Is God Really There For Me? Finding Refuge in God: Psalm 46

You're listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a

couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun in

practical ways. Well, hey, everybody, welcome to an episode of

The Bible Guys.

Another one. Yes really episode.

Yes, in advance, we announce this is gonna be a

thrill Like if you live locally, forget Cedar Point, buddy,

if this episode of The Bible Guys, if this.

Is your first episode, we just can only imagine how

exciting it's going to be for you. For the rest

of you, you're already yawning, hang on.

Your hairs are going to be blown back today we

are going to launch into a segment. Uh that desiree

is put together and uh, I love this one. You

want to read it says?

It says. We know Chris knows his movie quotes. Let's

test his overall movie trivia knowledge. Can he answer these

trivia questions correctly?

And just so you'll know, Jeff has the questions. I

do not and have not seen them. So I don't

even know what movies we're going to be talking about.

Okay, and the only only the deepest movies. I want

you almost sophisticated movies. Arthouse type movies.

I always want to give a disclaimer because in the past,

you know, we have chosen quotes that are supposedly famous quotes,

and I'm like, those aren't famous quotes. I don't know

what's coming, but I want to defend myself already.

Okay, all right, go ahead. Remember I told you only

the most sophisticated movies. Yes, so in Dumb and Dumber,

what is the name of the dog that Harry and

Lloyd travele with?

Name of the dog?

Yeah, she's wrong on this one. It's not dog. It's

a bird.

Oh the bird's pet.

Yeah, there you go.

But there is no dog. There's a dog truck.

Dog truck. Right, it's a bird. Yeah, so you knew, Pete.

Good job, good job.

Our birds heads are falling off.

Dude. I know that movie like the back of my hand.

I love that. See. This is a tough one, isn't it.

That's so good? Okay?

In Anchorman, Oh, this is great. What is Ron Burgundy's

favorite kind of music?

Jazz? He plays the flute. There's a whole scene where

he plays the flute. You remember that. It's the jazz flut.

Oh my gosh, it's so good.

So I like jazz. I'm a yeah, yeah, I love jazz.

Listened to jazz?

Is it for me? It's like I'm good for a while.

After I listened to it, I'll turn it on. I'm like, oh,

this is nice, and then then I'm like, I'm good

for like six months. Yeah? Okay.

In Mean Girls, what do the girls refer to as

refer to their lunch table ass?

Yeah, so so I don't know Mean Girls all that well,

but I do know this. It's the plastics.

Yeah, that's right, the plastics.

Yeah that's correct. Yeah, I do know that, because I

mean that's sort of the whole point.

I would have no idea, like on any of these

except for p D.

Really you would have known Anchorman you.

Yeah, I wouldn't have. I remember it now that you

mentioned it, but I didn't remember. Okay, So you watch

movies more than one time? Oh, I watch a movie,

I almost never go back and watch it again. I

maybe have ten movies I'll go back and rewatch.

So I watch movies again all the time. Okay, so good.

In Step Brothers, what do Brennan and Dale's parents discover

they have in commons?

It's easy. They both can't stand the place that they work.

Yep, they both hate their jobs.

Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah, this is this is She has

chosen great movies, so this is real. This is right

at my alley here.

In Bridesmaids, what happens during the dress fitting that causes

a chaotic scenes.

This is one of the best scenes. It's horrific. Yeah,

they went to a Mexican restaurant and then they ate

some bad food and.

Then one of the bridesmaids gets no, no, no, they

all food poisoning. Well, one gets food poisoning.

They all get food poisoning except for the one who abstained. Yes,

and then they basically soil all the guesses. There you go,

and it is a scene that is unlike any other scenes.

So anybody else has seen that movie, We're sorry for

bringing that up, especially if you're watching it while you're eating.

Yeah, but I gotta tell you it is one of

the funniest funny Yes. Thanks.

Hey, well there you go. You are five for five today,

mister Melissa McCarthy. She's like, look away, and you were like,

I don't even care about this one today, right, You're

a little intimidated by the fact that it was just

random movie trivia as opposed to quotes.

Well, okay, so so there's a there's a defending of

the honor. But what I said was what I said

was before the before the podcast started. As I said,

if it was a Bible trivia, I would care right, right,

because then you look like, oh, you don't really know

anything but even a Bible guy, right. But if you

don't know movies, who cares? Right? So that's what I was. So,

but thank you, Desiree for movies that I know.

We continue to be amazed by you.

No, that's not true.

Yes, that is not true at all. That's it. Okay,

So I have noticed that she rarely ever picks movies

that you know, want any oscars. So there's that.

