Psalm 46 • Be still, and know that I am God

Psalm chapter 46 is a fairly short Psalm we're gonna go ahead and read through the verses here and then we'll take a look at it it says God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea though its waters roar and foam though the mountains tremble and it's swelling there is a river whose streams make glad the City of God the holy habitation of the Most High God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved God will help her when morning Dawn's the nation's raged the kingdom's taught her he utters his voice the earth melts the Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our fortress come behold the works of the Lord how he has brought desolations on the earth he makes the war cease to the end of the earth he breaks the bow and shatters the spear he burden burns the chariots with fire be still and know that I am God I will be exalted among the nation's I will be exalted in the earth the Lord of Hosts is with us the God of Jacob is our fortress a great great little Psalm but you know when most people get done reading Psalm chapter 46 I can imagine the majority of us will probably only remember verse 10 because that's the one that just kind of jumps out on us in fact it might have already been underlined or highlighted in your Bible even if it wasn't it's well known probably one of the favorite verses for Christians for giving comfort to their own hearts and sharing comfort with someone else check out this picture on the screen I I just put in be still and know that I am God that I could I could all day long I could find show you pictures like that plaques and signs and it's engraved on rocks and and boards just about every possible thing and you know I I get it it's an incredible statement probably because it is spoken right from the Lord you know it's interesting how this Psalm all moves its way along and then suddenly you hear the Lord speaking in the first person everything speaks about you know in in more like kind of a third-person narrative and then suddenly we have this quote from the Lord you know be still and know that I am God and and so forth and of course you know we love it when we receive comforting messages directly from the voice of our God but lest we do take that single verse and make that psalm necessarily all about that one single quotation I want to share it in the context with the rest of the verses because I think that helps us to kind of get a better sense of why this statement is being made by the Lord why is he saying be still and know that I am God this song begins with these words in verse 1 God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble now in that first verse there's no words that you know are unfamiliar to us refuge strength yeah we've been reading those words a lot in our study of the Psalms they seem to appear very often as the writers speak about the presence of God you know in the midst of his people and that sort of thing and what it is to put your trust in him but I also like the second part of this verse look with me there it ends by saying a very present help in trouble and I really love that phrase because it calls God in your life and in my life saying that his help is very present as it's kind of a strange phrase isn't it I don't usually say to someone well so-and-so is very present with us today you know I would just say they're present but the psalmist is kind of be giving emphasis to the presence of the by saying he is a very present help just for your reminder I know you all know this but the word present means here close to next to and obviously that word can apply to you and I at times when we happen to be present but then when we're not around you can't say that we're present any longer because sometimes we're not that's why when describing God we take the prefix Omni and put it in front of that and we say he is omnipresent which of course means he is everywhere present that prefix Omni gives any word a universal character okay you and I can be present God is omnipresent God is always everywhere present and of course those words and that understanding is one of the most incredible comforts that we have in God's Word related to our relationship to him I want to show you a quote if I could on the screen from aw Tozier I've been rereading the book the knowledge of the holy and this quote was in there the doctrine of the divine omnipresence personalizes man's relation to the universe in which he finds himself God is present near him next to him and this God sees him and knows him through and through at this point faith begins and while it may go on to include a thousand other wonderful truths they all refer back to this truth that truth that God is and God is here in other words the omnipresence of God is a is a reflection that casts a shadow on all the other truths that we may derive from the word related to the character and the presence of God here's what's interesting I think I think if any of us as Christians were were made to take a theology quiz you know true or false is God omnipresent I think most of us would be able to accurately say yeah he's always and everywhere present but what's interesting about that is how quickly we can abandon that idea when life gets hard how quickly we move off that sort of a concept and we either ask things like you know well you know where is God or God has left me I've had people say that many times to me I I feel like God has left me or the simple statement I just don't feel God's