A Place to Hide

We open the word to Psalm 46, which of course is the basis for this Great Reformation Hymn, A Mighty Fortress. Psalm 46, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof? There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.

God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved, he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. Come behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth.

He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot in the 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 refuge. Many students of the word of God believe that Psalm 46 was written with reference to one of the greatest victories God ever gave to Israel, a victory that he gave them totally apart from armies or weapons.

You'll recall that when King Hezekiah came to the throne, the people were subject to Assyria, and Hezekiah broke that yoke of bondage to the Assyrians, and of course the Assyrians weren't going to take this sitting down, and Sennacherib sent his forces up to take Jerusalem. The Assyrian army swept through the little nation, knocking out city after city, and finally camped outside of Jerusalem and threatened the city. Interestingly enough, we have three records of this invasion in the Bible.

It's in 2 Kings 18-20, it's in 2 Chronicles 32, and the prophet Isaiah tells us about it in chapters 36-39 of Isaiah. You remember how the loudmouth officers of the Assyrian army came up to the walls of Jerusalem and spoke in Hebrew, psychological warfare, and made speeches like this. Have the gods of the other nations been able to stop us? Your God is not going to be able to stop us.

Your God has sent us, and we're going to wipe you out. If you ever visit the British Museum over in London, you must go into the room of writing where they have what is called the Taylor Prism. The Taylor Prism is a piece of writing on clay, of course, in which is the actual record, Sennacherib's actual record of his invasion of Judah.

He says nothing about taking Jerusalem. He tells how he surrounded the city. In fact, he uses a phrase the psalmist uses.

He said, I had the king like a caged bird. I stood looking at that prism one day, and I thought to myself, dear king, you did not put on there what the Lord did. Because Hezekiah went to Isaiah, and Isaiah the prophet said, don't worry about that big mouth.

Don't worry about that army. Just spread it before the Lord. And they prayed.

And God sent the angel down. And you remember, in one night, the army was wiped out. And so nowhere on that record does the king say, I captured the city of Jerusalem.

It was one of the greatest victories that God ever wrought for his people, just simply in answer to prayer. We will not do it at this time. But if you will read those chapters and then read Psalm 46, you're going to see how they dovetail.

The same language is used. God says through Isaiah, I will be exalted. That's what he says here in chapter in Psalm 46, verse 10.

He says, I am God. And he says that in the other passages. The king says to his people, God is going to work for us.

The heathen will know that he is God. And over and over again, you're going to find this little phrase used in the record. God is with us.

God is with us. He is Emmanuel. He is with us.

Even the mention of the river in verse four is significant because it was Hezekiah who built the water system for Jerusalem. And had the underground tunnel. What you can walk through that tunnel today, if you go down there, he built this underground conduit to bring water into the city so that when an army would surround the city, they couldn't cut off the water and then take the city without any trouble.

Written into Psalm 46 is the entire record of the miracle that God performed for the people in Jerusalem when Hezekiah, their king, prayed. Now, the theme of this psalm is the adequacy of God for every circumstance of life. In this service tonight, we look at each other and we say, my, she's got it made.

He's got it made. But nobody has it made. Everybody here tonight has problems, difficulties.

We don't tell you about them, but they're there. Psalm 46 is God saying to us, look, I'm adequate for anything you face, whatever you may be facing in your life. I'm adequate for it.

The key to the psalm is really the first verse. God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble.

God is our refuge. God is our strength. God is our help.

These three statements about the Lord just open up the psalm. There are three parts to the psalm. You know, it's the little silah, which is the Hebrew way of saying, I'll stop for a moment.

There's a pause here. In verses two and three, God is our refuge. Therefore, we need not fear.

In verses four, five, six, and seven, God is our strength. Therefore, we need not faint. And then in verses eight through 11, God is our very present help.

Therefore, we need not fret. Now, I don't know about you, but I know a great deal about me. And these are the dangers that I face when difficulties come.

I either fear or I faint or I fret. And Psalm 46 is saying, look, my child, you don't have to do any of those. You have the divine resources that are necessary to keep going.

Let's take that first statement. Resource number one, God is our refuge. Therefore, we need not fear.

Now, there are some people who don't realize how much they need a refuge. A refuge is a place where you run to hide, to get ready to go back and fight. For example, he tells us in verse six, we need a refuge because of trouble.

Or verse one, because of trouble, a very present help in trouble. That Hebrew word there means tight places. There are 21 different words in the Hebrew language that are translated trouble.

They must have had their troubles. And this one means tight places. Do you ever get into a tight place? I mean, a situation where you're really in the corner.

God enjoys bringing us out of tight places. Here's Hezekiah in the city of Jerusalem, a so-called impregnable fortress. Here is the great army of Assyria out there.