Dumb and dubber anchorman step Brothers. Yea, yeah, oh my gosh,

that's so good. Anyways, by the my girls, both of

my girls have the entire scene where they were giving

a toast to the to the bride, and there was

the two sort of like the two best you know,

like the maid of honors. They were sort of competing

for the friendship of the bride and they kept on

grabbing the microphone and then when one got done, the

other one would come up and try to out do

the other one. It's like a ten minute scene and

both of my girls have the entire scene memorized. Oh really, yes,

that's how much.

So I've never seen it. I've never seen mean girls,

step brothers or bridesmaids.

Have you ever see step brothers? That's definitely worth it?

Never? Yeah, okay, okay, but I have read Some forty

six before, so that's where you would love stepbrothers. Yeah, okay,

well this is where we're at now. We're on p.

Forty six. Yes, and we were talking why are we

reading some forty six at this point?

Yeah?

And it's mostly just reminding ourselves that during all of

these things that are happening, the wars, the the victories,

the coup, the sin, the repentance, David is still constantly

engaging with God. He's still writing, he's still praying the psalms,

our prayers that he wrote as songs that the people

would sing because he was a man after God's own heart.

Even though he was still a man that would fail

and succeed in ups and downs, he still desired a

walk with God. And I think that that's a lesson

for us. You know when we're winning and when we're losing,

we still need to lean into our faith with God.

And so God, this is a consistent one. I mean,

they just came through a difficult time. What we read yesterday,

God had to bring judgment because of the people's sin.

And then but we also see David writing things like this,

as he says in Psalm forty six. God is our

refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

So we will not fear. When earthquakes come and the

mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam,

Let the mountains tremble as the water serve. A river

brings joy to the city of our God. The sacred

home of the Most High God, God dwells in that city.

It cannot be destroyed. From the very break of day,

God will protect it. The nations are in chaos, and

their kingdoms crumble. 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. Come see the glorious

works of the Lord. See how he brings destruction upon

the world. He causes wars to end throughout the earth.

He breaks the bow and snaps the spear. He burns

the shields with fire. Be still and know that I

am God. I will be honored by every nation, and

I will be honored throughout the world. The Lord of

Heaven's armies is here among us. The God of Israel

is our fortress. So this is perhaps written around one

of the times David had great victory over his enemies,

you know, perhaps that time after the Philistines.

Yeah. And by the way, it's worth noting that there

are certain psalms that have inspired hymns and psalm them.

A mighty Fortress is our God comes directly from this

psalm that we're reading today, which is kind of cool. Uh.

There are there are a lot of hymns that that

have come And by the way, Uh, you and I

both grew up with hims, right, traditional hymns. We're talking

about him him books. Do you still remember the pages

of some of them? No, you don't, not really, Yeah,

I do. Where you would you know, pick it up

and they'd say, you.

Know, between Jesus, Yeah, there.

You go, there you go. So you got one that's

the American hymn, that's the American.

I don't know, Okay, remember.

Well anyway, the bottom line is is, uh, you know,

I think that these hymns inspire us because it reminds

us of what is true about God. You know. I

think that worship music is the same way. And we

talked about this before, We talked about worship music, uh,

several months back. But one of the reasons why I

like reading the psalms is because, even though it may

not necessarily be new information, it's a reminder, right, Like,

for instance, you know this will be airing this podcast

will be airing after our presidential election, right, but we're

recording it before our presidential election, and so we just

did it. We're in the middle of a two week

series right now in our church that we work at,

and what we're doing is we're saying, like, hey, regardless

of the candidates and regardless of who you vote for

the first week of our message simply said this, don't

ever forget who is in charge. Don't ever forget that

God is still in control. Right, even though that uncertainty

is unavoidable, being fearful is always optional. So and that

is an important reminder, and it may not necessarily be

new information, like oh wow, I didn't know that. I

thought fearful was a mandate, you know. No, it's not

new information. It is a reminder in times of stress,

in times of fear and worry. And I think that

that's what psalms does for us. It just reminds us

just who it is that we're praying to. It reminds

us just who it is that we're you know, worshiping

and following that God is always there, look at look

at first. Number one. God is our refuge and strength,

always ready to help us in times of trouble. So

what we will not fear when? And then he just

starts listing the most horrific catastrophes, catastrophe is known to mankind.

And and so it's just again, it's just one of

those things that you know, it's it's it's the reason

why I get in my wife's car and I always

say my wife because it's one hundred percent of the

time I turn on the car and it's it's uh

K love, you know, it's always K love. It's always

worship music Christian radio station, all the all the time,

every day, every time. Right, And it's.

Because she loves Jesus, right, It's right right, Well, you

know that's it.

She does.

She loves Jesus.