presence as if our feelings were remotely reliable you know on on that particular score you know isn't it crazy we humans we think our feelings are the end all say all of our theology you know it's like God's Word comes along and says that he has everywhere present we go well I don't feel that as if to kind of cast doubt upon you know the revelation of God's Word based upon my personal emotions you know as if my emotions you know are exalted above the very revelation of God it's just it's crazy but that's just kind of us when when when life becomes a challenge we are so quick to blame God for being absent and we rarely ever stop to consider the possibility that we might have something to do with that equation that there may be something in our lives that has lent itself to that sense or even that feeling of God not being present let me show you an example of this Jeremiah chapter 29 up on the screen verses 13 to 14 God says you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart and then God goes on to say I will be found by you declares the Lord now that is a promise in God's Word he says seek me with all of your heart and you will find me no questions no ifs ands or buts but you'll notice that the wonderful promise comes with a requirement that is on our part and that is we must seek him with all our hearts it's not just as simple yoo-hoo God it's this idea of pressing in pressing in - no God - to search for God not in the sense that he's hiding or anything God is not hiding what we forget is that God is spirit that's what that's what Jesus told the woman at the well you and I tend to look for God in very physical ways you know I've had people say to me many times in the past I just I just I want to be able to hear God's voice and and and they're talking about their physical ears and if you're listening for God with your physical ears you're listening the wrong way and you're not truly seeking Him in the way that he wants to be sought God is spirit he wants to communicate with you spiritually can I just say something about spiritual communication it's vastly superior to physical communication vastly on those rare occasions and I don't claim to be a person whom God has spoken to you know a lot in my life there have been occasions I mean he speaks to me all the times through his word but in a special kind of a spiritual communication where I wasn't reading the Bible I wasn't you know maybe I was praying maybe whatever I have had the Lord drop a communication in my heart and he has this incredible spiritual way of speaking volumes in a fraction of a second because he doesn't have the limitation of human speech it's spiritual communication and it takes that long and you know that you know that you know that God just communicated this vast array of information you know that you can even regurgitate to other people and it might take you a long time to do so but just in a fraction of a second he spiritually communicated those things anyway that's kind of off the beaten path there a little bit but you know if we're waiting for God to touch us in some sort of a spiritual way I just want God to appear to me in my bedroom no you don't that's happened to a few people and they usually fell down as Daniel couldn't even breathe when he was in the presence of God Almighty anyway spiritually God wants to God wants to minister and reveal himself to us he says when you seek me with all your heart you will find me I will be found by you so let's read on here let's look at the kind of situations that this song talks about God's presence you know being enjoyed through he says verse 2 therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea though its waters roar and foam though the mountains tremble and it's swelling wow it sounds to me like a natural disaster I mean if you take these two verses literally you're going you know then the psalm is essentially saying that God is an ever-present help in times of trouble even if there's even if the world the literally the earth is is is flying apart now it's very possible because the Psalms are very poetic it's possible that the psalmist wasn't talking specifically about natural disasters although that could have been in his mind or he could have just been thinking of a symbolic expression of the worst day of your life you know where everything seems to be coming unhinged and in that time whether literal or symbolic the truth expressed in this first part of this Psalm is God is there God is there he is present he is ever-present right and he is an ever-present help verse 4 goes on to say there is a river whose streams make glad the City of God the holy habitation of the Most High God is in the midst of her she shall not be moved God will help her when morning Dawn's stop there for a moment another couple interesting verses what is it saying here well it says there's a river and those and the streams that come from that River it says make glad the City of God what is the City of God Jerusalem okay you know what's interesting about this word picture that the psalmist is painting for you and I he's talking about something that doesn't exist there isn't a river that runs through Jerusalem during the time of Hezekiah he diverted a spring to go through the city when they believed that the Assyrian army was on its way to conquer them and they knew how those armies conquered back in those days they would basically lay siege to a city meaning they would surround it with their armies and not let anybody leave and the people would