And Hezekiah can't look around and he doesn't dare look down. And so he has to look up and he says, Lord, I'm in a tight place. Isaiah the prophet says Hezekiah went in and he spread the letter before the Lord, a threatening letter from the army of Sennacherib.

He got into a tight place. Well, we need a refuge because there are tight places. Up in verse two, we need a refuge because life has its changes.

The earth is removed. Life has its convulsions. The mountains are carried into the midst of the sea.

Life has its tumults. The waters are roaring and they're troubled. The word troubled in verse three is not the same as the word trouble in verse one.

In verse three, it means the waters that are boiling. The nations of the earth are surging. He talks about wars and tumults.

And all of these things that go on around us affect us on the inside. Now, you may not be worried too much about worldwide convulsions and international disturbances. Your concern may be paying the rent next week.

Your concern might be visiting the doctor and going into the hospital for surgery. It might be getting along with a loved one who's giving you difficulty. I don't know.

You're in some kind of a tight place. There's something that is shaking and things aren't as stable as they used to be. And the psalmist says, now, look, we don't have to fear because God is our refuge.

Now, everybody has some kind of a refuge. I chatted this last week with a young man whose refuge is heroin. When things aren't going the way he thinks they ought to go, he just gets himself a fix of heroin.

That's his refuge. We've had people stop here at the Moody Church for help. We're glad they stopped.

Their refuge is alcohol. When life gets unbearable, they reach for the bottle. Some people, their refuge is fighting.

They go out and get into a fight someplace. Everybody has some kind of a refuge. And you know what your refuge is.

It's the thing you turn to when difficulty comes. Some people, their refuge is lying. When difficulty comes, they take their refuge.

Isaiah says they make lies their refuge. Now, for those of us who know Jesus Christ as our Savior, he is the refuge. God is our refuge.

Isaiah paints a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ over in chapter 32. The last time I heard Dr. Ironside preach, this was his text. Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in justice.

And a man shall be like a hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest, like rivers of water in a dry place, like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. Now, that's a beautiful picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is that great rock in a weary land.

And when difficulties come, and we find ourselves facing war, I don't mean international conflict, I mean internal conflict, and tumult, and difficulty, and we're in tight places, there's only one thing to do. That's to run to our refuge, the Lord Jesus Christ. I appreciate what the psalmist has to say over in Psalm 62.

I'm going to read it to you. Someday you may have to connect Psalm 62 with Psalm 46. David says this, Truly my soul waiteth upon God, from him cometh my salvation.

He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be greatly moved.

Down in verse 5. My soul, do you ever talk to yourself? He does. My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation.

He is my defense. I shall not be moved. I like the progress from verse 2. I shall not be greatly moved to verse 5 or 6. I shall not be moved.

That's the theme verse of some churches. But what he's talking about here is not being shaken by everything. Now, my friend, you can trust God as your refuge.

He doesn't change. He doesn't judge. Even if you run to him with dirty hands, you can say, oh, God, I have sinned.

Forgive me and cleanse me and he'll do it. He doesn't change. He doesn't chide.

He doesn't condemn. He's always the same. He will protect you.

And he will lift you up. You see, the word that's used in Psalm 46, verse 11. The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Verse 7. The God of Jacob is our refuge. That's a different word from the word refuge in verse 1. In verse 1, it's the word that means a hiding place. In verses 7 and 11, it's a word that means a high place.

And so you're just as low as you can get. You're just crawling. And you say, oh, God, I need to be hiding somewhere.

And you run to the Lord. And then he hides you and then he lifts you. The hiding place becomes a high place.

Then you can look down upon the storm and get a better perspective of what is going on. It's a beautiful thing to fly above the storm. Often in my intermittent travels, we have left the terminal and gone through fog and rain and wind.

And then you start getting up there to some 32, 35,000 feet. And then you look down and there's sunshine. That's what the Lord does for us.

He is our refuge. We don't have to be afraid. Now in verses 4 through 7, he is our strength.

We don't have to faint. I want to emphasize this tonight because sometimes people get the wrong idea. God does not protect us to pamper us.

God protects us to prepare us. Will you remember that? Sometimes from our hymns and sometimes from some preaching, we get the idea that the Christian life is just simply running to the refuge. And he receives us.

He said, now you just stay here. And before long, it'll all be well. It doesn't work that way.

I'm sorry. We run to the refuge not to be pampered, but to be prepared. We run to the refuge that he might help us.

God is our refuge. God is our strength. And as we hide in him, he strengthens us to do what? To go back and face the storm and face the battle.

Far too many Christians like to run away and hide. Now, I know there are times when our heart just cries out to be taken away from the battle. David himself said, oh, that I had wings like a dove, that I might fly away and be at rest.

I recall one of the last times I heard Dr. Culbertson preach, he made reference to that verse. And he said in his own inimitable way, I have heard people criticize David for saying that. But I have lived long enough to appreciate it.

