Be Still: Finding God in the Middle of Chaos

The world is so full of chaos, and there are

things that are just out of order. And just being able to see

God in the middle of that, it really is huge.

It's a big blessing. So, my hope this morning is that we would be a

community of believers who we can find a God regardless of

our current situation, our current circumstance. Because here's the deal. God is the

only one who can change things in an instant.

Whether it's a big thing or a small thing, he's the only one with the

power and the ability to step into our lives and to change things in an

instant. So we're going to look at finding God in the chaos.

But before we get into God's word, let's get our hearts ready for what God

has for us this morning. Would you put your arms out with your palms up?

Close your eyes. Just a posture of

surrender. Take a deep breath.

And remember that God is just as near as

the air you're breathing. Let's pray.

God, today would you guide us closer to you? Help our minds put away

the frustrations of this past week. To put away the distractions of the

coming week. We want to fully focus on you. We come

empty with nothing to offer but surrender. Fill us

up as only you can. Holy Spirit, move in here today with power.

We believe that in advance. And we ask all these things in Jesus' name.

And all God's people said. Amen. Amen.

Amen. Hey, finding God in the chaos. Chaos is

defined as a state of utter confusion, disorganization, a complete lack

of control or predictability. Who wants

some chaos in your life? Like, chaos is one of those things that we just

really don't want. Want in life. We don't want confusion, uh,

disorganization. We all desire some level of control and

predictability. Nobody wants chaos in your life. Uh,

it's why, uh, if you're a Thunder fan, you love Alex Caruso,

right? Oh, whoa. All right, all right. He is an agent

of chaos, uh, towards the other team, right? He doesn't let them control, uh,

or predict what he's gonna do. He's always hounding the other team when he's on

defense. But chaos hits different when it's in life.

And not on the basketball court. And I'm so thankful that God's Word speaks

to not only this issue, but all the issues that we face.

There is no area of life that God doesn't speak at

least principles into. So today

we're going to be in Psalm 46. If you got your Bible, you can open

up to Psalm 46. We're going to look at a passage,

and it was written in the middle of a chaotic season.

Chaotic season. It's gonna offer us some instruction and direction on

how we can find God in the middle of the

chaos. Because we all will have seasons where this life just

throws the crazy chaos at us.

So Psalm 46. We're gonna start in verse 1. I'm just

gonna read one verse. Then we're gonna go through a little bit more. This is

a very well-known verse. It says, Psalm 46:1, God is our refuge.

Psalms 46:1

Hey, hey. All right. God is our refuge and strength,

always ready to help in times of

trouble. God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help

in times of trouble. It's a very popular verse. Some of you guys

might have this on a picture at your house, some wall art,

or maybe an Instagram post, or maybe on a t-shirt. It's like a very comforting

verse. It's a very encouraging verse. Our refuge,

he is our strength, always, always ready to

help in times of trouble. And once

you get the full context on this, this is amazing

the faith that is seen when they are writing this passage.

And so like you can just read that, hey, he is our ever-present help,

he is our refuge and strength, always ready to help. That in

and of itself is like encouraging and good. But when you dig into the Word

of God and get the full context, you don't just skim it, but you dig

into it deeply. There's some more here, I promise you.

The deeper you go into the Word of God, the more rewarding you

will find it. So don't skim on the Word of God.

So a bit of backstory about this passage. This Psalm was written, Psalm 46

was written about 701 BC.

And at that time, one of the enemies of God's people,

people in Jerusalem, they were There was an evil Assyrian king,

and I'm just going to say an evil Assyrian king because I can't pronounce his

name. You cool with that? There's this evil Assyrian king. He really was a bad

dude. And at that time, the Assyrians are known as

like this vicious military power. Like they have

some strength there. And one of the things that they would do,

just to kind of give you an idea of how like crazy,

chaotic, whatever word you want to use there about how just insane they were,

is Before they went into battle with somebody, they would send like

a note. Like I wanted to say postcard,

but that, like an even note sounds a little too nice. It's not really doing

what I'm saying justice. If you've seen the movie The Little

Giants, when they talk about intimidation, right?

