GOD IS OUR REFUGE - Psalm 46

If you have a Bible, uh, go ahead and

open it up to Psalm 46. Uh, we're going

to be in there all this morning. Um, and

this is a powerful powerful psalm. It's

one that that as we read it, you're

going to begin to hear and to and to

notice. And I've heard that before. I've

heard that quoted before. I've heard

that said before. I've heard that used

before. Um, and Psalm 46 is one of those

powerful psalms. And as we look at the

history and the context and begin to

break it down, we're going to begin to

realize that it relates to a lot of

things that many of us have walked

through, it's going to relate to a lot

of things that many of us can understand

and can definitely uh deal with, but

also have dealt with. Um, but the one

thing that I saw throughout this entire

psalm and throughout this entire time of

of studying and just reading over it, so

many stories, so many moments, so many

uh areas of life that I've walked

through began to pop up. And what began

to really become an overarching theme

was this theme of stability.

Because if we're being honest, stability

is one of those things we value most and

think about the least.

We usually don't think much about it

until stability is gone. Until that

sense of foundation, that sense of

something that we can grab hold of that

holds us steady is no longer there. And

it's usually those single moments where

everything changes. And we can look back

at those moments and go, everything was

different from that moment forward.

Maybe it was a phone call that you

received and there was some bad news on

the other end of the line. Maybe it was

a loved one that you thought was going

to be here a lot longer, but they're no

longer with us. Maybe it was a diagnosis

and and health was our stable ground,

but now we've realized health is not

something that's as stable as we thought

it was. Maybe it's a marriage we thought

that would last forever, but it's no

longer together. Or maybe it was a

betrayal within a relationship or within

a marriage or within a friendship that

has absolutely rocked us to our core.

And from that moment on, everything was

different. And there are just a few of

these moments. And a lot of times in

these moments, we begin to feel like

life is completely coming apart at the

seams. Like everything is just falling

and we don't know what to do with it.

But that's what Psalm 46 was written

for. It was written for people who know

what it feels like when life begins to

shake.

This Psalm does not pretend that trouble

isn't real. In fact, the promises of

Psalm 46 assume trouble. You don't need

a refuge unless there's danger. You

don't need strength unless you're weak.

You don't need a fortress unless you're

under attack.

So what Psalm 46 as we read it is we're

going to see that it's it's not

promising that life will never fall

apart.

It is promising that when life does,

God is still going to be God

>> and God is still with his people.

>> That is the heartbeat of this entire

song. And as we look at it, we'll see

several truths and several key words

that have brought us comfort, that have

brought us strength, that have brought

us a sense of joy in our darkest moments

of our life.

One that stood out to me the most and

one that's repeated twice is the Lord of

hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is

our fortress. And so, we're going to see

that as we read Psalm 46. And then we're

just going to kind of begin to unpack it

verse by verse by verse because there

was so much here that I feel like we

skip over because there's two verses we

love to cling to.

But there's 11 within this that speak a

louder truth that we need to understand.

And so as we look at Psalm 46, let's see

what it says. 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 city 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

taught her. 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.

So much powerful powerful truth there.

so many powerful words that we can lean

into and that we can trust in and that

we can hold fast to. And the one thing

that I saw throughout this psalm and

there's three key things that I saw

throughout this psalm that I absolutely

love. And the first thing we must

understand when we look at God for who

he truly is, we must first acknowledge

his protection that he has given us. We

must first acknowledge the protection

that God has placed around us. for those

of us that are in Christ. God has given

us protection from the things of this

world

because notice what he says in verse 7

or verse one.

God is our refuge and strength, a very

pleasant help in trouble.

But notice where the psalmist starts. He

doesn't immediately start with, "Oh,

he's a present help in trouble. So God

is our refuge and strength." He starts

off immediately with the most powerful

word in the entire psalm, the most

powerful name that we can lift up before

the chaos is ever described. He declares

that God is Lord of it all.

He reminds himself who God is and what

God is capable of. And that matters

because what we usually do in our own

sense and in our own understanding, we

start with the trouble. We start with

the problem and begin to navigate from

there. We start with what we see, what

we feel, and what we cannot control. And

before long, the trouble becomes the

lens that we view everything through.

But if we start with God, we begin to

realize that we're not denying that

trouble exists, but we're rather looking

to our faith in the midst of the

trouble.

>> He is not pretending that trouble is not

real. Rather, what he's deciding in this

moment is that trouble will not get the

best of me and trouble will not be the

ultimate deciding factor of this

situation.

