Even When Everything Falls Apart (Psalm 42) Myles Holmes | Aug 31, 2025

Hello and welcome to the Redemption Church Podcast.

We're a church in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada that exists to glorify God through the fulfillment of the Great Commission and the spirit of the Great Commandment.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you have your Bibles, you can open them with me to Psalm chapter 46, Psalm chapter 46.

Psalms 46 · chapter mention Psalms 46 · chapter mention

You're going to want a copy in front of you today, so if you don't have a copy, the ushers are coming down the aisle right now, and you can flag one of them down, and they'll get a copy into your hands, which you can keep as our gift to you.

If you're new with us this morning, my name's Pastor Miles.

Over the past several weeks, we've been walking through the Psalms.

Joel said it, we got to sing a psalm together this morning.

You guys did so well, I think a lot better than I did.

I don't know that psalm, but it was so good to sing, or know that song, but it's so good to sing together.

And we have been learning how faith prepares us for every season of life.

No matter what's happening in your life, if you hold strong to faith, you will survive even when the worst possible imagines, even when you're overwhelmed, even when life feels upside down.

Even last week we saw in the successful times, faith holds us secure.

And so this morning we come to the series finale.

I hope that you know builds as much hype in your heart for like Net Netflix sort of series finales.

And it is not an easy finish.

In Psalm 46, the psalmist gives us a dare.

You ready to be dared this morning?

It's it's truth and dare this morning.

He gives us a dare.

He dares us to imagine the unthinkable happening in our lives.

I'm not just talking about a bad day at work.

I'm not just talking about a rough season in the life of your family.

What the psalmist imagines in Psalm 46 is unthinkable.

He imagines the very ground, you know, the thing that has held you your whole entire life that you probably don't even think about it.

He imagines the ground giving away.

The psalmist looks at the mountains, the things that, you know, immovable mountains, even in modern day tech with modern day technology, moving, being cast into the sea.

The psalmist is saying this when everything falls apart, can your faith hold you secure?

You know, in our day we might think about the financial system collapsing.

We might think about nations at at war.

We might think about waking up imagining that everything in your life was lost, everything that kept you stable, secure, gone.

Maybe most practically it's it's it's to imagine the cancer diagnosis.

It's to imagine the day that you lose the job that brought you so much security and don't know what the future looks like.

It's to imagine the loss of a loved one who is such a stable part of your life.

You know, this is the dare the psalmist invites us into to imagine the worst possible thing happening.

Could you imagine that?

And you know, this this practice, it might seem pessimistic to you.

We certainly live in a world that wants to take our attention off of the negative and think only on perhaps the blind optimistic realities.

But the reality is that it's a biblical realism.

Scripture is very honest with us that the things that we look at that are secure today, that seem unshakable, one day when Jesus returns will be shaken.

One day the mountains will move, one day the earth will collapse, the scriptures say.

And so realism says to be ready.

And this morning that's what God wants to do in us.

God wants to inject in our faith a healthy dose of Psalm 46 so that you and I are ready for whatever.

Ready to say with confidence, even when the worst happens, even when all of life falls apart, God is still my refuge.

You know, we need this word.

It's why we sing a song like yes, I will, this reminder, like God, listen, things might be good now, things might be even terrible now, but they could always get worse.

And I'm gonna put my my my flag in the ground right now and say, no matter what, the banner over my life, wherever you lead me, Lord, you are my refuge.

I need this word.

You know, we we are so tempted to cling to things that are seen, aren't we?

Whether we draw security from money, from our health, from relationships, from politics, it's all we know.

It's all we can see, but but the scriptures, the scriptures invite us to find security in things unseen.

Knowing that all that is seen one day will be shaken, the mountains will move.

And if your life is rooted in the mountains that are seen, your life will be shaken too.

But in Christ, the psalmist is inviting us into this promise.

In Christ, there is a refuge that cannot be moved.

That's the banner of Psalm 46.

That's the truth that stands over this entire Psalm.

I want to read it together with you.

Would you stand with me as we read this Psalm?

To the choir master of the sons of Korah.

According to Alamoth song, 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 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 wars 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.

This is the word of the Lord.

He can grab a seat.

And over it is this banner of truth found in verse 1.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

It's the beloved psalm of many.