Rights.

Yes, that's what I'm saying.

I'm trying to say. You know what I'm trying to say.

She list trying to say that sometimes I'll turn it

over to country or things like this because you love

you're preempty.

You love to pick up trucks and booze and running around, because.

You're saying, that's what country missing is about.

Right, and dogs. I think everybody has a dog.

In my trailer park. I gotta watch dog named Bubba.

He barks and strangers.

But your wife loves Jesus.

Okay, Jeff Boot, you love boat scooting, you love bot,

she loves a minute ago that you like jazz. Okay,

so that means you don't love Jesus.

What are the words to jazz?

Anyways? Okay, all right, no, So.

Anyways, I'm sorry I interrupted you. So you turn on

the radio and she's listening.

It's always because because it's a reminder throughout the day,

that's my point. It's a reminder that you know, God's

in control regardless of what you're facing, regardless of what

you're dealing with. And that's what Psalm forty six is

and so many of the other songs.

Right, I'm sorry, man, that was funny.

That was very funny.

I don't think you're going to hell because you like

to listen to a song about bootscooting.

Right, right, bootscoot and boogie. Not, by the way, not

that that's one of my favorite songs, right, although Brooks

Are Done is pretty cool.

So I love this. There's a note it turns out

and remember we keep telling people you should get to

yourself a good study Bible. Yes, so there's a note

that says that it seems like chapters what is it

forty that's right here? Forty six, forty seven, and forty

eight are hymns of praise, celebrating deliverance from some great foe.

And then it says forty six may have been written

when the Assyrian army invaded the land and surrounded Jerusalem,

which you can read in Second King's chapter eighteen. So

David seems to be writing about, hey, when we are

up against it, it's interesting to me. He says, God

is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in

time of trouble, so we will not fear when these

bad things happen. Right, it's really interesting. David never writes

like he has an expectation that bad things won't happen.

We live in a broken world. There are bad people

in the world that do bad things, so bad stuff happens,

and he's not surprised that bad things are happening. He's

just saying, regardless of what happens, God's my refuge. That's

a really good way to live. If you live running

around always terrified that something bad might happen, and then

you're praying God help bad things not to happen. God

help bad things not to happen. God help bad things

not to happen. Then you're shocked when bad things happen, right,

because the world we live in is broken, not that

God makes bad things happen, but because the world is

broken by sin. And so instead David doesn't have the

sense of, oh, no, something bad might happen. Instead, he's saying,

even when bad things happen, God is my refuge. And

so it's cool because there's two elements that he's right here.

One is he's our refuge. You know, you run to

a refuge. Think of like in The Lord of the

Rings Helms Deep. You know they run into these castles.

They run into these fortresses that are the last stand

places for the kingdom. You know, you run into this refuge.

That's the last chance you have. And he's saying, God

is where we run. We run to him. But then

the rest of the passages and God wipes out the

bad guys. Right God literally he's talking, come and see

the glorious works of the Lord. See how he brings

a destruction. Right, So he's my refuge. I run into him,

and then I'm gonna watch him do the work. So

fear usually is because we're afraid we don't have what

it takes. But David Face with the biggest army he's

going to Face, says, we run to God and then

what Let's watch him bring destruction. That's a pretty cool

place to be.

So I'm going to do something I've never done before

in the Bible. Guys, in all five hundred and something episodes. Yeah, well,

I'm going to read you a passage of scripture across referencing,

and I'm going to give you a trivia on and

you're going to get it on what the next word is, okay,

and then I'm going to ask you where it is Okay,

okay ready.

Yes, I'm going to feel No, you're not.

Okay, Okay, this says consider it pure joy, my brothers

and sisters. What's the next word?

When when trials?

When trials? Right? When when you face trials of many kinds?

And that it's found in the Book.

Of James chapter one.

Boom, I told you all right, got it?

I get to keep my Bible guy's card for another

for another week.

Yeah, I mean it's exactly what you just said, right,

And so we don't have to necessarily only look to

the Old Testament. We could look to the New Testament.

When here's the brother of Jesus who writes directly to

the post you know, modern church. It's us, right, we're

the ones post Jesus uh, the Holy Spirit, you know,

filled believers and followers of Christ who have now are

on the other, the other side of Christ sacrife. And

what does it say? Guess what? When?

Yeah?

When trials come? And which means trials are going to come.

You know, I have a good friend, Jack Wilson, who

is a psychologist and a counselor, and he always used

to say, hey, I have bad news. But usually every

person faces a major crisis every seven years on the average,

he said. So, he said, so here's the bad news.

He goes, either right now in your life, you're either

coming out of a major crisis or you're about to

go in one or one is coming.

