Now we come to the part of our worship service where we hear the words of our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. And I invite you to open your Bible to Psalm 46. Psalm 46. And we will meditate that God is our refuge and strength in our hardship. God is our refuge and strength in our hardships. Psalm 46, listen with hope, with faith, and love, and worship your triune God as we do so. To the chief musician, a psalm of the sons of Korah, a song of Elimoth, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though its waters war and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah. There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God. the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her just at the break of dawn. 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, Selah. Come, behold the works of the Lord, who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bowl and cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still. and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I'll be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Let us pray once again. Father, open our eyes so that we can see that you are a refuge and strength, especially when we most need. We pray all this in Jesus' name, amen. Life is hard. If it's not hard for you, kid, now it will be if you continue to live. And how you handle life when it's hard is not easy. And here, this text will teach us to handle it with our God. as our refuge and strength. So we'll handle hardship knowing that God is our refuge and strength. First, look at your present, verses one through three. When you look at your present, This text will teach us, see your God as your refuge and strength. See in verse 1 says, God is our refuge. Verse 1 doesn't say God was our refuge or God will be our refuge, even though those are two statements. But the text says that God is our refuge. Now, at the present moment. And it says that he is our refuge in terms of he is our shelter, our protection. When there's a storm or a war, you have to find a place to protect yourself. There he is as your shelter. Also, he is our strength. It means that he is the source of our strength. That when we are weak, we are fragile, we find Him as our strength. And when you put both things together, refuge and strength, you have a fortress for you to protect yourself. It also says that He is help, a present, very present help. And that word means a lot. Because many times we think that help here is just God is giving us a hand when we can do for ourselves something to help us. No. The word help here means that He will provide something that you cannot do for yourself. It's what you read, for example, in 1 Samuel chapter 7, when Israel could not fight against the enemies and God came to help them in the sense of something that they could not do for themselves. God helped them, God saved them, God redeemed them. And that's why they put the name of the son of Ebenezer, son of help. The Lord helped us in the sense of being our deliverer, our redeemer, salvation, and not merely giving you a hand for a problem. No. He helped you because you could not do it by yourself. So what kind of problem is that? It says, very present help in trouble. The word trouble here, it means confinement, a risk of life, where it seems there's no way out. There's no escape. There's a siege of enemies surrounding you, and you cannot find a place to go or to escape, a way out, a door. Then stress and distress and anxiety. kicks in. That's the kind of problem that we see here. And probably, historically, this psalm is based on the siege of Sennacheribia around Jerusalem in 701 BC. All 45 cities of Judah had already been besieged. Assyria even mocks Judah saying that they, the Assyrians, would lend 2,000 horses to Judah and Judah would not have a chance against them. And 185,000 soldiers at that moment besieged Jerusalem. So that's a picture that you have in mind. of the trouble that the psalmists are talking about here. But there's something more in verses 2 and 3 about the kind of trouble that they are mentioning. What kind of trouble is this? It is described in verses two and three. Read with me. Therefore, we will not fear, even though the earth be moved, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Do you see the description of the trouble there? They are not describing a local tsunami. No. They are not describing a disaster in a family in a car accident. It's not that kind of description. It's not an epidemic of a virus or a pandemic, it's not that either. No, the psalmists are describing a worst case scenario, a decreation of the whole planet in verses 2 and 3. The planet is being unmade. It's a total chaos, a universal and cosmic calamity. It's a worldwide catastrophe. Where the most secure things that you can see here in the world, like mountains, are shaking. And the earth is being melted. And here's the principle as you read verses one through three. Even if the entire globe is disintegrating before your own eyes, even if the world is falling apart, verse two says, even though those things happen, we will not fear. Even if everything gets from bad to worse, A total chaos. You have to look at your present situation and see that God is not was, not will be, but God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in an ending world. And that is why we will not fear. Look at Him. Look at Him and see who He is for you. at your present situation, that He is your refuge and strength, a present help in the midst