It was a beloved psalm of the reformer Martin Luther, and he wrote a song, a hymn from this song, called a psalm called The Mighty Fortress Is Our God.

You may know it.

It's likely, I didn't look up this statistic, but I think probably one of the most sung hymns in the history of the English-speaking church.

Luther would write this song based from this psalm in the midst of the Reformation, really in the darkest days when it seemed like the whole world was against him.

And during that time, he had a quote.

He turns to his friend who was alongside him in the Reformation, Philip Melanchton, and he says, Come, Philip, let us sing the 46th Psalm.

And let the devil do his worst.

And out of that conviction, he wrote this psalm, and then over hundreds, the span of hundreds of years, the church has taken up this song and sung it over and over and over again.

Why?

Because Christians need to be reminded, as Luther knew, that when Christ is our refuge, nothing imaginable can undo us.

Notice how the Psalm begins.

Before it even mentions mountains shaking or nations raging, it anchors us in who God is.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.

That's our first truth this morning.

This is the first point I want you to see.

Refuge in Christ makes us fearless in chaos.

Refuge in Christ makes us fearless in chaos.

God, the psalmist says, is our refuge and strength.

That is who God is.

But notice here in verse one the results of God being our refuge and strength.

In verse two, he says, therefore we will not fear.

The consequence of a belief in your heart that God is a refuge in strength is believing, knowing that there is nothing to fear.

If he is a shelter, a refuge in the storm, if he empowers us in whatever we face, loved one, what is the consequence for us?

The consequence is that we can face the unimaginable with no fear.

But notice that not only is he a refuge and strength, the psalmist says he is a very present help in times of need.

That is what we need, not only a shelter.

You see, if you're in a storm, a shelter is no help to you if it's miles and miles away.

A shelter is only helpful if it is close to you.

And here is what God is teaching us about himself this morning.

He loves to be near in times of trouble.

In the deepest storm of your life, God is a God who loves to draw near to you.

And the sense of what the psalmist is saying here is not just that he's a continual presence, but that he is a great presence, that his refuge is proven, that it is certain, that it is always near.

So notice then that that is the foundation of the psalmist then facing the unimaginable.

This is what the scriptures always do, loved ones.

They first take us to God and allow us to see a vision of him, and then they take us to our problems.

There's a lot of application there because often in the Christian life, don't we see our problems and then go to God?

Not the psalmist.

The psalmist goes to God and then is given strength to face his problems.

Notice him imagining the unthinkable here in these verses.

He pictures four different scenarios, each of them more terrifying than the last.

You see it there.

Though we will not fear, though the earth gives way.

I mean, could you imagine that very reality?

The earth that has held you firm, giving way, suddenly collapsing under your feet, though the mountains be moved into the sea, you know, these massive landmarks, immovable structures placed by God, picked up and thrown into the sea.

It says, though the waters roar and foam, the chaos of the sea, the waters raging against your boat, though the mountains tremble at its swelling, even the strongest things, the psalmist says, shakes before the storm of God's coming.

And yet, loved one, yet none of these things should make us fear if, if, if we know that God is our refuge and strength.

Do you have that view of God, loved one?

Is God your refuge and strength?

If so, this is the principle that we can apply to our lives right here from the pages of Scripture.

The degree to which you fear your problem is a reflection of how you see your problem compared to how big you see God.

You understand that?

Let me explain that.

If you have a big God, then collapsing mountains won't shake you.

But if your God is small and your problems are bigger than your small God, then there is reason to fear.

You can think of it like this, you know, lately I've been playing Jenga with my kids.

You guys know Jenga.

You build a tower to watch it come crumbling down.

And I want to tell you, and in playing Jenga with my kids, you know, building this tiny little structure, I there's something I've never feared.

I've never feared that when that Jenga tower comes crashing down, and you know, we all yell Jenga.

I've never feared that my house is gonna come crashing down with it.

And why is that?

Well, it's because this little tiny tower falling is gonna do nothing for my strong and stable house.

It is a small problem in a strong house.

However, last year, right beside my house, there was a gigantic tree that was as dead as dead could be.

And I constantly found myself looking outside at this tree, you know, in the neighbor's property, waiting for them to cut it down, thinking this thing could come crumbling down and crash my entire house.

