SUMMER IN THE PSALMS: Psalm 46

Chris McCurley: Yeah. Imagine this. You're living in the ancient world, and the largest and the most feared and the best equipped and the best trained army in the world is at your doorstep, so to speak. They are camped around your city. And this army has been unstoppable. No one has been able to defend against them. No one has really been even close. And so you hope against hope. And you pray and you wait. But the fear of the people around you, you can almost feel it. It's palpable. Because really deep down you all know it's not a matter of if you're going to be killed. It's a matter of when, how soon. And then you wake up one morning to find the armies gone. They didn't leave. They're dead. Turn with me if you would to 2 Kings chapter 18. 2 Kings chapter 18. Now we don't know this for sure, but quite a lot of Bible-believing scholars believe that Psalm 46 was written against the backdrop of that scenario I just described. That scenario is the failed siege of Jerusalem by Sennacherib. Now, Sennacherib was the king of Assyria, and he had conquered much of the known world at the time, including all of the fortified cities of Judah, and he makes it clear that Jerusalem is his next target. And so he encamps around the city, he lays siege to the city, and with them surrounded, he begins to sort of try to mess with their confidence and their faith. And he begins to try to shake their faith in their king, King Hezekiah. Begin with me, if you would, verse 28 of 2 Kings chapter 18. Then the Rabshekah, the Assyrian messenger, stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah, Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria. Thus says the king. Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you out of my hand. And do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, The Lord will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, make your peace. Peace with me and come out to me. And then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The Lord will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations ever delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and are Where are the gods of Sephiravaeim, Hina, and Eva, have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand? And so he says, Hezekiah is deceiving you and making you think that God can save your land out of the king of Assyria's hand. And he he tries to get them to surrender because of this. And he tries to even sweeten the deal a little bit as he says, you know, I'm going to let you stay in your own land for a little while. And you're going to get to, you know, eat your own fruit and drink your own water and be in your own land. And then after a while, I'm going to come and I'm going take you away to another land. But it's going to be a prosperous and a good land. And you're going to live in peace and you're going to be happy. And there's going to be no bloodshed. Now I can imagine hearing this as a Jew in Jerusalem at the time, as the armies of Assyria have you surrounded. That had to sound like a pretty good deal. And Hezekiah kind of despairs over the hopelessness of this situation. And the prophet Isaiah is sent to reassure him. Then Sennacherib sends another message straight to King Hezekiah this time, trying to shake his faith in God. It's verse 10 of chapter 19, 2 Kings. He tells his messenger, Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah, king of Judah. Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. And behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them? The nations that my fathers destroyed? Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who are in Telesar? Where's the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hina, or the king of Eva? So he tries to shake Hezekiah's faith in God. He tries to make this look like a false confidence that he has. And you can think about the fear of the people in Jerusalem, as they perhaps begin to wonder, do Isaiah and Hezekiah really know what they're talking about? I mean, this king, for the second time, has given them this list of names of nations and kings, which I'm certain I've pronounced all of them perfectly. And he he says, their gods didn't deliver them. They trusted that their gods were going to save them and they didn't. What makes you think that you're different? What makes your God better than these gods that I destroyed? Look at Hezekiah's response. Verse 14. Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. And Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see, and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the Work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O Lord, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone. You can see the faith of Hezekiah come through here as he prays in desperation and hopelessness to God to save him. Isaiah is sent one more time to reassure him that God will save him, and look how it turns out. Verse 35. And that night. The angel of the Lord went out and struck down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. And then Sennacherib departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nizroch his god, Adramelech and Sharaz or his sons struck him down with the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhad and his son reigned in his place. I can only imagine what Sennacherib is thinking. I mean, he's sort of playing these mind games with them and trying to shake their confidence and get them to surrender. But he's not bluffing. He really has taken all of these kings and all of these nations, and he really does think these people can't stop him. And so he goes to sleep one night, thinking that Jerusalem is just another city, that Yahweh is just another God. And he wakes up to complete silence, where there should have been the sounds of an army. And he looks around, and there are dead bodies as far as the eye can see. What a powerful story of God's deliverance. And it certainly merits a song of praise like we find in Psalm forty-six. Turn there with me if you would. Psalm forty-six. Let's read that. Psalm forty-six. The Psalmist writes, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. There is a river, whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter, he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes war cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots with fire. 