Like that's what this note is about. So they

would send drawings to the people,

to the city, The place that they are about to attack. And they

would send them drawings of what they would do when they

captured them. So,

you can actually find these online. They'd send these little tablets,

so they'd have these pictures. And then people would like recreate them.

Pulling out their beards. Them hitting people in

the head. All kinds of evil torture. It's really just

brutal. They found some where they even had these like big spears,

like these large spears, and they would impale people on them.

Like they would set them on top of this giant spear and

work the spear, or really work this person all the way down to where that

spear is all the way to their head.

You maybe heard it said. That the Romans invented the crucifixion,

right? They crucified Christ. The Romans did that. Some people actually say that the

Assyrians invented it. The Romans just perfected it. Okay.

There's also records of the Assyrians where when they would go

to war, they would take some, like, treasures. Some spoils

from the battle. And not like gold and whatnot. I'm sure they would do that

too. But whenever they killed somebody, they would cut off their nose.

Or their ear, and they would put it on a necklace. So they'd have a

chain that's got like their body count of all the people that they've

destroyed in war. They also have

record of them filleting their captured enemies.

Are you guys picking up the picture that I'm painting about the Assyrians right now?

They are in 701, that's when this Psalm is

being recorded, that's when it's— like, there's people who say that's when this is written,

like scholars. This evil Assyrian king,

701, is about to attack Jerusalem.

So the people who are at this time, like when this Psalm is being written,

are being attacked by that evil king.

The city is under siege, and they're under attack by some pretty

ruthless people. And so that bunch is sending you these

images and they're sending you these drawings and they're saying the things that they're going

to do to you and your city. They're going to do these horrible things to

your family and to you.

That's the attack that they're under when we read Psalm

46. God is our

refuge and strength, always ready to help.

In times of trouble. I would imagine that's a troubling time.

Please hear me on this, life can absolutely be hard. I'm not trying to minimize

anything that you are going through.

But the chaos in our lives is nothing like the chaos that

these people would have been experiencing when this Psalm was going on.

Like physical death, torture to your

family, And you. Those people,

they're under attack. People who don't just want to kill them. They want to torture

them and make examples. And they want it to be so brutal to them that

the next time they send that letter of intimidation. Whatever you want to call that.

That those people just bend the knee and they don't put up a fight.

They just offer their tribute. So that's

like the geopolitical context of Jerusalem at this time. The Assyrians are

about to attack them. They would have been outnumbered. They would have been more skilled.

And without a doubt, they are more ruthless. And in the middle of all that,

the psalmist writes, God is our refuge and strength,

always ready to help in times of trouble.

The trouble they're experiencing is intense, but they

are turning to God to help them.

Hear me, there is nothing too big for God to handle in your life.

There is nothing too big. Big for God to handle in your life.

God is your refuge. A refuge literally means a

place of trust,

security. It's the exact opposite of

chaos. God is your strength and he is always ready to help.

I'm going to read the rest of Psalm 46 here. And I

just want you to— like, that's how he starts

it. We're really going to focus on how he ends this chapter here. But look

at all the terrors described that are described after

he says, hey, God is our refuge and our strength. He's always ready to help

in times of trouble. Let's look at the next few verses

here. So we will not fear.

Hey, he's about to list some— a pretty intense list. But he starts with saying,

he is our refuge and strength. We are not going to fear.

When earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea,

Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the

waters surge. A river brings joy to the city of our God,

the sacred home of the Most High. God dwells in that city. It cannot be

destroyed. For from the very break of day,

God will protect it. The nations are in chaos.

Thanks, Billy. That was loud and proud. The nations are in chaos

and their kingdoms God's voice thunders

and the earth melts. The Lord of heaven's armies

is here among us. The God of Israel is our fortress.

