God is our Refuge
July 14, 2013
Psalm 46
It’s been determined that stress produces illness. The more stress you have, the greater the chances you will become sick. In 1967, two psychiatrists made a study of over 5,000 medical patients and they made a chart of the 43 most stressful life events you can experience and gave them a numerical rating. I’m sure we can come up with more.
This stress rating is called "Life Change Units." The higher the stress, the higher the LCUs.
For instance, the death of a spouse is the highest at 100 LCUs, a divorce is second at 73 LCUs. Being pregnant is 40 LCUs. Remodeling a home is 25 LCUs. The stress of Christmas received 12 LCUs. There’s work related stress, home stress, and simply stress at living life.
In one year, if you experienced over 300 LCU’s, which would mean lots of life changing events, they determined you had over an 80% chance of becoming ill. The more the stress, the more you become sick, the less stress, the less you become sick. Sounds pretty simple.
They concluded that if we experience that many LCUs in one year’s time most of us will have either a physical, mental or emotional breakdown. The higher our score, the harder we have to work to get ourselves back into a state of good health. Humanly speaking, we just can’t cope with that much change.
It seems that to make ends meet, even just to make it through the demands of life, we end up burning a candle at both ends. We’re stressed beyond what we can imagine. And we start to believe that living with this type of stress is the new normal. Again, we’ve tried to solve our problems on our terms, human terms.
When stress hits, we generally try to work through it on our own. We try to save ourselves, yet, on human terms, we can’t do that. We need something, someone much bigger, better and more powerful than we are. I believe our trust and faith in God can make all the difference in how we handle what happens to us.
As we continue looking at various Psalms over the summer, today I want to look at Psalm 46. It’s a Psalm which reminds us that God is the One we need to look to during the difficult times in life.
The Psalmist tells us ~ 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
That all sounds pretty terrifying. Devastating tornadoes, tsunamis, sinkholes, earthquakes and hurricanes. This sounds like the movie 2012. The world being swept away. We think of the storms caused through nature, but we experience our own personal storms.
It’s even being predicted that within 100-300 years the west coast will be underwater. This is a picture today of where the San Francisco Giants play baseball, and this is what some believe it will look like in around 200 years. That can be a scarey thought.
With all the storms which come into our lives — simply by living and experiencing life change, the author of this Psalm reminds us with these great words to start us off, God is . . .
It’s so basic and simplistic that it’s great and powerful . . . God is . . . It’s not God maybe or God might or God possibly . . . There’s not a hint of doubt. You see God is . . . our refuge and strength. He’s there in the midst of our troubles. It doesn’t matter how it happened or who caused our trouble — — God is there. He’s ready and wanting to help us in the midst of the storms of life.
So, the psalmist can very quickly conclude with the word THEREFORE. As a result of what I’ve just said, because God is our refuge and strength it doesn’t matter if the earth gives way, the mountains sink in the ocean, the waters rise and over take us. It doesn’t matter . . . WHY? Because the Lord is my strength and refuge. When there’s trouble I always know who I can count on! My God!
As Christians, how should we react to all this? "I won’t be afraid. My Lord is still in command of the winds and the waves and the sea, and all of nature. Therefore, I will not fear. Because God is my refuge and my strength."
Now, when we look at verses 4-7, we see the psalmist saying, “I’m not going to be moved.”
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; He utters His voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
This is a picture of nations and kingdoms falling and great changes taking place. Imagine the Life Change Units taking place on this.
When we consider our world, nations are in an uproar, there’s unrest all over the world. Humanity seems to be falling apart. But as Christians, we don’t have to.
We can still trust in the goodness of God, even in the midst of nations raging and kingdoms tottering, because all God has to do is utter His voice, and the earth melts. The river flows into the city of God and His people, the Christ followers are refreshed. Those are great words of hope. It reminds me of Revelation 22.
Listen to these great words ~
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.
4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
We can stand strong because Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And as a follower of Jesus Christ, you can stand strong in the faith and commitment, the trust, hope and power you have in Jesus, our Lord.
Now, it seems that the Psalmist looks at all the changes that have taken place, which leads him to conclude ~
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, how He has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
These are great sounding words, and I know we are always, always busy. There’s always something going on, there’s somewhere to be, something to do, another project, more stuff to clean up, more laundry. There’s more, more, and then more. The list doesn’t end. There always will be more.
But, do you realize what the Psalmist is saying? He is saying, "In the midst of it all I have decided that I will no longer let my life be filled with stress and anxiety." Why? Because "God is my refuge and my strength."
I know we are always, always busy. There’s always something going on, there’s somewhere to be, something to do, another project, more stuff to clean up, more laundry. The list doesn’t end. There will always be more.
So, the psalmist concludes by saying, you know what I’m going to do, I’m going to stop, I’m going to be still and know that God is God and I am not. I’m going to stop, because the only way I can exalt you, O God, is to stop and reflect and consider your power and presence in my life.
How well are you experiencing the power and presence of God in your life right now? Have you taken the time to stop, to be still, even in the midst of the raging storms, have you stopped so you can place your trust fully on Christ? If we don’t, then we’re always going to be in that hurry up mode and never experience the true power that is available to us from God.
Friends, let me finish by reminding you that
God is always near and available to us. God never puts us on hold. We may be on hold on the telephone, on hold at the red light, on hold at the bank, on hold in the post office line, and on hold at the supermarket.
But God is always available and wants to hear us whenever we want to speak to Him. It doesn’t matter what your problems are, whether they’re big or small, God wants to bring healing and God can help us. So stop and be still and talk to Him! Then listen to Him!
Secondly, God’s power is greater than anything in all this world. Greater than the wind, or storms, or earthquakes, or volcanoes. There is no greater power. God’s power is sufficient to win the victory over all the enemies that come our way.
Remember, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” So don’t be afraid to ask for His help.
Finally, God’s help works even when we can’t help ourselves. Have you felt weak lately? Have you felt like there are too many stresses, too many LCUs in your life, and that you’re about ready to explode? God’s help is available, and all you have to do is stop running and turn to God and grab hold of Him.