Everything was different.

The problem was bigger than my house.

You know, the same is true spiritually.

If your problems look bigger to you than God, then fear is gonna dominate your life.

But if God is bigger than your problems, you can say with the psalmist, therefore we will not fear.

That's why our ultimate need as Christians is a bigger view of God.

That's why everything in our worship service, you know this, everything in our worship service points you to the worship of God, to an expanding vision of who God is.

Whether it's the singing, the praying, the preaching, it's all the whole purpose is for you to see a bigger view of God.

This is why A.W.

Tozer famously put it like this what comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.

Why?

Because if you have a small vision of who God is, you will be shaken by your problems that always look big.

But if your view of God is big, then even the unthinkable happening to you cannot shake you.

You know what that means for many of us?

Even right now, in this moment, the application for us is we need to repent.

We need to repent because in our lives our problems have been big and our God has been small.

The fears that consume us, whether it's the fears of other people's opinions, the fears of financial collapse, the fears of sickness, the fears of the future, the fears of being alone, these are not just circumstantial problems.

They they reveal something about our theology, our our actual theology of our hearts, that our view of God is too small, that we have shrunk down the God who created the universe, we have shrunk him down to be a God smaller than our problems.

And when you forget the strength of God, when you forget the stability of God, when you forget the immovability of God, your fear will always be great.

Well, what hope is there for us when our faith feels so small and our fears feel so great?

Well, the psalmist here is inviting us to imagine the unimaginable, the ground giving way, the mountains collapsing, the nations raging, and yet, loved one, in one sense, you know, we don't have to imagine what that would be like.

We saw a picture of the most unimaginable thing happening to Jesus Christ.

Jesus entered the unimaginable.

In fact, the cross was the greatest darkness, it was the most unimaginable pain the world has ever seen.

Nations raged together against Jesus Christ.

It was the Israelites who yelled out, crucify him.

It was the Romans who carried out their cruelest torture on him.

And when he breathed his last, the gospel writer Matthew actually tells us that the ground convulsed, that there was a great earthquake, that darkness overshadowed the land.

Even the creation was convulsing at the death of the creator.

And yet none of that would compare to what was happening spiritually.

On the cross, Jesus faced the judgment that you and I deserve.

On the cross, Jesus, he hung in the place of sinners.

He absorbed the full wrath of God.

Not for his sin, he didn't have any.

Jesus absorbed the full wrath of God for all who would believe.

Listen, loved one, if you die without faith in Jesus Christ, you will face the wrath of God.

But Jesus faced the wrath for all who would cast their faith in him.

Every ounce of divine justice was on his shoulders.

And yet, three days later, Jesus, having entered into this unimaginable darkness, would come out the other side.

He would be resurrected to life.

And through his resurrection, as he took refuge in the Father, you know what we discover?

That the resurrection power of God is bigger than sin, it is bigger than death, it is bigger than hell itself.

Good news is that that very same power that raised Jesus from the dead, Paul tells us in Ephesians 1, he says, if your faith is in Jesus Christ, that that resurrection power is at work in you.

In fact, in Ephesians 2, he says that you have already been raised up with Jesus Christ and seated in the heavenly places.

And loved one, I want you to know that that is what you need this morning.

As you face the harsh realities of this world, as you face the unimaginable happening in your life, you don't just need a pep talk.

You don't just need a pat on the shoulder, hey, hey, everything's gonna be okay.

You need resurrection power surging through your soul.

You need to live in Christ as your refuge so that even the unimaginable cannot move you.

You know, this is what refuge in Christ does.

It makes us fearless in the chaos.

That's our first point this morning, but but I want you to notice that Psalm 46 doesn't end up with end with chaos.

It doesn't leave us trembling, you know, imagining the worst case scenario.

It moves to an entirely different scene in verse 4.

In fact, it's kind of jarring from roaring waters in verses 1 to 3 to a quiet river, from mountains being picked up and thrown into the sea to the city of God that cannot be moved.

One moment the world is falling apart.

The next moment, the people of God are glad in the presence of God.

And that's the second truth I want you to see today.

Refuge in Christ, it doesn't only make us fearless in chaos, it makes us glad in his presence.

Refuge in Christ makes us glad in his presence.