It says interlude there at the end. That's just like a Selah. It's like a

pause before the next one. We're going to come back to that. Verse 8,

come see the glorious works of the Lord. See how

he brings destruction upon the world. He causes wars to

end. Verse 9. There we go. He causes

wars to end throughout the earth. He breaks the bows and snaps

the spear. He burns the shields with fire. Verse 10. Be still

and know that I am God. I will be honored by every nation.

I will be honored throughout the world. Last verse. Verse 11.

The Lord of Heaven's Armies is here among

us. The God of Israel is our fortress.

God is our refuge. He is our strength.

He's always ready to help in times of trouble. And it lists all these horrible

things that you could fear. It says we will not fear because he is

our refuge. He is our fortress. And in verse 10

it says, be still.

And know that I am God.

We're looking at how do we find God in the chaos.

And it's simple. I'm not going to say it's easy, but it is simple.

Be still. Be still and know that

he is God. That be still, that term

is rapha, all right, in the original language. It means to release or

let go. God commands the forces of chaos

and the nations. He's in control. He's bigger than the chaos that is

in this world, and he is telling you, be still.

Release or let go.

God is with you.

Here's the amazing part. If your faith is in Jesus, the Holy Spirit is always

with us. He is always with you. You will never Leave him.

The instruction that God has given us, it's really pretty simple.

To put it into my words, right, he's saying get off the hamster wheel that

just keeps on spinning, right. Be still.

Release. Let it go. He's telling us that in the stillness

we can hear him. Have you ever

seen somebody do the opposite of that? They're struggling and in their struggle they

are trying harder and harder and in their effort to do things better and to

fix it they actually keep making worse. You ever experience that?

You don't dig yourself out of a hole. You put the shovel down. You quit

digging. Right? I just keep thinking of— I'm

going to date myself a little bit here. These are reruns. I want to be

clear that I say that. I'm not that old. Alright. But I just keep thinking

of that clip from I Love Lucy. Alright. Where they're working in the chocolate factory.

Have you seen that one? And they just got it going. And they're wrapping the

chocolates as they're coming out. And they get behind. They resort to like hiding in

the hat. They got it in their mouth. They got that. And then the boss

comes and checks in, it's like a perfectly clean line, and she's

like, you guys are doing great, speed it up, right?

It's a lot easier to leave that wheel of

the chaos, that wheel just keeps spinning, than to try to run faster

and catch up. 'Cause when you're stuck in the chaos,

and you try to run faster and you're on that hamster wheel, all it does

is spin faster. And that's

really easy to see in others. Like, you can see when somebody else is like,

man, they are trying so hard and they are getting nowhere.

But it's so hard to see in ourselves. Oftentimes, when we're in the middle

of that chaos, it makes us think we can get ahead of it all on

our own. Personal example, if you have children,

I have young children on here, but I think if you have children at any

age, you can see this. Earlier this week, my daughter, We were just having the

kids clean up around the house. And my youngest, she is like, she will have

stuff in everybody's room. It's great to pick up. She's got toys spread

out. Hey, pick those up. And she is by our bedroom, like on the other

side of the house, picking up all of her stuff. Her hands are completely full.

She's wearing like a Disney dress with like plastic slipper, like high heels

that like are click, click, click, like, you know. She's got books,

stuffed animals, little trinkets that should be thrown away, colored pencils,

drawings, basically everything that you could imagine a little girl would have. And she's

walking back to her room. It's on the other side of the house. And like

every 2 or 3 steps, what happens? She drops something.

Does she say, my hands are full, I'm gonna go drop this off and

come back? No, what any other 5-year-old would do, what does she do?

Tries really hard to pick it up, and then when she's trying to pick up

the other thing, what does she do? Drops something else.

Inevitably, she just keeps dropping more and more, and that's where mom

and dad lovingly step in. Ken, why don't you drop that stuff off, come back

and pick this up, you can get the stuff you dropped. Trying to do it

all at once is actually making it slower, and you're making it more

challenging than it should be, right? Kenley needs someone

to say, hey, baby, you don't have to do it all at once.

Like, to put it how we adults would talk, you're over-functioning.

You need to chill, right?

