what
the heathens say. But this morning in the minds
and hearts and struggles of all the Lord's people, it's pretty easy sometimes to
lapse into that feeling Where is God anyhow? He doesn't seem to be on the
scene. He doesn't seem to be even aware
of what's happening to me. I need him so much, but he doesn't
seem to be anywhere around. Where is now their God? Where is God? Well, God is everywhere. The heaven of heavens cannot
contain him. And as I've thought about this
question for a few hours now, a few days now, I just want to
share with you seven places that God is. This is very simple. But it's very needful and can
be very precious in your heart and life in days to come. This would mean nothing to unbelievers,
but to God's children, we're assured that we cannot be out
of His presence. So the first one, number one,
we have a God that is with us. We refer to this quite often. We run across it in scripture
quite often. Perhaps the most familiar is
in the 23rd Psalm in verse 4, I will fear no evil and why? For thou art with me. The Lord said in Isaiah 41 10,
fear not. For I am with thee. The Lord promised Moses when
he sent him to Egypt, certainly I will be with thee. Later, he told Joshua, as I was
with Moses, I will be with thee. So our God emphasizes that he
is with his people. Matthew 28, 20, Lo, I am with
you always, even to the end of the world. He promised in Hebrews 13, 5,
I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. These several scriptures
I've given where the Lord promises His presence with us. Now the
question, is God's promise worth anything? Is it worth anything to you? Is it worth more to you than
your feelings? Your feelings fluctuate. Your
feelings will deceive you, but his promise is sure. He who cannot lie has promised.
I am with thee. Thought about how that we've
all been forsaken by some friend, someone we trusted. And we say,
well, I thought surely so-and-so would be with me in this. I never thought they would turn
and turn on me. I thought they'd be here. Well,
the Lord will be here. He promised He would. He has
been. He is and He will be. We can't
meditate too much on this blessed truth. Thank Him for His presence. Talk to Him for He's present
with you. So that's the first place God
is. He says, I am with thee. Number two, He is above us. above
us. Deuteronomy 4.39, the Lord, he
is God in heaven above. First Chronicles 29.12, thou
reignest over all. Ephesians 1.21, he is far above
all principality and power. Isaiah 66, 1, he said, the heaven
is my throne and the earth my footstool. God is above us. And not just in location, but
in wisdom, in knowledge, in understanding, he knows all, he sees all, he's
above us. How foolish to have the attitude
of, boy, I wish God knew about where I'm at. He does. He does. He's above us. Through the years, I've fished
in these mountain streams all over this county and Transylvania
County and Greenville County. And sometimes
you find yourself in a stream and you look up and you're really
in a low place. I mean, it's steep over here,
it's steep over here. I mean, it's not a good time
to decide to get out. And it's especially fearful when
it's on up in the evening. It feels like dark's coming on. And you make some pretty quick
moves and you start climbing out of there. And sometimes an
hour, you top the ridge and it's lighter. It wasn't as near dark
as you thought it was. It's a better feeling. Well,
our God is up there all the time. He sees everything. In our lives, things can get
dark, and we don't see what's going on. We don't understand
it, and we even fear it. But we can be sure that our God
is above us. He's on top of it. Sees all,
knows all, infinite in wisdom, knowledge, power. Number three,
our God is beneath us. Deuteronomy 33 verse 27 says
this, the eternal God is that refuge and underneath are the
everlasting arm. Why do we need God beneath us? Well, when it seems the bottom
has fallen out, and there's no firm place to
stand, and your life is all messed up, and everything's going wrong,
we need the Lord beneath us, and He's there. underneath are
the everlasting arms to uphold. Need a firm foundation. He is
that foundation. He's beneath us. No matter how strong a man is, if he walks into quicksand, he's
in trouble. No matter how smart or influential or whatever he
thinks he's got going for him. If he walks into quicksand, he
needs help outside himself. This world we live in is like
quicksand. You can't stand on your own.
We're no match for our adversary, the devil. But our God who is
beneath us upholds us underneath are the
everlasting arms, especially in our day and time. It seems
that wickedness prevails with no end, no limit. There's so
much injustice in our society. There's so many situations where there's no compassion,
no caring. It's just dog eat dog. But we have the Lord beneath
us to catch us, to uphold us in our weakness and in our falling. In a previous chapter, Deuteronomy
32, we read about the mother eagle with the little ones learning
to fly. And it said, she stirreth up
her nest. She tires up the nest to get
them out of it. Little ones would just want to
stay there in the safety of the nest and under the protection
of the mother eagle. But no, she tires up the nest
deliberately to get them out of it. She made it with some thorns
underneath. And she brushes aside the soft
stuff where they can't stay in there on thorns. The Lord is good at tearing up
your nest and my nest to make us move. And then she literally
just about pushes them off the cliff to learn to fly. And they flounder and flop and
can't do it, and they're quickly headed to the bottom of the canyon
to plunge to their destruction. But with those broad wings and
speed, she swoops down. The Bible says, this is in Deuteronomy
32, you can go read it. And she buried them up on her
wings, swoops in on her. And she carries them up to do
it all over again till they learn to fly. Underneath are the everlasting
arms. The Lord does that for every
one of us every day we live. But greater than that, He went
beneath us in the person of His Son. He went beneath us in our
sinful condition. He cared for our souls. He said
in the Psalm, Psalm 142, 4, no man cared for my soul. He endured the shame and the
suffering and the penalty of our sin. He went beneath us. So our God is with us. He is
above us. He is beneath us. Number four,
our God is before us. before us. Exodus 13 and verse
21, the Lord went before them. John 10 verse 4, He put forth
His own sheep and goeth before them. He went before us. into death
and conquered it. He went before us into the grave
and conquered it. In resurrection from the dead,
He went before us. Ascending back to glory, He's
gone before us. The book of Hebrews calls Him
our forerunner. the one who has gone before. In olden times, when a traveling
caravan, like a wagon train, they would have what they called
forerunners or scouts. They would go ahead and they
would remove any obstacles In the roadway, they'd look out
for dangers, for any trouble that lies ahead. Well, Jesus,
our forerunner has gone before us. He's removed every obstacle. All the children will make it
home safely. He's already entered the glory
we're destined to. He is before us. Number five, our God is behind
us. Exodus 14, 19 and the angel,
the Lord, which went before them removed and went behind them.