Notice again in verse 4, the imagery shifts here.

Do you see it?

Look at the pages of scripture with me.

Notice that the imagery shifts from the chaos of roaring seas and in verse three to the quietness of a river.

Notice it shifts from the mountains, which seemed immovable, to the city, which seemed very movable, but is in fact unmovable.

It is the city of God.

Verse 4.

What is the city of God?

Well, in the Old Testament, the city of God is Jerusalem.

That is where the temple stood.

That was the very locus of God's presence.

If you wanted to be near God, you needed to get to Jerusalem, where the temple was.

In fact, in the Holy of Holies, in the very middle of the temple, was the purest presence of God.

It was where God's people lived under God's protection.

That is why all throughout scripture, we see people trying to get back to Jerusalem.

You know, I'm reading it in 2 Samuel right now, where David is kind of cast off his throne.

And again, just like with Saul, he was fleeing, he has to leave Jerusalem.

And what's he trying to do?

He's trying to get back into Jerusalem.

Last year, We studied it.

You remember uh studying Ezra and Nehemiah?

Even if you don't remember it, can you just kind of nod so that I feel, you know, like a pastor who maybe preached something memorable one time?

What was happening in Ezra and Nehemiah?

Well, the Israelites were coming back from the Babylonian exile and going back to Jerusalem to restore Jerusalem, and they were so excited about it.

You remember?

There were these visions from the prophet Zechariah, these visions that maybe one day Jerusalem would be so big that the people coming into Jerusalem to find refuge under the shelter of God would not fit, that the walls of Jerusalem would have to be expanded so that they could fit the people that God was bringing into his security, into his very presence.

Well, this is the problem.

Jerusalem fell.

The temple was destroyed.

The city that was supposed to be unshakable was shaken.

And so we asked this question: Is the psalmist here wrong?

Is the psalmist to say that since God is in the midst of the city of the city of God, that she shall not be moved?

I want you to know, loved one, that the city of God always pointed to something greater than physical Jerusalem.

Think about how the story of Scripture unfolds.

The story of Scripture doesn't begin in a city, it begins in a garden with God walking with his people.

But Adam and Eve's sin, it drove the people of God out of the presence of God.

And from that point on, the great question in the pages of Scripture is this: how is a holy God going to dwell in the midst of a sinful people?

And loved one, you will be pleased to know the good news is that as relentless as God's people were in sinning, God was all the more relentless in pursuing them in grace.

That is the God that we worship this morning.

It is a God that no matter how deep your sin is, his mercy is deeper still, and his grace relentlessly pursues you, even maybe bringing you here this morning so that you might see his grace.

That's who God is.

That's who God has always been.

And so as the people of God sinned and drove themselves from the presence of God, what they find is a God relentlessly pursuing them to be present in their midst.

They saw that in tastes.

You know, in Jerusalem and the temple, they were previews of the final answer.

That's why the people were celebrating because they were progressing towards what the city of God one day would be.

You see, from the very beginning, from Eden itself, the people of God longed for the presence of God to cover the face of the earth.

That was the whole point of Eden.

You remember in Genesis 2 when Moses is describing what the garden was, in Genesis 2, he describes a river, and he says, the river, these rivers join up in the garden and they flow out to the earth, dividing into four streams.

What Adam and Eve were to do was to cultivate the land and to expand the kingdom of God until it followed these rivers and covered the whole face of the earth.

That river, dividing in Genesis 2 into four streams to bring life and blessing to the whole earth.

That river appears here again in Psalm 46.

You see it?

Look down with me at the scripture.

There is a river, there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.

And then it shows up again at the very end of Scripture.

In Revelation 22, John sees, he says, the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the land, from the garden to the Psalms, to the prophets, to Revelation.

The river is a symbol of God's life-giving presence with his people.

And so, loved one, we come to this text, we ask, what is the city of God?

I want you to understand that it's not ultimately ancient Jerusalem.

The city of God is the people of God dwelling securely in the presence of God, forever sustained by the life of God.

That is what it always looked forward to.

And if you are your faith is in Jesus Christ, the scriptures say that you actually belong to that city right now.

Paul says it in Philippians.

You are your citizenship is where, loved one?

Heaven.