of the worst case scenario in your life. And we will not fear. That is why we can say He is our refuge and strength, by looking at our present situation. in the hardship of our lives. And here are some applications of this first point for us, for all of us. First application, as you look at your present and see your God there as your refuge and strength. Be realistic. Your problem can get worse. Many times, not wrong to do this, but it can be troublesome. We have the tendency to think that things will get better. Well, it's bad now, but it'll be all right. And many times, and sometimes, they don't get better. And when the arrows of problems are getting worse and getting closer to you, and you try to find something to protect yourself, it's too late. Because you are not being realistic. that things can get worse. I remember here the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 12, remember? When God said, do you think it's hard for you to run against human beings? What if I put you to run against horses, Jeremiah? Do you think it's hard for you to deal with the people of Israel? What about people from your own family who are against you? Yes, be realistic. Things can get worse. And get read to it. For it. Second application. Our minds, naturally, even unconsciously, we think that when our lives are a hurricane of problems, we think God is far away from us. God is distant. Where is God? When everything is so bad in my life. No, this text is teaching us that we have to think again. Rethink, renew your mind when your life is a mess. Because the text says that God is present not only when everything is well, but also when everything is from bad to worse. He's a very present help, not out of trouble, not without trouble, but in trouble, you see? Third application. Now, don't think about anybody else. Think about yourself. When your life is a pain in the neck, what is your refuge? Where do you go to when you are in trouble? What is your shelter? Is it comfort? Nothing wrong with comfort by itself, but we can replace God by our comfort. Is it work? Or is it money? Knowing that your bank account is all right, then you'll be all right. Is it entertainment? Social media? Or is it porn? Online had a terrible week in your way for you to cope with the problem is where you go to online. Is it buying, shopping? Or is it loneliness? You want to be by yourself in your room, in a dark room. You don't want to see anybody. That's your shelter. Was it your fridge? When you have anxiety, you see there's no way out. It's the fridge. It's the food. It's the junky food that makes you well. Was it alcohol? Was it beauty? Was it romance, love of your life that will make you well? Is it intellectualism, or children, or pills? Or maybe you are here this morning, think I tried so many things, nothing works. There's no refuge for me anymore. No, today. Today, this morning, God calls you. I am the one who is a very present help in your trouble. Come with me. You have to find a shelter in me. It is with me that you have strength. Only I, says God through this text. As you look at your present, and here's your refuge, I am the only one can really help you. Come with me. And if you are not going trouble now, Be prepared for it. As you meditate upon this truth, when the trouble comes, you'll be ready. By looking at your present and meditating upon the truth that He is your refuge and strength. Secondly, look at your past. Look at your past. Not only to look at your present, but look at your past. Verses 4 and 4-7 says this, there's a river whose stream shall make glad the city of God. You see the contrast here? Verses 1-3, you see mountains and sea, the earth are shaking. When you get in verse 4, the seat of God is unshakable. tumultuous and raging sea in verses two and three. But now, you see the city of God and the temple of God, you have a calm river of Zion that makes the city of God glad. Joy, peace, provision, tranquility. And then when you read this text, you say, that river there in Jerusalem, where the temple is? Well, there was no river there. Well, there was a man-made spring of water to fill the pool of Shiloh so that they would have supply of water at all times. And when the city was being besieged, you have water. Yeah, they had a man-made spring of water. But I don't think that's what you see here in the psalm. I think verse four, when it talks about the streams as a river, is invoking the Garden of Eden in creation that had a river of which the temple of Jerusalem was a prototype or a replica of the presence of God with his people. It's a way for them to think about the past. At the time when there was no sin, when there was no death, when there was no suffering and pain and affliction, when there was the special presence of God in a perfect and harmonious way, tranquility and joy and gladness. So the psalmists make you to think about at the beginning, in the past. But in verse 5, you see, it says, in verse 5, God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God shall help her just at the break of dawn. You see, God will help is the same verb that you see in verse 1. He is a very present help. It's a noun there. And here, in verse 5, is the verb of that noun. He is, He will be her helper. Help, how? When? Right early or at the turning of the morning. Or as you see here in this translation, it says at the break of dawn. So what does that mean? Again, it's making you to look back at your past. In creation again, you see there was darkness, And then came light. Darkness