There are times when the battle is so intense, when the tumults are so great, when the earthquakes and the tight places are just so against you, you say, oh, God, how long, how long? And you run to the refuge and he doesn't pamper you. He doesn't say, well, I'll kiss it and make it well. No, he loves you and he forgives you.

And then he strengthens you. God is our refuge. We need not fear.

God is our strength. We need not faint. This is what he did with Elijah.

Elijah came and said, oh, Jehovah, the nation's going to bail. Idolatry and immorality and wickedness. And, oh, I want to do something about it.

And his heart was so burdened. God said, Elijah, go hide yourself. Now, you said to a preacher, you've got some.

Go hide yourself. And so for three years he went and hid himself. He didn't preach any big public meetings.

He went and visited a widow lady and he went and took care of her for three years. He hid himself. What was God doing with Elijah while Elijah was hiding himself, strengthening him, strengthening him? Then one day the word of the Lord came and said, Elijah, go show yourself.

And Elijah shows up and says to the king, I challenge you. And they had that great contest on Mount Carmel. Did Elijah waste his time hiding himself for three years? No.

He brought down fire from heaven. You see, God hides us that he might be able to help us. God shelters us that he might be able to strengthen us.

God protects us that he might be able to prepare us. He tells us what this strengthening comes from. There is a river.

He's referring here, of course, to that water system that Hezekiah built some 1,700 feet long, cut through the rocks. A century or so ago, an archaeologist discovered it. A young lad found an inscription written on the wall there on how they joined the two parts of the tunnel.

Rather remarkable. He's just simply saying Jerusalem is not going to die of thirst. We have a hidden river.

We have hidden resources. And the enemy out there doesn't know where it comes from. This is why Christians are able to continue strong.

We have hidden resources. My friend, everything in nature depends upon hidden resources. Everything.

The trees, the flowers, the animals and the birds and our human bodies. We depend upon hidden resources. And God has put those resources there.

And we go get them. We send our roots down and draw them up. There's some Christians who don't know the meaning of Psalm 1, 3. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.

His leaf also shall not wither and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. What's he saying? The roots of the tree go down deep and they find those hidden resources and draw upon them. And no matter what happens around, they have their source of strength hidden below.

Now, what is your source of strength? Jesus said, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. He's talking there about drawing upon the strength of the Holy Spirit of God.

Now, my friend, when the wind is blowing and the mountains are shaking and the waves are lashing, do you draw upon those hidden resources of God? Let me repeat for you a story I told the first time I preached here at Moody Church. It was on Fourth of July weekend back in 1971 in the evening. It's a story about my favorite missionary, J. Hudson Taylor.

Some of you remember me telling this. At a certain point in the history of the China Inland Mission, things were going badly. And one day, J. Hudson Taylor and his assistant, Mr. Nickel, were in the office of the mission over in China.

And the mail came in. So Hudson Taylor opened up the first letter and he said, our station and such and such a place has been attacked and destroyed. The missionaries are scattered.

He opened another letter and something had happened at another station. And he opened a third letter and there was trouble in another station. It seemed that all the mail conveyed was difficulty out there in the field.

Mr. Nickel, thinking that Hudson Taylor probably would want to be alone and work out some of these problems, started to leave the room. And as he left the room, he heard the strangest sound. This is what he heard.

And he turned and said, Mr. Taylor, how can you whistle when our friends and our co-laborers are out there facing death? And Taylor said, God knew what was in these letters before I opened them. Would you have me worry about them? That's what the enemy would want. We shall leave this with my father and he will see to it.

You see, Taylor was whistling his favorite song, Jesus, I am resting, resting in the joy of what thou art. Hudson Taylor knew how to draw upon the hidden resources of God. And the record tells us that they prayed and God worked and the China Inland Mission saw one of the greatest movements of God they had ever seen.

You see, when trouble comes to us, we don't do this. We complain, we call people up, we get mad at God. But the record says there's no need for us to faint.

There's a river. God is our strength and we can draw upon those hidden spiritual resources. You know what happens when you start doing that? God does something in verse six.

He uttered his voice. That's the most powerful voice in the world. God utters his voice.

He sees his people praying. He sees his people drawing upon spiritual power and God utters his voice and things begin to happen. We need not fear because God is our refuge and we need not faint because God is our strength.

Verses eight through eleven. We need not fret. Be still because God is our help.

You'll notice in verse eight that God can bring about desolations in the earth. That word carries the meaning not of destroying things only but wonderful works. Come behold the works of the Lord.

What wonderful things he hath made in the earth. He makes wars to cease. He wipes out the whole army overnight.

He breaks the bow. He cuts the spear in sunder. He burns the chariot with fire.

He, he, he. Not you. He.

Now I confess to you one of my difficulties and I've had it for all my life. The Lord's helping me with it. Is that when something happens I want to get my hands on it.