Loved one, if you belong to the city of God, consider what happiness there is in your safety.

God is in your midst.

You know, when we move into a new house, what's one of the first things that we think about?

Security, right?

You know, you change the locks on the door, you make sure that you know the house is fenced in, you you put up alarm systems.

We love alarm.

I remember a day when there was no alarm systems.

Now half of us have got a notification in this service that a squirrel ran by our door.

You have more pictures of the Amazon delivery driver than your own children on your phone.

We we love security, and that is a good thing, but but loved one, what greater security could flood into your life if you truly believed that God was in your midst.

Some of us are looking for security, and you know what we're grabbing on to?

Things like our bank account.

Or like watching the news.

Hey, maybe something's gonna change to you.

I mean, I know it hasn't changed for like 8,000 years, it's always been bad news.

Maybe today there's gonna be good news.

Some of us are looking to relationships to other people to make us feel secure, but Psalm 46 is reminding us your safety cannot come from circumstances, it comes from who is within you.

You see that in the Psalm?

God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved.

And in Christ, the promise is even greater for us.

Christ is within you.

You see, that security, the security that the psalmist is reaching for in Psalm 46, finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ.

Look at verse 4.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.

Who is that river?

We just studied it in John chapter 7.

John 7 · chapter mention

You remember it?

You remember, you know, you learned, just nod with me.

Yes, Pastor, we remember John 7.

At the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stands up, he cries out, If anyone thirst, let him come to me and drink, and out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

Jesus is the living water who sustains his people with the spirit.

Verse 4 of chapter 46, again, it says this that the city of God is the holy habitation.

Literally, that word means tabernacle.

It is the holy tabernacle of the most high.

And then in John 1, what does John come and say?

The word of God became flesh and dwelt again, literally tabernacled among us.

Jesus is the presence of God, God with us, Emmanuel.

He is the tabernacle, he is the temple, he is the holy of holies.

It's all fulfilled in him.

Look at verse 5 of Psalm 46.

God will help her when her morning dawns.

The ultimate morning dawn was on the morning of resurrection.

Out of the darkest night of sin and death, Jesus rose victorious.

Verse 6 of Psalm 46: the nations rage, the kingdoms totter, he utters his voice, the earth melts.

Who is the one whose voice melted the earth?

It is Jesus Christ.

You remember in John 18?

When they come to arrest Jesus and he says, I am he.

And what happens to those guards?

When Jesus says, I am he, his voice knocks them to the ground.

You remember John 11, when Lazarus was resurrected, what?

By the voice of Jesus Christ.

Loved one, you remember the promise of John 5?

That there is a day coming where Jesus will come and his voice will call the dead from their graves.

It is the voice of Jesus Christ that melts the earth.

And then verse 7.

The Lord of hosts is with us.

That is why they call Jesus Emmanuel.

God with us.

Verse 7 and verse 11 are really Christmas in one line.

God is present through Jesus Christ, dwelling with his people, and that is why the psalm is true for you today.

Because in Jesus Christ, a river flows, a dawn has come, a king has risen, his voice is speaking, and his presence is now with you forever.

All because of Jesus Christ.

And loved one, in a moment like this, does your heart not rise with this affection for Jesus Christ and all that he is doing to wipe away all that is horrible in this earth and to bring a new creation?

Loved ones, there is nothing that can shake you.

You know, one day, I mean, I'm sorry to be so pessimistic this morning, but one day you will die.

Can you turn to your neighbor right now and tell him you're gonna die?

Okay, just tell your neighbor that right now.

You did not expect that.

You did not expect, you know, to be preaching that this morning, but we gotta preach it.

You know, and when you die, do you know that that the darkness of death the morning will dawn at the voice of Jesus Christ, and he will call you from death to life.

Defeating the most unimaginable darkness of death.

You know what that means.

It means you don't need to postpone joy in your life until your circumstances get better.

So many of us are like this.

You know, joy, you know, once this happens, once that promotion happens, once once my kids start behaving a certain way, once my husband starts behaving a certain way, then then I'll be happy, then I'll have joy.

And you know, loved ones, what the scriptures are telling us right now is that you don't have to postpone joy.

Joy is possible now because whatever storm is in your life, the presence of Christ is with you right now.

