This morning, we’re going to think about some holiday foods for a moment or two. What is your favourite ice cream flavour? Maybe you like bubblegum. Or raspberry ripple. Or my favourite, honeycomb. Sometimes, you might get a cone with two scoops of ice cream - and you can mix and match the flavours. That way you don’t have to choose just one flavour, you can have the two that you like the best. One scoop honeycomb, and one scoop mint choc chip - that’s my order. Yum yum!
Now, if it was a very hot day, and you really needed to cool down, then you would want a cone with three scoops of ice cream! So what would you choose for your three scoops? Three different flavours? Two scoops of one and one of the other? Or all three scoops of the same flavour?
Psalm 46 is a bit like a three scoop ice cream cone. From the way it’s printed in the Bibles (p570), you can see that it comes in three sections, three scoops. There’s also the little word ‘Selah’ at the end of each section - a word that calls for a pause, to stop and think about what you’ve heard, read or sung.
And the three scoops of Psalm 46 are all of the same flavour. If it was ice cream, it would be honeycomb, honeycomb and honeycomb. The three scoops all say the same thing. The three parts all have the same message.
It’s a bit like that other holiday food that you might have got when you were at the seaside. It’s really bad for your teeth - the stick of rock. And there’s something special about Blackpool rock - does anyone know what it is? Here’s a picture to help you - it says Blackpool rock on the inside of it. And it goes right through the whole stick. Wherever you bite it or break it; it says the same thing the whole way through. And that’s like Psalm 46. Whatever verse you look at, whatever part of it you’re in, it all says the same thing. It all has the one message.
And what is the message? What is Psalm 46 telling us? Well, it tells us in verse 1. Look at it with me. Say it with me: ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.’ (perhaps you’ll be ready to say that!)
Psalm 46 is telling us something about God. And what is it telling us? First of all, that God is our refuge. So what’s a refuge? It’s a place of safety, a place where you can take refuge. So if you’re walking in the mountains, you might find a refuge, somewhere you can sit and be warm, and be sheltered from the weather. And God is like for us. We can take refuge in him.
Secondly, God is our strength. Whenever we feel weak, or helpless, and wonder how we’re going to be able to do whatever it is that we need to do, God gives us strength. More than that, God IS our strength.
And thirdly, God is our ever-present help in trouble. Whenever you’re in trouble, whatever time it is, wherever you are, God is with you to help you. He’s always with you. He’s always present. You’re never on your own. You can never be alone when you’re a Christian, because God is with you. Always. Helping in times of trouble.
Now, put those all together, and we see what God is like: ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.’
Can you say that today? Is that true of you? Is God your refuge and strength? Your ever-present help in trouble? Because when you can say that, when you know that in your own life, then you don’t need to be afraid, no matter what might be happening. Even if your whole world comes crashing down around you, you don’t need to fear, if God is your refuge and strength, your ever-present help in trouble.
That’s what verses 2-3 tell us. ‘Therefore (in light of the truth about God - because he is who is he and does what he does, therefore:) we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their shaking.’
A long time ago now, Kevin Costner starred in a movie called Waterworld. Now, it wasn’t about the swimming pool in Portrush, but it was about imagining what the world would be like with global warming, so that there was no land, only water covering the whole world. Imagine that!
If you’ve been in Newcastle, then you’ve seen where the mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea (as Percy French put it). But imagine if the mountains of Mourne fell into the sea! And imagine you were in Newcastle watching as it all happened. It might be scary to see, but we wouldn’t need to be afraid, not if God is our refuge and strength, our ever-present help in trouble.
So the first section, the first scoop is telling us that God is what? Our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
Now, the second scoop (v4-7) tells us the same thing in a slightly different way. It puts the two parts back to front or upside down. So, if God us an ever-present help in trouble, that means that (v7a) The LORD Almighty is with us. He’s always with us. With us even when we find ourselves in trouble. And if God is our refuge and strength, then it also means that (v7b) ‘the God of Jacob is our fortress.’
The two scoops are saying the same thing, using different words. It’s the same flavour, the same message. But here, the context has changed. In the first section, the danger was geological - all to do with the earth giving way. In this second section, the danger is political.
The city of Jerusalem is under siege. And when that happens, the enemy army comes up to the city and surrounds it. The people of God find themselves inside, and what might they need when they’re under siege? They need water to be able to survive. ‘There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.’ (4) If you have water, then you can wait out the siege.
But even more important than water, there’s something else that means that Jerusalem will win the battle. ‘God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.’ (5) Do you see how that fits with the Psalm? God is with his people and will help them - he’s an ever-present help in trouble; and he is also their refuge and strength.
In verse 3 the waters were roaring; in verse 6 it’s the nations that are in uproar, and kingdoms fall. God is able to help his people, no matter what the danger, or how fierce the opposition. And when God lifts his voice, the earth melts. No one can stand against God.
So, as the chorus goes, ‘The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is with us.’
In 2 Kings, we find a story which might well go with Psalm 46. In 2 Kings 18, Jerusalem is under siege. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria comes and surrounds the city. He has a huge army, and Jerusalem is in great danger. King Hezekiah receives a letter threatening the city, and he spreads it out in the temple before the Lord. And he prays, asking that God would help him, and deliver the city from Sennacherib’s hand.
The prophet Isaiah comes, and gives God’s answer - that God will help them. And that very night, 185,000 Assyrians all died, and Sennacherib withdrew from the city and returned home.
We get a picture of the scene in verses 8-9. ‘Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire.’
God is the one who brings wars to an end. It’s simply impossible to fight against God, or to try to defeat God. To quote the Borg from Star Trek, ‘Resistance is futile.’
We see God’s works in verses 8-9, and we hear God’s words in verse 10. ‘Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’
Sometimes, we hear that verse in the comforting, quieting, devotional sense - take a few moments during the day, be still, and know God. I have a picture above my desk reminding me to do that. It’s good to do. Maybe God is saying this to you today. In the midst of your busy-ness, be still, and remember that God is God and you are not.
But it seems that God is also speaking to his enemies here. If they’ve been trying to fight against him, trying to get rid of him, trying to forget him, he speaks, and invites them to stop their fighting. To be still, and know that God is God (and they are not.). Because God will be exalted among the nations, and exalted in the earth.
So where do you find yourself today? Are you on the opposition lines? Are you fighting against God? He invites you today to stop, to be still, to recognise who God is. He wants you to lay down your weapons, and surrender to him.
If you are a Christian, if you’ve already surrendered your life to him, then take heart! Remind yourself daily, when you be still, and when you be active, that God is your refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. That the LORD Almighty is with you; the God of Jacob is your fortress.
That’s the message of Psalm 46. It’s written right through it, like Blackpool rock. It’s three scoops of the same flavour. God is with you; and God is for you.
This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 19th August 2018.
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