And where we start determines how

everything else is interpreted. If I

start with the problem, I'm going to

panic. If I start with myself, it's

going to lead me to despair.

But if I start with God,

the trouble may still be real, but it's

no longer the final say. So, let's lean

into the first few words of this psalm.

God is our refuge.

What a comfort it is to know that. What

a powerful thing to hear. Not simply

that God gives refuge, but that he in

and of himself is our refuge.

The safest place in the world is not the

absence of trouble. The safest place in

the world is in the presence of God.

>> God is also our strength.

He's not only our protector, but he's

our strength giver.

Sometimes God protects us from what is

around us. Sometimes God strengthens us

for what is at war within us. And there

are seasons where you don't know how

you're still standing. And the answer is

not that you were stronger than you

thought.

The answer is that God was stronger than

you ever knew.

>> Because the psalmist says that God is a

very present help in trouble.

And I think that phrase matters because

he starts with God is our refuge and our

strength. He's our protector. He's our

strength giver. But he's also the one

that is present with us in the fight.

He's not distant. He's not delayed in

his actions. He's not waiting until

everything makes sense and he can

somehow formulate a game plan to then

come and act upon what's going on around

you. No, he's present in the midst of

it. He's present in the trouble.

But pain loves to lie to us.

Pain loves us to make us think that

we're out on an island, that we're all

by oursel, that we're the only one

that's walking through something deep.

And it makes us assume that God is far

away. If it still hurts, maybe God is

not working. If nothing has changed,

maybe God doesn't care about me. So many

lies, so many things begin to pop in our

head. But Psalm 46 says the opposite. It

shows us right here in verse one, God is

near. God is available. God has always

been there. And the promise is not that

trouble never comes. Trouble's going to

come. Trouble's going to show up. Trials

are going to happen. Struggles will hit

us in the face.

But the promise is that God remains when

it does come.

Because look at what he says in verse

two.

Therefore, we will not fear.

He's not saying there's nothing to fear.

One of my favorite verses in all the

Bible is 1 John 4:18 where it says,

1 John 4:18

"There is no fear in perfect love." And

as I began to dissect that verse and as

I began to pour into it and really look

at it, it really brought me back to the

fact of therefore we will not fear. It's

not saying that fear will never hit me,

that I will never feel fear, but it is

saying when I look to the one who is

creator, sustainer, and lord over all,

my fear will dissipate.

The waters roar, the mountains tremble.

Because if we see, he says that right

there. Therefore, we will not see her.

Even though the earth gives way, though

the mountains be moved into the very

heart of the sea.

Fear is real, but fear is never our

focus. Our focus should always be on

God. And I know that that's an easy

thing to say, especially when it's in

the midst of the moment where it feels

like God is the most distant. God is

delayed. God is not near. God is nowhere

to be found because our eyes are so

fixated on the storm going on around us

or within us that we lose sight of the

God who is God over it all.

But I think sometimes that's where it

ends begins is we have to reorient our

focus because that's what the psalmist

is doing is he's reorienting his focus

and saying therefore we will not fear

though everything else around us is

complete chaos though everything else

around us is shaking though everything

else around us that is moving

God is the stable foundation.

But notice what he says here.

I like that he says though the mountains

be moved. I like to ask a lot of

questions and I like to sometimes think

a little bit uh in that aspect because

that's how my brain works. Works through

questions. And I asked why mountains?

Why would he use a mountain as an

understanding? And some of you are

probably already 10 feet ahead of me.

But slow down for a second. Let me catch

up. Why mountains, right? Why not trees?

Why not something else that has a stable

root, stable foundation? Why not a

house? Why not a temple? Why not a

boulder or a huge rock? Even though a

mountain is a huge rock,

but why mountains?

Because if you think about the one thing

in this entire world that is never going

to move, it's a mountain.

Mountains don't move.

They may shake, but they don't move. It

doesn't all of a sudden change its

geographic location. And that's the

whole point. The mountains represent the

stability, a permanent stable

foundation, a sense of strength. The

things that we build our life around are

the mountains. The things that we assume

will always be there. Yet the psalmist

imagines the impossible.

The mountain moves. The stable now is

unstable. The dependable now is

uncertain. The permanent now is

temporary.

But isn't that what suffering feels

like?

It is not usually the things we expect

to change that shake us the most. It is

the things we thought would never

change. A relationship we always thought

was secure. A future we thought was

always certain. A person we thought

would always be there longer. A plan we

thought would always work out.

