A SHOULDER TO LEAN ON
Psalm 46
A small congregation in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains built a new sanctuary on a piece of land that had been willed to them by a church member. Ten days before the new church was to open, the local building inspector informed the pastor that the parking lot was inadequate for the size of the building. The inspector told the pastor that until the church doubled the size of the parking lot, they would not be able to use the new sanctuary.
Unfortunately, the church had used every inch of their land for the new sanctuary, every inch that is except for the mountain against which the new sanctuary had been built. In order to build more parking spaces, they would have to literally move the mountain out of the backyard. Well, the pastor was undaunted by the challenge. The next Sunday morning, the pastor announced that he would meet that evening with all members who had "mountain moving faith." He said that they would hold a prayer meeting and ask God to remove the mountain from the backyard. They would also pray that somehow God would provide enough money to have it paved and painted before the scheduled opening dedication service the following Sunday. At the appointed time, 24 of the congregation's 300 members assembled for prayer. They prayed for nearly three hours. At ten o'clock, the pastor said the final "Amen". The pastor said, "We'll open next Sunday as scheduled. God has never let us down before and I believe He will be faithful to us this time, as well."
The next morning, at 8:00 AM, as the pastor was working in his study, there came a loud knock at his door. A rough looking construction foreman appeared at the door. He said, "Excuse me, Reverend. I'm from Acme Construction Company. We're building a new shopping mall over in the next county and we need some fill dirt. Would you be willing to sell us a chunk of that mountain behind the church? We'll pay you for the dirt we remove and pave all the exposed area free of charge, if we can have it right away. We can't do anything else on our project until we get the dirt. What do you say?" Well, needless to say, that little church was dedicated the next Sunday as had been originally planned.
Wouldn't it be nice if all of life's needs, all of our prayers, all of our concerns were met like that, that positively, that quickly, that soon after we had finished praying? Unfortunately, as we grow older, we soon learn that life can often be extremely brutal and too often unfair and that our prayers rarely seem to be answered that quickly.
Think about how brutal and unfair life can be. The phone rings, a good friend of ours is experiencing sudden troubles in their life. We grieve for them—we cry with them—we hurt for them—we would do anything in our power to help them if we could. Or, our heart is broken when we read in the newspaper about a tornado or a fire wiping out a family's dream. Or, it could be that cancer strikes a family member. We know that months and months of long, drawn out suffering is about to begin for that loved one. Or, it could be that friends and family have let us down by breaking promises—just when we needed them most, they were not there for us.
Those are only a few of the brutal and unfair things in life that we may have experienced or that we may know have happened in the lives of others. Each one of those things are painful in their own way. And, even as I mention those three or four things, I realize that I have not even touched the tip of the iceberg. I could have mentioned dozens and dozens more of unfair things that life throws at us on a regular basis. I could have mentioned our job, our children, our marriage, our own health. The list goes on and on, doesn't it?
But, I want you to hear me clearly at this point. If you don't hear anything else that I say today, I want you to hear this—there is hope—all is not lost! What is our hope? With the world the way it is, why is everything not lost? I'm glad that you asked. Here's our hope: God is dependable. Let me say that again. God is dependable through all of life's problems. When everything else in this world fails us, God will not. When everything else in this world crashes in around us, God will hold us up. When nothing else makes sense in life, God will and does make sense.
Now, compare God's dependability to what the world says to us. Here's what our world says. Our world often tells us that if we want to solve our problems, then we should pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps. The world tells us that we have the answers inside of us. The world tells us that anything we need, all the answers we need, all the hope that we need, we can find it for ourselves. The world says don't trust anyone, don't rely on anyone, don't put your hope in anyone—if you do, you're only setting yourself up for disappointment. That's what the world tells us.
Now, compare what the world says about hope to what God said about hope. As we read Psalm 46, we see that the psalmist told us that when we face a hurdle in life, that there is something, Someone, who we can count on. The psalmist told us that God is dependable. The psalmist told us that as we face problems, heartache, trouble, difficulty, stress, whatever comes our way in life, we can know beyond a shadow of doubt that God is our "shoulder to lean on" through all of those times.