Jesus is the river that makes you glad when the world is dry.

Jesus is the morning that breaks through the longest night.

Jesus is the voice that stills your chaos.

You know, the application here reminds me, the theme this morning has kind of been like sing-alongs, hasn't it?

It reminds me of a Sunday school song that I learned.

And you know, I thought everyone knew this, but I asked my wife on the way here and she said no, and then I looked it up on Spotify, and it was not even on like Spotify.

So now I'm like, maybe I wrote this, I don't know, but you can confirm for me right now.

Does anyone remember the song When Jesus is in my boat?

With Jesus in my boat?

You remember that?

Okay, let me sing it for you right now, okay?

In fact, we're gonna take this in post-editing.

Let's take this out of the let's take this out of the podcast.

I don't want anyone to hear this.

Just you.

It's your benefit for showing up this morning.

You ready?

With Jesus in my boat, I can smile in the storm.

Smile in the storm.

You're gonna sing with me in a second, okay?

So don't laugh.

Smile in the storm, with Jesus in my boat, I can smile in my so storm as I'm sailing home.

Man, my heart's beating right now so fast.

I'm so nervous.

Would you sing it with me?

Because we're gonna sing it once, but then it gets faster.

It's a Sunday school song.

It's gotta be a lot of fun.

You ready?

Okay, sing it with me.

With Jesus in my boat, I can smile in the storm, smile in the storm, smile in the storm, with Jesus in my boat, I can smile in the storm as I'm sailing home.

With Jesus in my boat, I can smile in okay, we'll stop there.

Loved one, what uh storm are you facing right now?

Is Jesus in the boat?

You know, it's so simple, but it is so profound.

If Jesus is in the boat, you can smile in the storm.

Because one day the voice of Jesus will not only calm the chaos of the storm you're in right now, one day the voice of Jesus will break through the darkest storm of all, the storm of death, and will call you to the light of resurrection, all because Jesus, Emmanuel, is with you.

Are you glad in the storm?

Are you smiling in the storm?

Are you able to smile whatever storm you face?

Because there is a refuge present with you that is Jesus.

That's the gladness of knowing that Jesus is with us, but but the psalm doesn't stop there.

The psalmist presses on here.

It's not just about joy in his presence, it is about an awe in his power.

In verse 8, the psalmist says, Look at, come behold the works of the Lord.

He he moves from the comfort of God's power presence to the majesty of God's rule.

Come behold the works of the Lord.

And then in verse 10, we hear this command: be still.

Be still and know that I am God.

In other words, refuge in Christ, it not only makes us fearless in chaos, it not only makes us glad in his presence, it makes us still before his rule.

That's the third thing I want you to see this morning.

Refuge in Christ makes us still before his rule.

The offer of the psalmist is to hit the pause button for a moment in our lives and ask us to consider the strength of God.

You know, seeing people's strength changes your perspective on them, doesn't it?

In fact, I just witnessed this a few short weeks ago.

My wife and I took an anniversary trip to Toronto, and one of the things I love to do in Toronto, you know me, I love, I love coffee, I love good coffee, and so I like to find the cafes around that you know are well reviewed on Google and I get a cortado.

Cortado, some of you are you know falling asleep right now.

Cortado, two ounces of espresso, two ounces of milk.

It's you know my favorite drink.

And so I go into one of these cafes that's really highly related or rated on Google, and I say, Um, you know, I'll take a cortado.

And the guy looks at me and he holds the cup up, and you say, You he says, you know, a cortado is just this much milk.

And in that moment I was incredibly offended.

As a coffee drinker, that was the most offensive thing you could say to me.

Of course I know how much milk is in a cortado, buddy.

Those were fighting words, and so I thought, I'm gonna fight this man right now.

But then I looked up, and this guy was, you know, he was a bit of a hipster, but he was like 6'4 in a very tight white shirt, and his biceps were the size of two venti lattes.

They were massive.

And so I said, I said, yeah, yeah, I know, yeah, I know.

And I took my cortado and I walked out of there.

Now, what happened?

I saw this, I mean, I'll just take a break to say that the fighting him was only for the story, okay?

Sometimes facts ruin a good story, so you just gotta put that in there.

Strength, seeing strength changes your perspective of people.