essentially be starved out well if there was water flowing into a city you could last a long time if there was no water that flowed into a city there was a very very short period of time before you'd have to just kind of surrender to you know the enemy so Hezekiah was smart enough as a king to divert one of the springs into the city so that they would have a supply of water but it wasn't a river it was far from a river so what's interesting about this is that these verses project for you and I some prophetic foresight by the psalmist of another River which we're told about elsewhere prophetically that flows into the City of God and that is in fact the River of Life it's one that the Apostle John saw in his revelation of Jesus Christ when he saw the holy city and I want to put it up on the screen for you from Revelation chapter 22 he says then the angel showed me the river of water of life brightest crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city so it's even running through the street and it says on either side of the river the Tree of Life with his twelve kinds of fruit and da-da-da-da-da and it goes on in that passage so the River of Life it's something that is going to happen it's not something that has happened the psalmist goes on verse 6 the nation's raged the kingdom's totter he utters his voice the earth melts the Lord of Hosts is with the God of Jacob is our fortress and so they say there's a bidding now come behold the works of the Lord how he has brought desolations on the earth he makes Wars cease to the end of the earth he breaks the bow shatters the spear burns the chariots with fire what's this all talking about saying that God's sovereign and he controls the armies and conquests and risings and fallings of nations that's really what this is saying the psalmist is bidding you and I to look at the history of mankind and see how God has intervened see how God has responded to the needs of men and to and in keeping with his purpose in his will he has orchestrated the the the again the risings and fallings of nations and that's kind of what these verses are kind of talking about it's a call to you and I to notice and to acknowledge you know remember what that passage says in Proverbs when we're told to trust in the Lord with all of our heart it says to acknowledge the Lord in all of our ways well acknowledging the Lord is a huge thing you can acknowledge the Lord in your life and you can acknowledge the Lord in world history that's what the psalmist is doing here to acknowledge the Lord in your life is to say God is working in my life and you know that thing that happened to me that was the Lord you know even if he allowed a really rough season in my life the Lord allowed that in my life that's acknowledging the Lord when I look at what's happening in the risings and fallings of empires throughout the course of human history we what what do we say sure we can say well then the first world war you know and then the second world war and then you know the rise of Nazism and the fall of Nazism and because of these nations or we can just say you know God was working God was causing the rising in the falling of nations and empires and and and the conquest of kingdoms and so forth and that's what the psalmist wants you and I to see he wants you and I to have a world view that that sees God as the sovereign ruler of man okay so he's inviting you and I to acknowledge that why am i making such a big deal of that because that is the context of verse 10 understanding as you do that God is sovereign over the kingdoms of man and this is a this is a word that goes out to the kingdoms of man that are against the Lord or that are the enemies of the Lord and this is a word that goes out to those who are God's people here's that word be still and know that I am God God says that to his enemies just as much as he says it to the people of God see you and I we look at it on a nice little plaque and it's a little nice sentiment that you give to Christians be still and know that I am God right that's what we do God says it to everybody he says it to his enemies be still and know that I am God and I will not be thwarted I will not be mocked my purpose will be achieved my plan will come to fruition be still you know to the enemies of God be still means lay down your arms stop your striving and surrender and to the believer in Jesus Christ be still means rest in my presence know that I am God know that I am working know that I am capable and I will be exalted man says throughout the course of human history I will exalt myself and God says well temporarily maybe but in the end I will be exalted it's kind of like what the Lord said through Isaiah let me put this passage on the screen for you stop regarding man and who's in whose nostrils is breath he doesn't have nostrils or breath and any other part of his life in the sense except his nostrils and he says for of what account is he man is constantly exalting himself God says I will be exalted stop stop putting your regarding man God gives the breath of life man has only the breath that he breathes from God so beautiful psalm psalm psalm 46 i really really love this one you

Channel: Calvary Chapel Ontario

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Keywords: Bible, Bible teaching, Thru-the-Bible, verse by verse, Calvary Chapel, Bible study, Christianity, New Testament, Old Testament, Psalms

Id: QrhFWYM_Uu8

Length: 20min 12sec (1212 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 10 2019