Be Still And Know

Transcript

Rob McFarlane: 0:58

The title of my sermon today is Be Still and Know. We are going to be looking at Psalm 46, and a key verse in Psalm 46 is verse 10. It says, Be still and know that I am God. And that's where I got the title of my sermon from. Let's read the whole of Psalm 46 together, and I'm reading from the English Standard Version of the Bible. 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 at its swelling. Sella. 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 dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter, he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah. 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 and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots with fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah. Four times in this psalm we're promised God's presence. Verse 1 says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Verse 5. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns. Verse 7, the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. And verse 11, the Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. When trouble comes through the front door, Jesus doesn't leave through the back door. He says, I am with you. We can be assured of his presence. Two encouraging verses in the New Testament are Matthew 28, verse 20, where Jesus said, I will be with you always, even to the end of the age. And Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5, where Jesus promised, I will never leave you or forsake you. You may have noticed that three times the word Selah is used in Psalm 46. It's a Hebrew word that was used as an instruction to the musicians. The psalmist who wrote the psalm gave instructions to the musicians that this was the appropriate time to pause and take a breath. It was a natural break in the structure of the psalm. It has evolved over time to mean to pause and to reflect, or to pause and to think about. So we're being told at the end of verse 3, at the end of verse 7, and at the end of verse 11 to pause and think about what we've just read. And this breaks the Psalm into three distinct segments. Today I'd like to share three thoughts with you from Psalm 46. My first thought is that there are some things in life that we cannot control. Let's read Psalm 46, verse 1 to verse 3 again. 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 at its swelling. Selah. We see two things in this portion of Scripture. We see an earthquake and we see a flood. Earthquakes and floods are both powerful forces of nature. They cause destruction, devastation, and damage. And when you find yourself in an earthquake or a flood, you look for a safe place. You look for a secure place, a refuge or a stronghold to which you can escape. In these verses, we see that God wants to be our refuge. He wants to be our stronghold or our fortress in times of trouble. In verse 1, it says, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Verse 7 and in verse 11, the Bible tells us the God of Jacob is our fortress. God wants to be our safe place. In uncertain times, he wants us to run to him and find safety and refuge in him. My second thought is we must learn to respond and not react in situations in life. Let's read Psalm 46, verse 4 through to verse 7. 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 dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter, he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah. Instead of reacting in fear, we can respond in faith to trouble, because the Lord is our refuge and fortress. Look at verse 2. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea. Remember the word therefore always points backwards in Scripture for this reason. We will not fear. Why? Because God is our refuge and strength. He is our ever-present help in trouble. There are two things that we see in verse 4 to verse 7 that we need to choose to respond to in our lives. The first is the river. There is a river, it says in verse 4. A river whose streams make glad the city of God. Ezekiel chapter 47 says, wherever the river goes, it brings life. And God wants us to tap into his abundant life in our lives. Ezekiel 47 continues to encourage us not to just go ankle deep or knee deep or waist deep, but to go into the water where we have to swim. And I want to encourage you to spend time with God, to get to know him, to spend time in his presence, because in his presence there is peace, there is joy, there is perspective, and you discover your purpose. It's so important that we take time to spend time in God's presence. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. Let's spend time in his presence. The second thing that we can choose to respond to is to spend time in His Word. In Psalm 46, verse 6, it says He utters His voice and the earth melts. God wants us to hear His voice in the midst of the storm. He wants to speak to us. God wants to speak to us as we spend time in His Word, the Bible. I love the way that God has given us great and precious promises in His Word. And we can build our lives upon these promises. I encourage you to be like the wise builder who built their house on the rock, because when the storms came, which will inevitably come in every life, they stood through the storms. Let's build our lives on the firm foundation of God's Word. So we've seen two things. We see the river and we see God's voice. Spend time with the Holy Spirit. Spend time in the Word of God. As you do and take a hold of His promises, you will be encouraged and strengthened in your faith. As you spend time in His presence, you will encounter His peace and His joy. My third and final thought we see in verse 8 through to verse 11 is that God is still in control. Nothing takes him by surprise. Let's read Psalm 46, verse 8 to verse 11. 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 and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots with fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress seller. God is still in control. Nothing takes him by surprise. It's interesting to note that verse 10 is the only verse in Psalm 46 that uses quotation marks. And that's showing us that God is speaking out in response to those who are seeking him. As you read Psalm 46, you'll see that 10 of the 11 verses are the psalmists declaring in faith God's promises over situations and seeking God's face. But then in verse 10, God responds and speaks. And if we spend time with him in his word and with his Holy Spirit, he does speak, and we must listen to what he says. He says that he is still in control, he is still on the throne, he is still God. Many things around us have changed and are changing. But what we do know from Hebrews chapter 13, verse 8 is that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And in Malachi chapter 3, verse 6, God says, I the Lord do not change. We don't know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future. And I know that with Jesus Christ the best is always yet to come. A favorite verse of mine is Romans 8, verse 28, which says, In all things, God is working for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose. Even in difficult and challenging times, God is able to use those for His purpose, for His glory, and for our good. Jeremiah 29, verse 11 says, God knows the plans that He has for us, plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future. So today I encourage us to be still and know that He is God. Let me repeat my three thoughts and then we will pray together. Number one, there are some things in life that we cannot control. Number two, we must learn to respond and not react in situations in life. And number three, God is still in control. Nothing takes him by surprise. Let's pray together. Father God, thank you for what you are saying to us today. Thank you that you say, be still and know that you are God. We thank you that even though there are some things in life we cannot control, that you are in control, that you are still God. We thank you that you're the same yesterday, today, and forever. And we trust you with our lives in Jesus' name. Amen.