and light at the break of the morning. But also it's for you to remember and look back at your past of salvation. This expression here in verse five, at the break of dawn, at the break of the morning, right early, at the turning of the morning, in an expression that appears again in another place in the Bible. In Exodus chapter 14 verse 27, where there was another siege. There was no way out. A sea in front of them, in the right and the left, mountains and places that they could not go, and behind them, The Egyptian army, no way out. And then as you know the story, kids, you know what happened during the night at the breaking of the dawn, at the breaking of the morning. God opened up the sea, made the Israelites pass through and cross the sea. And when the Egyptians tried to do the same thing you know will happen, boom, the water came upon them and all the Egyptians were killed. And they saw redemption in front of their eyes at the breaking of the morning. And here again, you see, He's saying, look back at your past and remember your redemption when you are dealing with your hardship and troubles in life. And in verse 6, he does the same thing. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice, the earth melted. You see there, it's an interpretation of verses 2 and 3 about the raging seas. The raging seas are symbols or metaphor for the nations against the people of God. that you hear now in verse 6 see the interpretation of it. There are nations, the enemies of God, against God and his people. But again, he says, there is an expression in verse 6, he uttered his voice, the earth melted. His voice melts the earth. It's almost the same expression that you find in Exodus chapter 15, 15, with the son of Moses, that he melts the Canaanites. For them to remember how God redeemed them. Again, saving them from the enemies. Their salvation. Their redemption. And therefore in verse 7, they give us the refrain again, God is with us. the covenant God that made a covenant with Jacob. He is with us. Look back at your past, what God did for you and with you in the past, and apply that truth in your present reality of hardship and problems. Apply the truth. Remember your past. Look back at your past and apply it to your reality. But we do that naturally, I think, many of us. When we are going through some problems and, oh, it's so hard, and you think, oh, it was so good when I was five years old, when I was climbing the trees and having fun with no problem, oh, it was so great. We do that naturally. Well, the psalmists are here telling you, do that to remember your past. not your past of 30 years ago, not your past of five years ago, or three years ago, or even 80 years ago. He said, we need to apply the past of our 2,000 years ago, the truth of the greatest redemption of all on Calvary. Remember that truth and apply that truth for our present reality. Well, let me try to help you how we can do this with a guy called Greg Lucas. Greg Lucas, he is a policeman and he has a special kid that will never be healed. Who will never be healed. And he wrote an article that he does that, he applies the truth of the gospel in the past to his present hardship with his special son. And as he does so, let us learn with him how he look back at his past of redemption and applies that truth to his reality and we can do the same with our conditions. Listen, pay attention and learn how to look back at your past of the gospel and apply to your present reality of hardship. Almost daily, he writes, I have to physically restrain my son. It is a physical battle to change his diaper and clean his body. Many times while cleaning and changing him, I have been kicked in the face, bitten, smacked, clawed, or hit with flying objects. It is not all that uncommon to come away from a cleanup with a bloody lip or a new scratch. Jake is the size of a small man now and stronger than most full-sized men. It takes at least two people to bathe him. I must confess that on many mornings I leave Jake's room dejected, hurt, and emotionally drained. And many nights I find myself training the violent, resistant, but struggling boy by wrapping him in my arms against his will and gently whispering, I love you, I love you, I love you, no matter what. Most children are relational and have the ability to reciprocate affection. But what happens when the child cannot communicate love? How does the relationship between parent and child grow and thrive when the child is not relational? What bonds parent and child together when the child does not share in the affection? How do you care for someone that resists your care with violence and opposes your very presence, even when your presence is for his good? Now you see his problem? Now pay attention how he's going to apply the truth of the gospel of the past to his present affliction. The only possible way to make any sense of this kind of relationship is to experience it through the truly unconditional love of God the Father. As I reflect on my seemingly one-sided relationship with my son, I am forced to see how it is sometimes a portrait of my own relationship with God. In the defiance of my son to be loved, cared for, and washed clean, I am shown a portrait of the cross. The one-sided violence of love reveals a blurred vision of my own redemption as a bloody, bitten, crucified Savior wraps me in His arms, subdues me with His affection, and whispers in my ear, I love you, I love you, I love you, no matter what. And this morning, dear brother and sister, God not only