The things that we built our entire life

around the mountains.

But the psalmist does not deny it. He

looks directly at the chaos and says,

"Therefore, we will not fear

because God is still our refuge." God is

our refuge when life falls apart. Not

because life will never fall apart, but

because when it does, God gives his pl

his people somewhere to run in the midst

of trouble.

>> Our confidence was never supposed to be

in the mountains that stand before us.

Our confidence was always supposed to be

in the God who stands when the mountain

falls.

But if life really does become unstable,

then where is God in the middle of it?

What's God doing in the midst of all

this chaos? And why would God let this

chaos happen? And what do we do in the

midst of that chaos? Well, we know that

he offers us protection.

But a lot of times we don't lean into

the fact and acknowledge the fact that

his presence is with us. He is always

with us. He has never left us. He has

never turned his back on us. He's never

forsak us. Because then we get to how it

goes from chaos to now a switch in verse

four.

There is a river whose streams make glad

the city of God.

The beginning of the psalm is loud. It's

all about mountain shaking. It's all

about chaos. It's all about everything

being unstable. Everything shaking.

But there is a river. And that makes us

slow down for a second. makes us take a

step back and makes us kind of reorient

and refocus and go, "Okay, where's this

going now?" Because the imagery was

completely different, but now he's

shaking he's shaking it up and he's

saying, "All right, it's time to calm

down."

Because it moves from threatening waters

to now a lifegiving water. From chaos to

a sense of calm, from fear to a sense of

gladness, from instability to now a

sense of refreshment. And I don't think

that he did that by accident. He's

showing us that God has provided

something deeper for his people than the

chaos that surrounds them, a river.

And here's some fun cultural and

historical context for you. In in the

time of Jerusalem, there was not a major

river like other ancient cities. They

didn't have a ra a river running through

it. So, it's not like he was sitting at

a river going, "Oh, this is peaceful,

even though everything around me is on

fire. I could stare at this pretty water

and listen to it run across some rocks."

No, that's not what he's talking about.

That's not what's going on in the

moment. This is not a geography lesson.

This is him giving theology through

this. The river is a picture of God's

lifegiving, sustaining, and refreshing

presence with his people. This picture

is all throughout scripture. In Eden, a

river flowed from the garden as a

picture of life and blessing flowing

from the presence of God. In Ezekiel, we

see a river flows from the temple and

brings life wherever it goes, showing

that God's presence restores what is

dead and broken.

And as we bookend it, we started with

creation and now we get to revelation.

A river flows from the throne of God

reminding us that one day God's presence

will fully and finally make all things

new. So he's not simply saying there is

water. He's saying God is with his

people and his presence is more than

enough.

Because that matters. Because most of us

think the answer to chaos is to control

it.

If I can fix it, it'll bring me peace.

If I can understand it, I'll have peace.

If I can control the outcome, and that's

a hard one for me, I'll have peace.

But the older the older I've gotten, the

more I began to realize how much I

actually control. I cannot control

tomorrow. I cannot control people and

how they react. I cannot control the

grief that I feel or the emotions that

overcome sometimes.

And I cannot control what keeps me up at

night. I have no control over those

things, but I know a God who does.

The answer to chaos is never control.

The answer is always God's presence.

Peace is not found because the storm

disappears. Peace is found because God

is in the midst of his people. Because

look at what verse 5 says. God is in the

midst of her. She shall not be moved.

Don't miss the contrast because earlier

we see the mountains were moved and now

we see a city that will not be moved.

Why? Well, it's not because the city is

stronger. It's not because the city is

more stable. It's not because the city

has somehow a deeper root system.

It's not because of its walls. It's not

because of the people. It's because God

is within the city. The stability of

God's people has never rested on the

strength of God's people. It rests on

the presence of God. And this is good

news because there are seasons where all

we can do is simply hold on for dear

life. But our security is not rooted in

our ability to hold on to God. Our

security is in God's ability to hold on

to us.

And this is where I've seen Psalm 46.

Personally,

about a year and a half ago, my dad

passed unexpectedly.

Broke my heart. My dad was my hero.

My dad was the man that I would say was

Superman. He walked tall. He was a man

amongst men.

So one night, it was a normal day.

The Lord called my dad home. Don't know

why. Don't know what the reason was, but

I know that it absolutely shook me in

that moment

because here is my hero. A man who stood

tall,

I'm now saying goodbye to.

