Psalm 46

You might be surprised at our first reading this morning from 2 Chronicles 32 where God miraculously saves Jerusalem from the hands of Sennacherib King of Assyria.

Assyria was the superpower of its day in the region and Sennacherib had gone up against Jerusalem to take Judah.

The whole city was terrified as Assyria was well known for its blood thirsty conquests.

So King Hezekiah and his whole court as well as the people turn to God for help

Sennacherib mocked the God of Israel when he said this

Don’t you realize that I and the other kings of Assyria before me have never yet failed to conquer a nation we attacked?

The gods of those nations weren’t able to do a thing to save their lands! Name just one time when anyone, anywhere, was able to resist us successfully. What makes you think your God can do any better?

Sennacherib issues a direct challenge to God and this was God’s reply.

In the parallel passage to 2 Chronicles 32 we read in 2 Kings 19:35-37 what happened to Sennacherib in more detail

35 And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.

36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went away, returned home, and remained at Nineveh.

37 Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the temple of Nisroch his god, that his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat.

So this is the background to why Psalm 46 was written

But Psalm 46 is part of a trilogy of Psalms Psalm 46. Psalm 47 and Psalm 48

And each of these psalms cover Christmas - Psalm 46, Ascension - Psalm 47 and the Second Coming - Psalm 48

And with Christmas round the corner Psalm 46 is very appropriate

For in Psalm 46 as Alec Motyer puts it “Our God is Immanuel, God who is with us” in all our struggles

Psalm 46 wasn’t written by a scholar in the comfort of his ivory tower but by a person who had experienced the horrors of an Assyrian siege

In today’s parlance it could have been written by a Ukrainian Christian who had experienced the terror of the bombing of his city.

Psalm 46 reminds us that God is with us – we do not need to be afraid.

We can bring Him our problems.

And isn’t that the message of Christmas. God sent his Son to us to bring salvation to us.

Jesus who was born in Bethlehem over 2000 years ago enables us to become a Child of God

That is Good News