Yeah, right or no, no or no one or coming

out of one, or you're going in.

That's right, that's right, that's right. But it's like pretty

depressing to think about that. But it is exactly what

we're talking about.

Well, Paul says, so remember and this is what I

love about you quoting the New Testament. There the Bible

is this best own commentary. God will always be consistent

from beginning to end. And so you know, Paul says

that we can when we realize our weakness, we get

to see God be strong. This is what David's saying

here is he said, God's a refuge. We run to him.

Now watch him bring destruction. Look, lookally he goes, he

causes wars to end throughout the earth. And then it

says he breaks the bow and snaps the spear and

he burns the shield with fire. Right, So he's saying,

God fights for me, and this is the advantage that

we have. That's why sure fear exists for all of us,

but we don't fear like lost people do people who

don't know Christ. We don't have to have the anxiety

and the worry that people that are without God would have. Instead,

he's saying, God's the one I'm trusting in, and he's

the one that brings victory. He's the one that causes

battles to end. He's the one who breaks the bow

and snaps the spear. There have been times when I

was going into a situation where I knew, oh, man,

my lunch. This person I'm going to a meeting, this person's

going to eat my lunch right, And I felt like

it was unjust. I felt like I was going to

get roughed up for no reason. I just was dreading

the day. And I can remember on multiplications praying God

just confused their words, help them not be able to

bring the argument they're going to bring.

Right.

I've done it many times, and then I just sit

there and watch them stumble all over and then talk

themselves out of the thing they were mad about. And

I believe that's kind of the thing. Right. He's the

one who's breaking that bow. He's the one who's breaking spear.

He's the one confounding the enemy. So when you run

to God, and by the way, a bunch of our

listeners getting ready to go into Thanksgiving and you're worried

about those crazy uncles and all the people want to

fight about the election and all this kind of stuff.

Just pray that God confounds it. Pray that God's the

one who snaps the spear and breaks the bow, and

that God's the one that just takes the fight away.

That's really what it's saying is God's the one who

can take the fight away. And so then what is

my response and your response supposed to be, David says.

David quotes God saying, be still and know that I'm God. Right,

that's it. Well, be still and know that I am God.

Well, think about this. The breaking of the bow was

it wasn't just an average bow that was being broke.

That is symbolic that the war has ended. Right, So

they would literally take at the end of a war,

they would take a bow and they would break it ceremoniously.

This is very similar to what we would still say,

like burying the hatchet, right, So bearing the hatchet. I

don't know if you don't know if you know the

history behind that, but it was actually used since our

Pilgrim's Day pilgrimage days, where they would literally create a

treaty between the Indians and Us and they would symbolically

take a hatchet and bury it just to symbolize peace,

which is exactly what David's saying here. They would take

a crossbow and they would break it, or they would

break a spear, or they would like a long bow

or yeah, it could be a long bow, or they

would burn a shoe with fire. And so what he's

saying is this is the symbol of the coming to

an end of a war. And then what you just

said is what I was just about to say too.

And then it says be still and know that I'm God. Well,

think about what he says. He's saying, don't be afraid

in the midst of tragedy when the earth crumbles and

then the enemy surrounds, because God will end, he will

break the bow. So he's actually painting a picture of

somebody who's in the midst of war. And then he's

saying be still, So he's not saying be still after

the war's over. He's saying be still in the midst

of war, knowing that this is God. God is on

your side. God is going to end the war. God's

going to take the victory. So in the midst of

your battle, be still and know that I am God.

I would be honored in every nation. You know, ultimately

God is going to get the victory no matter what.

In the end, He's the one that's going to win.

You know, isn't it cool? How again, the Bible also

says in the Book of Phlippians that one day every

knee will bow. Yeah, every tongue is going to confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord. Even David a long time

ago says, I'll be honored in every nation.

Eventually he will will He'll end the wars. It's all

coming to an end. All the these battles that you're

fighting will come to an end, and then we'll all

bow the knee before the king.

That's right.

So he starts the chapter. God's our refuge and strength,

always ready to help in times of trouble, and he

ends it. So be still and know that I'm your God.

The Lord of Heaven's armies is here among us. The

God of Israel is our fortress. That's how he ends, right,

and so the only answer for followers of God in

crisis is to run to him, watch him win the victory.

Bow the knee, that's right, and just be still. Yeah

that's hard.

That can be hard. Ben the knee it's yeah, yeah, yeah, Ben.

The knee is a is a good phrase. Okay, well listen, hey,

that looks like it's our time, and what a great

uh passage to read after yesterday's passage.

That's right, that's right, all right.

Hopefully we'll see you next time on the Bible.

Guys,