So, how much more when we see the strength of God?

Look at the psalmist says, Behold the works of the Lord.

Look at his power.

He brings desolations on the earth.

He makes war cease to the end of the earth.

He breaks the bow, the strongest weapon of man he breaks.

He shatters the spear, he burns the chariots with fire.

What does that mean?

The strength of man is nothing compared to him.

You know, we sang it this morning.

I choose to praise the name that nothing can stand against.

You know, we sing that so easily, but then storms come into our life, and we just think, you know, this thing's gonna be the enemy.

The strength of man is nothing compared to the strength of God.

It is what the prophet Isaiah says.

The nations are a drop in the bucket.

You know what that means for us?

It means that we care too much about the news.

I mean, we let headlines, we let financial forecasts, we let political shifts in countries shake us as though the kingdoms of this world determine our future.

But I love what Mike prayed through this morning, that there is a day that is coming where God will shake the earth, and what seemed unshakable will be destroyed forever.

Do you know that, loved one?

Every political kingdom will be cast down by Jesus Christ.

It talks about it in Revelation 19.

When Jesus comes riding on a horse, and in a moment, not even with a weapon, but nothing but his voice, the nations will melt before him.

Every political power will crumble before the kingship of Jesus.

The nations are but a drop in a bucket.

The spear, the bow, the chariots are all destroyed by the very presence and voice of Jesus Christ.

The strength of man, the strongest strength of man is no match for the rule of God, so that if you belong to Christ, you don't have to tremble at what's happening in Ottawa or what's happening in Washington or what's happening in the world or what's happening in your life.

You can behold his strength and seeing his great strength in comparison to whatever you're facing, you can be still.

You can be still.

That's the application of Psalm 46 in verse 10.

Be still and know that I am God.

I mean, we love this verse, don't we?

We've got it on our coffee cups, we've got it embroidered into pillows on our patio.

And whenever we imagine this verse, don't you imagine it like in the morning when the sun is rising and the dew is on the field and the bunnies are hopping, and you've got your coffee cup, and the steam is coming out of the coffee cup, and the kids are sleeping in, and your spouse comes out and says, Hey, you know, brunch is ready.

That's what we imagine, this verse.

Be still and know that I am God.

But listen, stillness before God is easy when everything is right in your life.

And you know by now, and the context of this psalm is not in the times when things are right in your life.

The context of this psalm is like, hey, the earth is giving way.

There's an earthquake going on, and the mountains are being flipped upside down into the sea, and the waters are raging, and I'm in the boat, and I'm like, I don't know how I'm gonna get through this.

And the voice of the psalmist is this be still.

In the darkest, most chaotic moment of your life, be still.

Why can you be still?

Because of who God is.

In our fallen condition, we are often everything but still when life turns sideways.

Stillness and the quiet and comfort of life is easy.

What about when life shakes you?

What about when the diagnosis comes?

When the job is lost, when the world is in chaos.

You know what the opposite of stillness is?

The opposite of stillness is frantic self-reliance.

It is panicking, it is striving, it is worrying, it's it's the anxious heart that never stops because it's convinced if it stops for a moment, everything will fall apart.

And this shows up in all of us.

For some, it's the endless refreshing of the news feed as though there's going to be something on Twitter or Instagram today that's going to give us peace, you know, and it never has, it never will.

For others, it's money.

You obsess over your bank account.

As the market moves, so your mood moves.

For others, it's relationships.

You run frantically after relationships because you're terrified of losing someone's approval.

And for many of us, it's it's simply just busyness.

We we run from one thing to the next so fast that we have no time to face what's really happening inside.

You know, the good news, loved one, is that God does not just command stillness here.

He doesn't just say, hey, be still.

Stop frantically relying on yourself.

He doesn't just command it.

What God is doing here is providing a way for it.

It's not just self-help, it's not just try harder.

This is a declaration.

Be still and know that I am God.

Look what he says in verse 10.

Put your eyes on the eyes on the pages of scripture.

Be still and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations.

I will be exalted in the earth.

This is a promise.

You can be still because the battle is as good as done.

You know how we know that's true.

Because on the cross, Jesus cried out, It is finished.

In that very moment, the striving was over, the enemies were disarmed.