How do we know that? How can we know that God is dependable through all of life's problems? How can we really know that we can lean on God during our most difficult times? The psalmist told us three ways that we can know that God is dependable. Let's look at those three ways this morning.
First of all, the psalmist discovered that GOD IS DEPENDABLE THROUGH HIS PROTECTION OVER US. The psalmist said that God is our refuge even when what seems permanent and unchangeable changes. When the world seems to crash in around us, God is still there, protecting us. When the world does not make sense, God is still there, protecting us. When the problems overwhelm us, when we are afraid, when we are hurting, God is still there, protecting us. Listen to me carefully. There is not a time—according to the psalmist—when God is not ready, willing, and able to protect us.
Notice what the psalmist said in verse 2: "Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea." What was the writer saying? The writer imagined the worst calamity that could possibility happen. He described changes in the earth. He described earthquakes, volcanoes erupting, mountains slipping into the sea. The writer was describing the most disastrous situation he could imagine.
But, notice how strong his faith was in the face of such craziness. His faith was so strong that even in such extreme circumstances, the writer knew that God's people had no reason to fear. He knew that even in physical disasters that God was there and that God would not fail him.
Listen to me very carefully. When tragedy strikes us, no matter what it is, God can be counted on to protect us. Now, when God does that, God works in various ways. Sometimes, God chooses to work through friends and family. Sometimes, God works through the church. Sometimes, God works real life miracles. Sometimes, God chooses to come into our life, move in our heart, touch us as only God can touch us. But listen. In whatever way God chooses to work, whether it is through family, friends, the church, miracles, or coming into our life personally, we can know that His protection is real. That protection, when it comes over us, feels like a warm blanket on a cold winter night. God really does care for His children.
Now, notice, the psalmist was very honest with us. Even though there are things that seem permanent and secure, those things can crash in around us. When that happens, when what seems permanent crashes in—whether it is our employment, our life, our marriage, our family, or even our home—the psalmist tells us that we should have no fear? Why? Because of the protection of God. God's dependability can be seen through His protection over us.
Secondly, we can say that GOD IS DEPENDABLE THROUGH HIS PRESENCE WITH US. Look at verse 4 again. The psalmist paints a picture for us. He said that there is a river whose streams make glad "the city of God." What was the writer saying? Simple. The people of Jerusalem would understand exactly what the writer was saying. You see, the city of Jerusalem had no river that ran through it like the other major cities and countries of that day. Babylon was built on the Euphrates. Egypt was built alongside the Nile. Rome had the Tiber. So, what kind of river did Jerusalem have? They did not have a physical river, but they did have the best river possible. What was it? The writer said that their river was the presence of God. The presence of God was what provided security for God's people.
Now, the idea of the presence of God was not a new idea for the people of Israel. As a matter of fact, God's presence with His people was one of the basic elements of the Israelite religion. Think back through the Old Testament. God showed His presence to Moses and the Israelites as they came out of slavery in Egypt. The book of Exodus told us that God led the people of Israel during the day by a cloud and at night by a pillar of fire. Both of those things, the cloud and the fire, allowed the people to know that God was with them.
In the New Testament, we again see God's presence with His people. Matthew told us that one of the names of Jesus is Immanuel. The name Immanuel means "God with us." Do you see the importance of that? We, who trust in Jesus, we who are followers of Jesus Christ, have "God with us" at all times. God is our "shoulder to lean on." God is dependable through His protection over us and in His presence with us.
Then, finally, we can say that GOD IS DEPENDABLE THROUGH HIS POSITION OVER THE EARTH. Look at verses 8-9 again. Here, the psalmist depicted a scene of awful destruction. This was to be a future event. Apparently, the nations had come willingly against God's power. They were going to take on God. The people felt that they were strong enough to handle whatever God could throw at them. Well, the result would be what you would expect. The people would lose. Those people should have known better.