whispers in your ears, But he screams and yells in your ears, no matter where you are, no matter what heart is your condition right now, look back at your past, what God did for you in love, not sparing his own son for you. He's whispering, screaming in your ears. I love you, I love you. I love you no matter what you are going through or will go through. Yes, life is hard. But we have the best refuge and strength, our God and Redeemer. Look at your present reality and see that He is your refuge. Look back at your past of redemption and see His love for you no matter what. And thirdly and lastly, look to your future. Look to your future. through 11. You see, it's like a time machine. Remember the time machine of DeLorean? It's like that. He's in Texas making you to enter in that time machine and he's making you to see the future. Verses 8 through 11, read with me, see with me there. It says, come, it's inviting us, behold the works of the Lord. He's telling us, let us see. The word behold here, the verb, it's not a common word that we use naturally. It's a verb used for prophets. So it's a prophetic vision that He's calling us to see. It's a eschatological vision that He's calling us to have. It's to see the end times, to see the future. Come, let us see. Let us see what? In verse 9. Well, it says, He makes war cease to the end of the earth. It's telling us Come, you will see that the wars will be done to the end of the earth. He will end all evil. He will end all injustice. Come, see it. Even the most powerful weapons described at that time will be broken, will be burned in the fire. Come, you need to see the future. And then for that reason, he says in verse 10, be still. Isn't that beautiful? The psalm, it begins with a turmoil, the raging sea and waves and earthquake. And here in verse 10 at the end, everything is calmed down, be still. And I think he's talking to the enemies and he's talking to you, his people. And isn't it beautiful that here in the psalm is the third person. He's describing about God. He is our refuge. He is our strength. Now you see in the first person, now is God talking to you directly. Now he stops everything and says, now pay attention, I'm talking to you now. If you are the enemy, be still, calm down, because you will be defeated. But if you are mine, calm down, be still, that everything will be okay in the future, no matter what you are going through now. All your struggles, all your afflictions, you have to be still and know that I am God. I know that I am exalted among the nations. Because I will end all disgrace, I will end all evil, all awe, I will defeat all enemies. There will be no pain, no tears, no suffering in the future. Be still and know that I am God. Be still and you will know it will be complete victory. And you will know that I am God, that I will be exalted among the nations, that I will be exalted precisely the same earth, in the same earth that was shaking in the beginning. The same earth that you see the nations raging against you. It's the same earth that you will know after my complete victory that I am God and there's no one else. There is no one else. There is no one else exalted like me. There will be no King Sennacheribbe. There will be no President Biden. There will be no emperor. There will be no leader in the future. Everyone will know that I'm the one who is God. I'm the one who is king. I'm the one who will be exalted. Therefore, be still. Calm down. Look to the future. Don't you realize already the beauty of the Christian view of suffering? After this, as you see the principle of looking at your present, looking back at your past, and look to your future, Have you not realized already the uniqueness, the beauty of the Christian view of suffering? You see, on one hand, we must be realistic. And we see the first point, that things can get from bad to worse. Be realistic. Yes, as you see the problems in our lives, life is hard. And it will get hard. Be realistic that things may get from bad to worse. On the other hand, we have the God-given right to be romantics. To be romantics because in the future God will end all evil and suffering, Christian. That's what you believe. That's what I believe. But the problem is that we think that we will live in this world forever, kids. That's our tendency. We are prone to believe in that lie. Our hearts is fixed in this falling world. That's my problem too. But here you see the future having significance for now. New heavens and new earth are real and must be relevant for now. The future must make a difference now in the present. Look to the future and let it make a difference now. I think that's one of my main problems. When I look at myself, my own heart, oh, my faith is so weak to believe in the truth that we see. in the promises of the gospel of the new heaven and the earth that we, if we truly believe in this truth that we'll be a complete victory to our God in the future, no matter what happens in this present reality, it will be all right. We can be romantics at the same time, at the same time, and make a difference now And maybe you're thinking, we have the tendency, right? What is the point of this suffering? I don't see any point. What is the purpose? Why God? Why are you doing this to me? Well, let me give you just one purpose that I think the text teaches us, and I think it's the main one for our lives. You see in verse 10, God will be known and exalted among the nations. So all the trouble and all the difficulties, all the raging seas, and all the