But in the midst of that moment, here's

the beauty of what Psalm 46 points us

to. In the midst of that moment,

God did not make the hurting stop. God

did not remove the grief. God did not

all of a sudden just make everything

rainbows and sunshine. Rather, what God

did was he gave me a peace I could not

explain in that moment. a joy I still to

this day can never understand.

Above all, the one thing that stood out

to me in the most in that moment was

that God never abandoned me in my

darkest of nights.

That is the beauty of Psalm 46 is that

we WORSHIP A GOD WHO sees us in our

darkness, who sees us in our hole, who

sees us in our trials and in our

struggles and says, "That is my child

and I will defend them and I will be

their refuge. I will be their strength.

I will be their joy. I will be their

peace.

It's not that everything stops hurting,

but rather that God is in the midst of

his people because we can hold on to the

second truth of verse 5.

God will help her when morning dawn. The

night may be long. The darkness you're

walking through may be tough. The

waiting may be painful. The tears are

going to be real. But God knows how to

bring help when morning dawn.

He may not work according to our

schedule,

but he is never absent in the darkest of

nights. He always brings light into the

darkest of moments. Because as we see it

as as it zooms out into verse six, we

see that chaos ensues.

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter.

He utters his voice and the earth melts.

It moves from a personal chaos to now a

global chaos. Nations are raging.

Kingdoms are tottering. The world still

feels unstable.

But notice the thing that still happens.

God still speaks in these moments. The

nations are loud, but one word from God

changes everything.

God does not have to fight for

authority. He does not have to defend

his throne. It simply says right here

that he speaks and the earth melts.

But then we get to the beauty of verse 7

just as much because look at what he

says. The Lord of hosts is with us. The

God of Jacob is our fortress. Now the

Lord of hosts means that he is Lord of

the armies. He's the God who commands

heaven's armies. The God who rules over

every nation. the God who is not

surprised, overwhelmed or threatened.

But the psalmist does not merely say

that the Lord, he is the the psalmist

does not merely say the Lord of hosts

reigns. He says the Lord of hosts is

with us.

>> And that makes a huge difference

because God's power would be terrifying

if his presence was never personal.

But the God who commands heaven's armies

is with his people. God is our peace

because he is always present. But how do

I know that he is really in control when

everything around me seems out of

control? And a lot of times that's what

happens in those moments of trial and

struggle and grief when our mountains

begin to shake. When the waters begin to

move? When everything around us becomes

unstable. We begin to want to shake our

fist at God and go, "What are you doing

right now? Why are you letting this

happen? What is going on? Where are you?

I know you bring protection. I know your

presence is with me, but how do I know

that you can bring a peace to this

storm?

Because a lot of times in those moments

where I've gone down on my knees before

the Lord with a closed hand,

I get up with open arms

because I begin to see in that prayer

that not only is he my protection, not

only is he my refuge, not only is his

presence with me and he is with me in

that moment,

but he reminds me I still have the final

say.

My power is the one that has the final

say. And that's what we must acknowledge

is his power over it all. Because that's

what verses 8 tell us because verse 8

then goes from all of chaos, from

everything falling apart

to come behold the works of the Lord.

I love that invitation. Come behold.

He's not asking us to ignore reality, to

pretend that life isn't hard. Rather,

he's saying, look at what God has done

already. Look at what God is doing in

the midst of all of this. Look at how

he's moving. Look at how he's stirring.

Look at how he's providing areas and

opportunities for this mess to become a

message. For this trial to become a

story for you to take where you were

uncomfortable to then be able to comfort

others in the midst of their trial as

well.

And if you are struggling to go trust

God in the present, just look back at

his faithfulness in the past

and it'll help reorient and to help us

better understand

because difficulty loves to narrow our

perspective. Difficulty loves to help us

hone in on what's only going wrong

because all we can see in the moment is

the problem, the burden, the fear. But

what the psalmist says is, "Come and

behold.

Look again. remember again, understand

again. And just to give you some

historical background as to what's going

on and leading up to Psalm 46, this is

the powerful moment is that King

Hezekiah

was about to be dominated by the

Assyrian military.

And this was the most powerful military

in the world. And they'd already

conquered nation after nation. And

Assyria had a surrounded Jerusalem. And

from a human perspective, most of us

would say they had no chance. They

didn't have a dog in the fight. There

was no chance of survival. There was no

chance of victory. There was no chance

for anything. And matter of fact, the

Assyrian king made a fatal mistake.