That's why Paul says in Colossians chapter 2 that Jesus on the cross, he disarmed the rulers and authorities and he put them to open shame, triumphing over them in him.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

On the cross, Jesus stood over your greatest enemies, and he said, Be still.

That day is Coming, but the battle is already won.

How do you obey that command to be still?

What does that look like practically in your life?

Well, it is to take refuge in the gospel.

Very practically, to be still in the Lord.

Let me show you how this works, and maybe I can do this in a personal way.

Over the last several weeks, if not months, I have been facing a spiritual battle that I cannot help but to think is spiritual warfare.

And it happens every Sunday morning.

As I'm sitting right there, these thoughts start to fill my mind.

They come at me like waves.

These thoughts of like, will this sermon really matter?

Is this really gonna change people's lives?

Is anyone even gonna be helped by this?

And in that moment, I want you to understand exactly what's going on.

I am standing in the storm of people's approval.

Right?

Can you see that?

Can you see the heart of it of those questions?

Like, is anyone gonna care for for this?

What am I doing in that moment?

I'm searching for approval from people.

And in the storm of the chaos that that brings into my mind, the thing that needs to happen, and by God's grace, the thing that has happened over these last few weeks is I need to take refuge in the gospel.

And the gospel is this that the love of God is not about my striving.

That when I get to heaven's gates, you know, God isn't gonna open up my Google reviews on my preaching and say, ah, 7.4, you know, you're not you're not gonna make it.

Some of you are like, okay, 7.4 is a little gracious there, okay, buddy?

You know, the gospel is that that my approval is not based on my preaching.

That is not being still before the Lord.

That is frantically relying on myself.

I run to the gospel.

I take refuge in my mind very practically.

This is what needs to happen.

I take refuge in the truth that because of the finished work of Christ, my approval does not depend on my preaching.

My approval depends on the righteous life of Jesus Christ and the fact that because my faith is in him, my penalty has been paid, and I am in right standing before the Lord.

And loved one, I thank God for the storm that even this morning drove me to that place of refuge with Christ where I said, My standing is in you, because otherwise I wouldn't have known it.

I wouldn't have rejoiced in it, like I did this morning.

That's my storm.

What's your storm?

Maybe it's the storm of losing control, the storm of weakness, the storm of approval, like my like me.

Maybe it's the storm of discomfort of one, whatever the storm is.

Psalm 46 ends with this anchor in verse 11.

The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our fortress.

The God who commands angels and armies.

He is by your side.

It is the covenant God of Jacob.

He is the one who wrestles sinners and refuses to let them go.

That God is by your side in the storm.

That's why you can be fearless in chaos.

That's why you can be glad in his presence.

That's why you can be still before his rule.

Is Christ your refuge?

If Christ is your refuge, storms can't move you.

He is shelter even when the unthinkable happens.

And this morning we make that declaration together.

The same declaration that Luther made.

Let's sing Psalm 46 and let the devil do his works.

Could you pray with me?

Father, we thank you that you are a refuge and strength.

You are a very present help in trouble.

And we confess how quickly our hearts tremble when we face the hard realities of our lives.

Lord, we thank you for this truth that we lift our eyes to this morning, that you are in our midst.

Through Jesus Christ, in the presence of your Holy Spirit, you are Emmanuel God with us, dwelling in the midst of a holy people.

Jesus, we praise you.

We thank you that you are the cornerstone.

That you are the one who entered the unimaginable storm of God's judgment and made it through the other side to a resurrection, to eternal life that was not just for you, but a triumphant victory that you lead all your people in.

God, we pray for the presence of your Holy Spirit, even now, stirring in us a boldness to face life outside these four walls.

God, we lift up in this place people who are weary, who feel like they have no strength left, because the unthinkable is happening in their lives.

Lord, we pray for those whose lives are filled with anxiety.

Lord, with the application of the psalm, be still and know that I am God, be a banner over their lives.

Lord, we pray for those who are stuck clinging, even now, having heard your words, stuck clinging to the lesser shelters in this world, things like money, things like politics, things like relationships.

God, would you give them strength to release the grip?

Lord, we pray that you'd anchor us in this promise.

The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our fortress.

And we make that declaration this morning in the name of your son.

Amen.

Would you stand and sing with me?