He does both. The pillar of clouds stood before
and behind them. The psalmist said in Psalm 139,
verse 5, thou hast beset me behind. In Psalm 23, 6, surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me, come along behind me all the days
of my life. Who do you think that goodness
and mercy is? It's our God behind us. In olden times, a traveling party
would have rear guards, men appointed to stay behind the main party. And they stayed back for numerous
reasons. to clean up the campsite, to restore things
as they were. If they'd been near a village
or town and done business, these men stayed behind to settle all
accounts, to pay any bills remaining. Our God comes behind us to clean
things up. Most of us have made a pretty
good mess of life. Hadn't done everything right. He cleans up. He pays up. He settles all accounts on behalf
of His children. Our God's behind us. Number six,
our God is around us, around us. Psalm 34, verse seven, the
angel of the Lord encampeth round about thee. Psalm 125, two, as
the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round
about his people. from henceforth even forever." Which way are you going to turn
that He's not there? You can't. He's around us. The Lord is around about His
people and He's not going to move henceforth even forever.
Psalm 32.10, He that trusteth in the Lord, mercy! shall compass him about." There's
not mercy on one side for God's children or two sides. There's
mercy on every side. Mercy shall compass him about. If you want to sit and whine
and look at yourself and the mess you've made and your faults
and failures that you've done and think, well, I'll never I'll
never be nothing. I'll never have anything. You're
spinning your wheels in that country. We're talking about
what kind of God we've got. He's had mercy on you, or you'd
be in hell right now. And his mercy compasseth us about,
no matter what happens to us in life. It's the father's fight. He takes care of his children. He's around us, around us. The saints of long ago used to
say every Christian is a Christ enclosed man. Picking up on Paul's emphasis
that we're in Christ, in Christ, in spite of anything and everything
and everybody, we're in Christ. What a blessed place. He's around
us. He's around us. And then number
seven, and lastly, this is most blessed, our God is within us. Within us. The promise of Ezekiel 36, 27,
and I will put my spirit within you. God, the Spirit, God, the Holy
Ghost lives in us. God is a Spirit, Father, Son,
Holy Ghost. He's a Trinity, Father, Son,
Spirit. John 4, 14, Jesus told the Samaritan
woman, whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give shall
never thirst, but the water which I give shall be in him a well
of water, springing up into everlasting life." Told the woman, this spiritual
water I'm talking about is not something you'll have to go and
draw and try to get yourself. It'll be in you, springing up
a well. John 14, 17, he's called the
Spirit of Truth. He dwelleth with you and shall
be in you. Acts chapter 2, when the day of Pentecost
was fully come, the Spirit came and indwelt and filled the hearts
of believers. Second Corinthians 6.16, ye are
the temple of the living God. as God hath said, I will dwell
in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. He lives in us. He lives in us. Ephesians 3.17, that Christ may
dwell in your hearts by faith. 1 John 4.15, whosoever shall
confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him. And he in God, he's within us. God is within us. Great English writer in the early
1900s named Herbert Lockyer. He said this, he said, our reason is staggered. We're just beside ourselves. Or as the song said, I stand
amazed. Our reason is staggered, and
yet our hearts satisfied by the truth that the Lord, by His Spirit,
has condescended to live within us. Our spirit has been made the
home of the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, God provided
a temple for his people. In grace, he has a people for
his temple. He lives in us. How privileged
we are to have God himself dwelling in our heart, subduing our sins,
increasing our wisdom, ripening our character, leading us up
and on. Surely the God within us is the
assurance of noblest blessedness. To have God not simply near,
but within the soul of our soul, it is the sublimest experience
of all. So there we have it. As God's
children, we are well fixed. Our God is with us. He's above
us. He's beneath us. He's before
us. He's behind us. He's around us
and he's within us. May God help us to live conscious
of this day by day. You say, oh, all that is just
so very simple. It really is. Then why can you
just, without any effort, ignore it? We're guilty of it. But hey, I repeat, may God help
us to live conscious of this blessed truth, day by day, that
He's with us. He's above us. He's beneath us
to uphold us. He's before us to show the way. He's behind us to protect us.
He's around us not to miss anything. And he's within us to cheer us
on, lead us and guide us day by day. Bless his Holy name.