He sent a letter to Jerusalem mocking

God, threatening the people, and

basically saying, "No other God has

delivered anyone for my hand. So why

would your God be any different?"

Instead of letting rage build within

Hezekiah, he says, "You know what?

There's trouble outside the gate that

I'm about to face. There's something

bigger than what I can handle. And now

they've sent a letter mocking my God.

I'm going to take it to him. So Hezekiah

then takes the letter into the house of

the Lord and he spreads it out before

God, laying the threat and the fear and

the outcome before him and saying, "Do

what only you can do."

And that night, God delivered Jerusalem

without ever without Israel ever lifting

a sword, striking down over 185,000

Assyrian soldiers in the night.

So when Psalm 46 says, "Come, behold the

works of the Lord," is then inviting

God's people to remember that no army,

no king, no nation, no threat has ever

been stronger than the God who reigns

over all. And as we look back at the

history of why the psalm was written, it

helps us to better understand that faith

is simply taking what is crushing you

and laying it before the Lord, saying,

"I can't handle this, but I know you

can. I can't do this, but I know you

can. I can't carry this, but I know

you're able. God is bigger than me. God,

I can't carry this. God, this belongs in

your hands."

Because we see where verse 9 comes

alive.

He makes war cease to the end of the

earth. He breaks the bow and shatters

the spear. He burns the chariots with

fire.

Bows, spears, chariots, all objects of

man-made war.

These were all symbols back in that time

of human strength and human security.

The things that nations built all their

trust around and God breaks them.

And I think every single one of us,

every generation from here on out has

had its own version of some sort of

bows, some sort of chariots, right? It

could be money. It could be our

politics. It could be our influence. It

could be our ability. It could be our

plans or our control.

Different centuries, but the same

problem. Everything we trust apart from

God eventually proves too weak to hold

the weight of our hope.

The kingdoms of this world will rise and

fall. But God has never once had a

challenger to his throne, which I think

if we put this into our context,

so many of us spend so much of our time

and so much of our energy and so much of

our emotional capital worrying about who

sits in an earthly office for four years

that we lose sight of the God who has

sat on the throne for all of eternity.

Leadership matters absolutely, but no

election has ever threatened God's

sovereignty. No ruler has ever taken him

by surprise because notice what it says.

The nations rage, but God still remains

king over all.

Because then we get to the one that I

want to really take a minute on. We get

to verse 10. Many of us have heard it

and many of us find comfort in this

psalm and in this very verse.

Be still and know that I am God. But if

I'm being honest, I think sometimes, and

this was even for me studying this, I

think sometimes we misunderstand what

the whole be still part is. And I love

the way the CSB puts it. Doesn't say be

still and know that I am God. It says

stop fighting and know that I am God.

Because we often hear be still and think

of a quiet morning or a peaceful moment

with God. But in context, this is not a

first call to relax and to take a load

off. It is a declaration of his

authority. The earth is shaking. The

waters are roaring. The nations are

raging. But God speaks into the chaos

and says, "Stop. Enough. Know that I am

God. The nations must stop raging. The

enemies of God must stop rebelling. The

people of God must stop striving. All at

the sound of this command."

But that gets personal.

for being honest. Like this gets

personal for us. Because a lot of times

we feel like, okay, so I have to stop

fighting for what I need to fight for. I

have to stop doing what the Lord has

called me to do. I have I have to stop

and know that he is God. Like what does

that mean? What does that look like?

Well, for us, most of us, where it gets

personal is we're not trying to

overthrow God in this situation. But

rather, what we are doing is we're just

trying to help him run the universe.

Like God needs our help. Like God needs

our direction. like God needs us to tell

him what to do. We try to control our

outcomes. We try to control the people

around us. We try to control the

tomorrow that hasn't been done yet. And

we try to control the things that God

has never revealed to us.

And when we can't, we lead to worry. We

lead to fear. We begin to strive more.

We begin to wrestle with it. Well, what

does God say?

Be still.

Know that I'm God. Not that you are God.

Not that I am God, but that he is God.

He does not say understand everything.

He just says know that I am God.

Because our peace is not rooted in

explanations or answers. Our peace is

simply rooted in his character.

But then the psalm ends with one that I

love. The Lord of hosts is with us. The

God of Jacob is our fortress.

And we already talked about how the Lord

of hosts, the God of armies is with us,

but let's take a minute and look at the

God of Jacob is our fortress.

Why Jacob?

Why wouldn't he say that the God of

Abraham, the father of faith, the man of

promise, the God the man who God made a

covenant with?