Church, that's basically what God is communicating to us here. When life

is chaotic, he is right there. There is nothing

that would make God He is always there. When your world feels

chaotic, be still

and know that He is God. He has not left you.

But oftentimes, when our world is chaotic, we pretty much do the exact

opposite. We don't release. We don't let go.

We clamp down even tighter, hoping that if we grit our teeth,

we can make things better. I mean, am I preaching to

anybody? Or is this just me? Like, that's me. I try to do that,

right? Be still and know that I am God. The reason he

tells us to know that I am God

isn't because he wants— isn't just because he wants to remind you of who

he is. Like, he does want to remind you who

he is. It's also because he wants you to know who you aren't.

You're not God. God, there's only one Lord and

it's not you. Trust Him.

Because here's the truth we need to cling to. The chaos around

you cannot override the refuge that lives inside you.

God is with you. He is our refuge, our place

of trust. Rest in Him.

Psalm 34:8 says this.

Psalms 34:8

Taste and see that the Lord is

good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge

in him. Can I tell you one of the reasons

it's a joy to take refuge in God? Because it

frees you up from having to have all the answers.

It releases you from having to perform, to have it all together.

Taking refuge in God gives you everything and it costs

you nothing. All you have to do is be still and

know that he is God. When life is chaotic,

do you take refuge in the Lord or do you take refuge in something or

someone else?

I know all of us have tendencies to like lean onto people or

other situations. Like, I'll just— I am so, so,

so blessed by my wife. I was doing the math the other day. We were

doing this. We started dating January 22nd, 2008. I was 17.

I'm 35. We've been together— together, not married— together 18

years. I've spent more than half of my life together with her.

She's my best friend. No one knows me or loves me like she does.

Even with all that time together and the love and the joy that

we find in one another, here's the truth. She's an amazing woman, wife, and mom.

But she is a terrible guide.

Right. Like, and I'm not like, and I'm

not getting down on her, and the same is true for me, right.

I can't look at her. I can't look to her to fix

the chaos that's in my life, and she can't look to me to fix the

chaos that is in her life, and it's not because either of

us lack a desire to provide refuge for the other one. It's not because of

lack of desire. It's because we

have a lack of means. We are finite beings. We are humans.

But God is God. He owns

everything. There is nothing out of His reach.

I think sometimes when life gets chaotic, instead of reaching— or instead

of being still and releasing, we reach to the things around us.

And for some of us, that's our spouse or relationship. Some people don't look

to their spouse. They look for money. Money's great. It's a tool. It can help

you. But money makes a terrible god. Some people look for power and influence.

They can feel good. They can give us a sense of control. But they make

a terrible god. There is only one Lord, and his name is Jesus.

Taste and see that he is good. Oh, the joys of

those who take refuge in him.

When life is chaotic, when it is full, busy, and it seems like you can't

get your bearing on where to turn, you feel upside down, you feel twisted,

turn to Jesus.

It's simple, but it's not always easy.

Turn to Jesus. The chaos of life will try and

turn the volume up so that you struggle to hear

from the Lord. Like, that's just

kind of the enemy's tactic. Your mind gets so busy that it's

a challenge to hear from God, to hear his still,

small voice, the whisper of God.

It's hard to hear a whisper when it's loud all around you.

It's hard to hear someone speak when it just feels like you're being bombarded with

Thursday night, Kelsey and I took the boys to go see Dude Perfect this week.

It was a birthday gift for them they got from my in-laws. They absolutely loved

it. It was a packed house at Paycom

Center. Right? They had some of the top section closed off. It wasn't as many

people as a Thunder game. It was pretty full, but it wasn't as full as

a Thunder game. But I can promise you this. When it's the

Dude Perfect crowd, the kid-to-adult ratio was much higher

than normal. The adults were outnumbered. There was a lot of kids.

And don't get me started on how expensive the

merch was. Alright. It was rough. It was rough. But on that

main, like, concourse level, it was packed with kids

waiting in line for merch or food. It was

chaos in there for sure.

Like, it was mad. Kids just don't know where to go.