hurricane of affliction in our lives, but at the end, He'll be exalted. And here's the purpose. It's a missionary purpose. As I look at my church, where I come from, women in my church with so much pain, so much sorrow, And I ask, how can you endure so much pain? And they answer me, because of my God, who promised me that in my future, there will be no pain, no tears, no more suffering. What a testimony. In your suffering, God has a missionary purpose. So through your affliction, through your pain, people may see the greatness of your God. How can you endure such a thing? Because he is my refuge and strength. Do you want a greater purpose than this? There's none. Nothing can be compared with this purpose. A missionary purpose so that your God may be exalted among the nations. Through your pain, through your affliction, as you look at your president and see him as your refuge, as you look back at your past, what he did for you in Christ, and look to your future, what he promised to you in the gospel. I remember a little girl, boys and girls here, a little girl with a spine bifida. You know what spine bifida is? She was born with that. Spine problems that she could not walk for the rest of her life. She could only walk with crutches or use wheelchair for the rest of her life. A little girl of eight, nine years old. And one day, her pastor gave her the privilege to see something that she loved the most, one of the things she loved the most, to see ballerina dancing. Oh, she loved seeing those ballerina dancing. And her pastor gave her a ticket to that show. And she was so excited in the car talking to her brother Levi. And she said, you see Levi? Levi, isn't it amazing? I will get to see the best ballerina of the world dancing. Isn't it amazing, Levi? And then she said to him, but you know who is more amazing? Do you know who's more amazing? Jesus is more amazing. Jesus is more amazing because one day, one day he's coming back. And when he comes back, he's going to heal my legs. And the first thing I'm going to do for my Jesus is to dance for him. A little girl of seven, eight or nine years old had the ability to use the future of the gospel and apply that truth for her reality of hardship, of affliction for the rest of her life. A little girl, and we as adults cannot even get close to that. How many of us have neglected such a powerful resource that God has provided for us in the gospel? The problem is that our future hope is not real to us. It's not even palpable. It's not even our radar of our lives, if we're honest. No, in order for you to grow in sanctification, in your suffering, you must remember the gospel of the past, the gospel for the present, and the gospel promises of the future. And hear how we're going to do this as we partake of the table, as we go to the table. We have the privilege not only to listen to the gospel past, to listen to the gospel future, and the presence of reality of God with us here right now as our refuge. Not only we have the privilege to listen to it, but to see it, to taste it. How? You see how the psalm ends? As he began, and as you see in verse 7 too, the Lord of hosts in verse 11 is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. How can you sing this? Tell me. When your life is a hurricane of problems and you can sing, no God is with me, with all the conviction, not only because you can feel it, but out of you objectively, how can you know it? Because there was another question. 2,000 years ago, he screamed, saying, my God, my God, why are you not with me right now? Why I cannot sense your presence with me right now? Why are you not my refuge now? Why the Lord of Hosts is not with me right now? I cannot sense it, even if you are. My family, my friends, my disciples abandoned me, and even my God is silent on this cross. Why am I suffering hell on this cross? So that you, beloved Christian brothers and sisters, God could look at your eyes and say, I did not spare my own son so that I would be with you forevermore, no matter what. So that you can, with conviction, confess that your God is your refuge and strength. When you look at the president, he is right there with you because Jesus did not notice, sense God's presence with him on the cross. It was not like he experienced in reality. The sun was there at midday. The sun was there, but everything was darkness. God was there, but he could not see it. He could not sense it. so that you may have the conviction of the promise that he will never forsake you and abandon you because his son experienced hell for you on that cross. Be prepared. Life is hard. It will hit you if it's not hitting you right now. It will hit you very hard. But you have here the privilege to live and to be born in a Christian family, to be prepared to live with the most important refuge of all that you cannot find anywhere else in the world. The world is not a safe place to be without him. It's for you to be ready. And kids, as you see us adults confessing believers to partake of the bread and the wine, desire and long to participate as well. To see in those elements that He is your refuge and strength because of the gospel of the past, of the present, and of the future. Let us pray. Father, thank you so much for the gospel of Jesus Christ. Please help me, help us to see you here in the communion of the table that you prepared for us. Please help us not only to have this table as empty ritual But in fact, it's a reality that you are with us. And in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.