Why Jacob?

Why not? The God of Moses is our

fortress, the deliverer, the one who

gave us the law, the one God used to

lead his people out of Egypt.

So why Jacob?

Why not the God of David, the king, the

man after God's own heart, the warrior

who led Israel into victory?

So again, why Jacob?

Because he says, Jacob, and let's think

of who Jacob is for a second. Jacob the

wrestler. Jacob the schemer. Jacob the

one who was always filled with fear. The

man who spent so much of his life trying

to control what only God could do.

Because honestly that sounds a lot like

us.

And maybe that's why the psalmist says

Jacob.

Because he knows exactly who will need

to hear Psalm 46. People who are tired,

people who are afraid, people who are

struggling, and people who are

wrestling,

people like Jacob,

people like us.

Because here's what I love about it all

is that's who God attaches himself to.

The schemer, the wrestler, the broken,

the flawed, the imperfect. And he says,

"I am their God and I will be their

fortress."

It does not say the God of Jacob was our

fortress. It says he is our fortress.

That present tense.

Jacob failed but God never did. Jacob

feared but God didn't. Jacob wrestled

but God didn't. Jacob changed but God

never has. This is our hope that we've

signed in Psalm 46 because God is

faithful to the struggler. He's faithful

to the worrier. He's faithful to the one

who wrestles, but above all, he is

faithful to people like us.

Everything in Psalm 46 is unstable.

Creation shakes, waters rage, nations

rise and fall. And honestly, isn't that

just life? Plans change. Health fails.

People leave. Dreams don't always unfold

the way we imagined.

People go to be with the Lord that we

hope to have more time with.

But Psalm 46 keeps bringing us back to

the same truth. When life falls apart,

God is our refuge. When chaos surrounds

us, God is our peace because he is

present. When the nations rage, God is

still king.

And maybe what some of us need today is

not a simple explanation.

Maybe what we need is the reminder that

he has never left us. The river is still

flowing. The refuge is still standing.

The fortress has not fallen. Everything

else must fail, may fail, but God never

has and never will

>> because the Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our fortress. Let's

pray.

Father God, we just thank you for this

time. And Lord, we just thank you for

being our refuge, Lord, for being our

strength, for being our very present

help in trouble.

Lord, when the nations rage and the

waters roar, you still stand.

Lord, you stand faithful with us,

Lord. You are our God. And Lord, I pray

that we just continue to look to you,

Lord. That we just continue to just have

that peace that surpasses understanding,

Lord. That joy that's unexplainable.

Lord, no matter what we're going

through, no matter what we're walking

through, no matter what mountains may be

moving,

Lord, may we hold fast to you who is

unmovable, who is always faithful, who

always stands strong.

Lord, may we never fear what stands

before us because we know that you are

the God of it all.

>> Lord, that you are Lord of all.

And Lord, I'm just praying this morning

that as we continue to just worship you,

Lord, that we just worship you and we

come and behold all that you have done.

Lord, you have been faithful to us,

Lord. Even in our darkest of times,

Lord, the morning still dawns.

And Lord, we just pray that you just

continue just be with us. Lord, we are

thankful for your presence. We are

thankful for your love. And Lord, we

just love you. And Lord, we praise you.

Lord, we just lift this time to you.

Your name we pray. Amen.

>> Amen.

>> Well, this morning we're going to finish

with a time of worship. And I just want

to encourage you that if Psalm 46 spoke

to you this morning and maybe there's

some things that you need to be like

King Hezekiah and lay it before the

Lord. That's what we're going to go into

a time of is myself and Pastor Roland

will be here. We want to pray for you.

We want to lift those things, take them

before the Lord and say, "God, you are

bigger than this." But I also want to

encourage you too that if you want to

bring your family up or if you just want

to come and have a personal time with

the Lord as well, that's what this altar

is here for. That's what this time is

about. But above all, I want to

encourage you too that if you've never

placed your faith in the go in the God

of Psalm 46, this morning is the

opportunity to do so because he is our

very present help in trouble. Not just

that God is a genie in a bottle, but

rather he is a savior and a redeemer and

he comes into our mess and he renews and

restores. And I want to encourage you if

you've never placed your faith in that

this morning, this is going to be an

awesome opportunity to do so. You can do

so right where you're sitting or you can

come up and celebrate with me and Pastor

Roland. Love to rejoice in that moment.

But I just want to encourage y'all as we

stand and as we sing. I love y'all.