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 is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. You know, it's been said safety consists not in the absence of danger, but in the presence of God. Throughout this psalm, the psalmist emphasizes the power of God to save his people, even from the very worst of circumstances. And he begins this way God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. God, he begins, is our refuge in strength. God protects us from whatever or whoever would threaten us. He's our shelter, our hiding place, our safe place. He's where we run when we're in trouble. And God is our strength. Where does our strength come from? Well, it doesn't come from our own armies, our own weapons, our own power. Our strength is God. God is our strength. And He's a very present help in trouble. See, God's people don't have to go searching for Him when we need Him. We don't have to go looking. He's right there. He's very present to help us whenever we need it. And because of this, the psalmist can say, therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way, and though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea. You see, this illustration can seem a little strange to us. The earth giving way and the mountains being moved into the heart of the sea. What does that refer to? We don't really have a point of reference for that. I think it has something to do with how the ancient people viewed the world. You see, they thought that the earth was a flat disk, a sort of circle. And that the sky was this solid dome that held back waters above it. And that there were also waters below the earth, a sort of ocean below the earth. And that's why we think, that's why, in Genesis we see, and the Lord set the expanse of the sky and he separated the waters above from the waters below. But what they believed, and what's important here, is that the earth was held up by these pillars that reached down to the bottom of the ocean below. And so it seems like what's being described here is if these pillars were to break and the earth was to just become one big sinkhole, crashing into these waters below, the earth giving way and the mountains being moved into the heart of the sea. And so what he's trying to depict here is the worst catastrophe, the worst tragedy that we could imagine. Even though the earth itself is dropping out from beneath our feet and crashing into these waters below, there's no reason to be afraid if God is with us. And so if we have God, it doesn't really matter what we're going through. It doesn't matter how big the danger appears. We have no need to be afraid. He continues talking about these waters. Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling, there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. So he continues here with this idea of catastrophe, right? Describing these violent and rushing and rising waters that are causing these natural disasters seems like earthquakes, the mountains trembling at the swelling of the waters. But then he contrasts this with this peaceful river. The river whose streams make glad the city of God. See, it doesn't matter. the catastrophe outside, the tragedy that's going on outside, because the river of God's peace is flowing through the through the middle, through the midst of his people, in the midst of a chaotic and crazy and scary world. And so, if you will, it doesn't matter if there's a siege going on outside the walls. Because God is inside with us. And so nothing that happens, the idea is, in the chaos of this world, would ever shake our faith in the God who is in control. He continues, God is in the midst of her, his city. She shall not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter. He utters his voice, and the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. God is with his people. And since God cannot be moved, his people cannot be moved either. But what interests me here is this phrase: God will help her when morning dawns. Now we can't be certain, of course, but it seems to me. That this is likely a reference to Sennacherib's siege. I mean, think about God helping her when morning dawns. Her, of course, referring to God's city, Jerusalem. You can imagine the Jews getting up in the morning, early in the morning, we're told in 2 Kings, and looking outside the walls and finding that army gone. God will. Help her when morning dawns. The idea here is nations are going to rise and nations are going to fall, but God always remains. That same God who utters his voice, just his voice, him speaking, the earth melts at his command. That's the God who is with us. And so there's no need to fear. And we conclude this section saying: the God of Jacob is our fortress. That word there for fortress, it literally means a secure height. And so, of course, in the ancient world, there was great strategic advantage to having a military stronghold on high ground. That's what God is for us. He's our fortress on a hill, our safe military stronghold, keeping us safe from our enemies. And because of this, the psalmist calls us: Come, behold the works of the Lord. How he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes war cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots with fire. Now, many psalms are intended to remind the people of God's mighty works. And so this call to come behold the works of the Lord isn't only in this Psalm. We find it really, or some version of it, throughout the Psalms. But it does seem like This one might be a little unique, at least if we're right about the context behind it. The call to come behold the works of the Lord. I mean, think about God ending a war at his word. Sennacherib was the king of the strongest kingdom of the day, and God obliterates his army in one night. And the psalmist says. Come behold. Again, you can imagine the joy of the Jews at God's deliverance. As they say, we serve the God who breaks the bow and shatters the spear, the one who burns the chariots, the God that no army can stop. That's the one who protects us. That's the one that we worship. Come behold. I think we all reflect in much the same way today to come behold what God has done for us. And how often do we really stop and reflect and thank God for his great works in our lives? If it's me we're talking about, I know the answer is not often enough. Let's come behold the works of the Lord. It's at this point that we reach sort of the climax of the Psalm. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. Be still. There's a reason I think it's important to look at the broader context of the rest of the Psalm and even the event that we think might be behind it. Because I've often heard this verse used to mean that we should stop being so busy. Too busy for God, perhaps. And I think that that's a good lesson. I think that there's something to learn there. It's possible to be too busy for God. But I think that the meaning of this text, in its context, is so much more powerful. Because it means that when we look around at a chaotic and unpredictable world that seems to have forgotten God and seems like everybody is against us, and when we look outside the walls and there's a siege going on. And when our life feels like it's falling apart, and maybe we're having troubles with our job or marriage troubles or family troubles, or we get that diagnosis, and we feel like the earth is just crumbling beneath our feet. And we begin to think, maybe God's waiting for me. Maybe I need to do something. And so we we pick up our sword to go fight the Assyrian army ourselves, and God says, stop. Stop. That's what the word for beastill means. It literally just means stop. Drop your weapons. Stop. He says, and know that I am God. What does that mean for me? It means I'm not. Right? See, when we're worrying and trying to fix things that we can't control, God is calling us to stop and remember that He is God and He is in control. We can't fix it, but He can. And so, if something is outside our control, we ought to give it to God and stop worrying about it. And when we do this, I think such a massive weight can be lifted off our shoulders, and the peace of God can fill us. See, it's Stressful, trying to be God, trying to do God's job for him. But it's peaceful when we realize that we don't have to. That's where the peace of God comes from. Think about how many things that we worry about, even on a daily basis, that are things that we just have no control over. Now I think about Jesus talking about worry in the Sermon on the Mount. It can be easy to look at the Sermon on the Mount and see all these important topics: anger and lust and divorce and the law and the Lord's Prayer and the Golden Rule and all these things, and right in the middle of it is worry. Jesus telling us not to worry. And it can be easy to look at that and think: does that really earn its place in the Sermon on the Mount? Is worry really that big of a deal? It's a matter of trusting God. You see, worry, I'm not convinced that worry is a sin in and of itself, but it can be a sign that we're not fully trusting God with everything that we have. And so Jesus says, just seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. And God will take care of the rest. That's what this Psalm really is saying. Just stop fighting and realize that God is the one who fights for you. Again, when we stop trying to be God and we just let Him do it, so much weight can be lifted off our shoulders. And that's where the peace of God comes from. You know, I think about the apostles in the storm. It's Mark chapter 4, if you would turn there with me. Mark chapter 4. We'll begin in verse 36. Mark four thirty six. And leaving the crowd, they took him, Jesus, with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling, but he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we're perishing? And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, Peace, be still. And wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said to them, Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? The storm looked so big. It looked so strong, so powerful, everything looked so hopeless. But what they didn't know and they didn't understand yet is that God himself was there in the boat with them. Isn't the same God? They're with us today? Isn't the same God in the boat with us today? You see, Jesus' presence didn't stop the storm from coming. But it did mean that the storm ultimately had no power over them. Remember, safety consists not in the absence of danger, but in the presence of God. So instead of worrying, trying to fix things that we can't control, let's stop and let God be God. I want to remind us of the scripture that was read for us just a moment ago. It's Philippians 4 and verse 6. Paul says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. When we let God handle it, When we give it to Him, that's when we can know the true peace of God. And the world can't possibly comprehend that peace. They can't understand it because it only comes from knowing God and from trusting Him with everything. And so when we suffer and we go through hard times in life, and when we might feel like the earth itself is giving way underneath our feet, or violent waters are roaring all around us, let's remember that we are not in control. But that's a good thing. Because he is. Let's be still and know that he is God. Let's pray. Father in Heaven, we know that you are God, the only God, and that you are worthy of all of our praise and all of our trust. God, sometimes we don't trust you fully. Sometimes we try to do your job for you. We try to help you out. God, help us always to remember. It's not you who need our help, it's we who need yours. Help us to trust you fully and help us to know the peace that comes from doing that. Help us to be still and know that you are God and you are in control. In the name of Christ Jesus we pray. Amen. Maybe you're here this morning and you've been living like it's all up to you. Maybe you haven't been trusting God with everything in your life. Maybe it's something else. Maybe you're just struggling and you need prayers. Or maybe you haven't put your trust in God for the first time, and you need to be baptized into Christ and enter into relationship with God. If we can do anything for you, if we can help you, or if we can pray for you in any way, please come forward as we stand and as we sing.

2 Kings 18 · chapter mention 2 Kings 18 · chapter mention 2 Kings 18 · chapter mention Mark 4 · chapter mention Mark 4 · chapter mention