Those here in the church family who work the closest with me perhaps have recognized this and prayed for me. I have a tendency at times. Now get your hands on that and straighten it out.

My Hebrew instructor tells me that verse 10 reads like this. That little word be still means take your hands off. Stop fretting.

The other evening I had to sit down and read Psalm 37 which says over and over again. Fret not. Fret not.

Get your hands off. Now will you say amen to this in your heart every time you've gotten your hands on something you've made a mess of it. God says take your hands off.

And know that I am God. You're not God. I'm God.

I think we Christians cause more difficulty fretting. We get nervous and fidgety and we have to do this and do that. We get into trouble.

And God says look just relax. That's what the word means. Relax.

Take your hands off. And know that I am God. I am a very present help in trouble.

Notice what he says here. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.

Get your hands off. God is there. Don't be impatient.

Don't fret. It always rejoices my heart to know that the Lord of hosts is the God of Jacob. Now he's the God of Abraham.

But I don't identify too well with Abraham. He was a great man of faith. I'm not.

He's the God of Isaac. But I don't identify too much with Isaac because he willingly laid himself on the altar. And I have a rough time there sometimes.

But I have no problem identifying with Jacob. Jacob got his hands on things. And Jacob schemed.

And Jacob pulled strings. The master schemer. The master politician.

He met his match in his father-in-law believe me. But he kept going. God said look I'm the God of Jacob.

I'm the Lord of hosts. Martin Luther's hymn Lord Sabaoth is his name. He is the Lord of hosts.

The Lord of armies. The host of the stars. The host of the angels.

Oh Jacob found that out. Jacob ran away from home and he got to Bethel. And he lay down there to go to sleep.

And he saw the host of the angels going up and down that stairway to the stars. And God said Jacob I want you to know something. I am your God.

And my hosts are at your command. I'm here. 20 some years later when Jacob had to go back and face his brother.

It's a rough experience when you have to face your past life. And he was scared. And God showed him the armies of the angels all around him.

He called that place Mahanaim. Which means the place of the two armies. His army of people and the armies of God's hosts.

I'm glad that for a worm like me God has angelic forces available. You see he is my help. A present help.

That word means accessible. An accessible help. He's a very present help.

You can get to him. It's not like your doctor who says now you cough in an envelope and mail it to me and I'll send you a prescription. It's not like the lawyer who says well I can see you in the middle of 1978.

Or even like the preacher sometimes who gets very busy and says hey I can't see you this week how about next week. He's very accessible. He is our help.

Therefore we need not fret. What he's saying here is simply this. God is going to be exalted in this earth.

That's what he's concerned about. When the angels praise God. Holy, holy, holy.

The whole earth is full of his glory. We don't see it but they do. God is going to be exalted in this earth.

And my little life in my little corner is a part of that. It seems unbelievable but it's true. God is concerned about me.

He's saying to me look you are a part of my glory. That's why I saved you. That's why I'm living in you.

You're a part of my glory. I'm not going to leave you alone. So when you feel like life is falling apart.

People have failed you and circumstances have failed you. Turn to Psalm 46. And the first verse is the key that will just open it up for you.

You have the divine resources of God at your disposal. He is your refuge. Run to him.

And you need not fear. Some of you here tonight are afraid. You're in a circumstance.

You say pastor I don't know what this is going to lead to. You don't have to know what it's going to lead to. He knows.

Just come to the refuge. You need not fear. He is our strength.

We need not faint. Just draw upon that river. He is our ever-present help.

Emmanuel, God with us. There's no need to fret. He's in control.

A mighty fortress is our God. Gracious Father, we're thankful that we can walk out into life unafraid because you are our God. Thank you, Father, for forgiving us in Jesus Christ all that we need.

You have forgiven us in Christ. You've accepted us in Christ. One day you will glorify us.

Forgive us when we have depended upon our own feeble, limited resources. Forgive us, Father, when we have pretended to be victorious when all the while we were defeated. Help us from this night on to draw upon these limitless resources of divine strength and power.

Father, we don't want to be pampered. There are days when we wish the burdens were lighter and we wish the warfare were easier. But we don't want to be pampered because then we'd be children.

We want to be mature in the Lord. We know that we cannot mature in a playpen. We've got to be in a battlefield.

And so, Father, we accept what you permit to come to us, though we don't always understand it. We pray that we might draw upon what you have provided for us. And send us out into this shaking world with that security that we have in Jesus Christ.

I pray for any who may be here who have never run to the refuge and been saved. Who have never come and trusted Christ, that they might do so tonight. For that troubled soul, oh God.

Father, I feel that somebody here tonight is going through tremendous onslaughts of the wicked one. Oh God, grant to that troubled soul tonight your peace and your power. And may the message of this wonderful song and psalm so grip that life that there will be a new determination and a new joy even in the midst of difficulty.

This is our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.