Like, I don't know if you've ever been in a situation like that. It's like,

come on. You gotta just Let's go. It was chaos. It was insanity in there.

And I think about all the parents who were in there with their kids.

And if a kid got turned around, he would say, Mom or Dad.

And there's thousands of moms and dads

in that room, right? But that kid can say,

Mom or Dad. And if it's your kid,

you know it's yours. Even in the midst of all those people

running around and the chaos, The parent could hear, Mom,

or Dad, and when it's your child, you know. You know

their voice. You know it's them.

You just know. Look at John 10.

You'll find such an encouragement. It's verse 14.

This is Jesus talking. I am the Good Shepherd.

I know my own sheep, And they know

me. He knows

us and we know him. We're gonna

jump down to verse 27. Help me out with that word in yellow. My sheep.

My sheep listen to my voice.

Listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me.

I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one

can snatch them away from me. For my Father has given them to

me, and he is more powerful than anyone.

No one can snatch them from the Father's hand.

2 pieces of encouragement from this passage. First one

is God knows us, and he holds us, and no

one can snatch us from him. We are secure in the hands of

Jesus. Like there's nothing that anybody could do to

change our standing with God. That's the first thing. Second thing.

My sheep listen to my voice.

I want to challenge you a little bit with this. But this is just true.

There is no situation where it is impossible for

us to hear the still small whisper of God.

We are His children. When we speak, He hears us.

Do we hear Him? Or have we let all the chaos around us

cover our ears to our Father?

Now, in the book of Psalms, there's a phrase that's used often.

It was actually used 3 times in Psalm 46. In the NLT,

it says interlude. But in many other translations it says Selah.

Now, the book of Psalms is literally like songs that could be sung.

And Selah, it means rest.

Like it's saying, hey, we got to the end of this. Like you would take

a beat before you start the next part.

You'd sing the next part of the song. Selah means

to rest or pause. Take a breath

before you continue on.

What a great piece of instruction for us to hear from God,

especially in the chaos of life, to pause,

take a breath before we press on to

the next thing. There are moments where pausing

feels like the wrong thing to do,

right? Like, we want to press forward and work to

get rid of the problems we are experiencing.

That there is something about personal responsibility. I don't think I need to talk to

you guys about that. We need to slow down.

How freeing would it be?

To pause, to be still,

and acknowledge that Jesus is God, that the

Holy Spirit is with you, that there is nothing that can take you

from him, and that God is bigger than any of your

problems. Not only is he bigger than any of your problems,

he is ready to help you with them.

That pause. That acknowledgment.

That'll put gas in your tank. It gets you off

that, that hamster wheel that's just spinning round and round. And it puts

your problems at the feet of Jesus. That's where they belong.

You weren't meant to carry the weight of them.

I'm gonna throw Psalm 46:10 up one more time.

Psalms 46:10

It says, be still. And know that

I am God. Church, I want to finish today just a little differently than

normal. I want you to have a quiet moment with God.

A moment where you can be still and just know

that he is God. So, here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna pray for us.

And before the band leads us in worship, we're just gonna take a moment.

Maybe 30 seconds before we start to sing. And I just want you

to Be with

God right where you're at. Maybe you need to pray. You need to bring Him

your problems, your worries, concerns.

And as you do that, just take comfort knowing He

hears your voice, and He is God.

He cares for you. He is your refuge, and He is always ready

to help in times of trouble. Let's pray, church. God,

we're so thankful that we can count on you. God, that you always

hear us. That you're always ready to step into our mess.

That you don't leave us on our own. God, that you are stronger and bigger

than our problems. And you are ready and willing to step in. God,

help us to get off the wheel that just keeps spinning. And the harder

we run, the faster it goes. To be still and

to know that you are God. And you take care of all of our problems,

all of our issues. God, help us to pause,

to take that moment to be with you and acknowledge who you are.

God, I pray that you bless this time as we do that individually and as

a church. We ask all these things in Jesus' name. Amen.

Right where you're at, with your heads bowed and your eyes closed, just take a

moment to be with God and acknowledge him.