So, rather than fight against God, the writer here told them and us to "be still." Literally, he told us to "cease striving" against God and proclaim Him as Lord of the earth. We are told to realize that God has all power. We are told that His divine purpose cannot suffer ultimate defeat. We are told that He will always have the last word. His kingdom will come, His will shall be done on earth. Are you looking for hope? Are you looking for encouragement? There it is! God is in ultimate control of the affairs of human history.
Think back to the book of Genesis for a moment. In Genesis 1, we are told emphatically that God created the earth. Now, think about what that means. Because God is the Creator of the earth, He has the right to be the only one exalted on the earth. Listen to me carefully here. When we do not do that, when we do not exalt God, a problem always comes up. When we do not trust in God, when we do not worship or exalt God, we have a tendency to be dependent on ourselves. We tend to trust what we can do with our own strength.
When we do that, God comes to us and says, "Why are you trying to live life in your own strength? Why don't you let Me live it with you?" God says to us, "Why don't you lean on My shoulders?" "Trust Me when life doesn't make sense. Trust Me when life crashes in around you. Trust me when life does not seem worth living. Trust Me."
Brenda wanted to learn how to rock climb. Her friends all did it and she thought it looked like fun, but there was a problem—she was scared to death of heights. In spite of her fear, Brenda still went rock climbing with a group of friends to see what it would be like. Brenda put on the gear. She grabbed the rope and started up the face of the rock. She finally got to a ledge, about half-way up the rock, where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on for dear life, the person who was holding the rope at the top of the cliff made a mistake and snapped the rope against Brenda's eye. The force of the rope knocked out a contact lens.
So, there she was on a rock ledge. Who knew how many hundreds of feet were behind her or how many hundreds of feet were above her. She looked and looked on the ledge, just hoping that she would be able to find that contact lens. Her sight was now blurry. She was upset by the fact that she was no where near a place where she could get a new contact lens. So, she prayed that God would help her find it. She didn't find it.
After a breather, she started up the mountain again. Her last hope was that when she got to the top of the cliff, one of her friends that had made it to the top might be able to find her contact lens in the corner of her eye. When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye. There was no contact lens to be found. She sat down with the rest of her friends and waited for the rest of them to come up the cliff. As she waited, she thought to herself, "Lord, You can see all these mountains. You know every single stone and leaf that's on these mountains. And, God, You know exactly where my contact lens is. Help me find it." Unfortunately, none of her friends had seen her contact lens.
Finally, the time came to go down the mountain. She and her friends walked slowly down the trail to the bottom of the hill. Just as they got to the bottom, another group of rock climbers came along. One of the people said, "Hey, did any of you loose a contact lens?" Brenda jumped up and said, "I did, but how did you know?" Guess how the person found it? The climber had been behind Brenda's group. As he came to the ledge where she had been resting, the climber saw the strangest thing. He saw an ant carrying a contact lens as it moved slowly across the rocks.
Can't you see that ant now? What do you think that ant was thinking? "Well, Lord, I don't know why You want me to carry this thing. I can't eat it. And, it's awfully heavy. But, if this is what You want me to do, I'll carry it for You."
What does that tell you about the God of the universe? If God can instruct an ant to pick up a contact lens and hold it until it is found, don't you think that God cares about you and me? It's time for us to stop worrying. It is time for us to put aside the fear, the despair, the anxiety. It's time to put all of that aside and realize just how much God loves us. He loves you and me enough that He allowed Jesus Christ to come to this world, to be born in a stable, to common parents. God loves you and me enough that He allowed Jesus to be crucified on a cross, between two thieves, and to be buried in a borrowed tomb. God loves you and me enough that one day He will send Jesus Christ back for us and take us to our home in heaven. God loves each of us. We can depend on that. Why? God is dependable. Right now, rest your head on His shoulder.
