Psalm, Psalm 46 please. Oh no. How many of you have said that this week? Your mechanic calls and you need a new transmission for your car. What do you say? A lot of money. How about this one? Your daughter finally passes her driver's test. My daughter took out three mailboxes the first week. Men, your wife says, honey, we need to talk. You have no clue. Or on a more serious note, you find out that you do have cancer. You find out that someone you love has just had a stroke or a heart attack, or has been in a horrible accident, or you lose your job, or your spouse files for divorce. Everybody here, I guarantee you, is hurting in some way or another and on different levels. we're gonna be facing those crisis moments often in our lives. Believers and unbelievers face those oh no moments. But when you're facing that dark moment, what if someone were to come to you, maybe an unbeliever, and say, I thought you were a follower of Christ. Why would God let this happen to you? How would you respond to that? You know you're saved, you know you're going to heaven, but really does your faith make a difference during those crisis moments? Psalm 46 that our brother Craig read for you this morning is a Psalm of wonderful, great hope for us when we meet those crisis moments. Lord Jesus, I pray the next few moments you enable us to open our hearts and minds and Lord, to be able to grasp the thoughts that we find here and the truth that can truly comfort our hearts when we're facing great, great crisis. In Jesus' name, amen. When Martin Luther faced crisis in his life, he would always call for the 46th Psalm to be read, and then he would say this. He would say, okay, now let the devil do his worst. Now, I have never said that before, But can you imagine what confidence Martin Luther received from this passage of scripture? Psalm 46, as you read this, you'll be able to tell that this was describing an instance of a struggle for great survival. Just a little bit of a historical background here to set the stage. Psalm 46, and the author that wrote this psalm, is pleading to God to deliver Israel in the face of an overwhelming enemy. Many commentators believe that this Psalm is referring to the time in 701 BC when King Sennacherib, how many have heard that name before? King Sennacherib, he was descending upon Jerusalem and he had already taken over 42 cities in Judah. He had already captured them and 200,000 Israelites were already captivated by the Assyrian army. When Psalm 46 was written, over 185,000 troops were surrounding the city. And it looked like just a matter of time till the siege warfare by the Assyrians were gonna cause Jerusalem to have to surrender. The king of Jerusalem at that time was King Hezekiah. And he was in the city when this siege was taking place. Also, many believe that Isaiah was the one who composed Psalm 46. because he was in the city at the same time as King Hezekiah. And if you look at this, it's impossible for David to have been the author because David had been dead for years. So as we look at this, there are three accounts of this siege in the Old Testament. The one that I like is Isaiah 37, because Isaiah was in there when he was going through this. No need to look for Isaiah 37, just jot it in the margin of your Psalm, and then later on you can look at that. Part of the strategy, of the siege included a verbal barrage from the attacking king to try to demoralize the inhabitants and especially the leaders in that city. So King Sennacherib wrote letters. Do you remember hearing about that? He wrote these letters to King Hezekiah to try to cause him to surrender. Chapter 37 of Isaiah and verses 10 and 11, Tell us what he said in those letters. This is the gist of it. He's saying, Hezekiah, don't believe your God. Don't let him deceive you. You're not going to be delivered. Look at these 42 other cities that I've already taken over. Why are you going to be any different? So he was trying to get him to surrender and there will be no problem. What did King Hezekiah do? He took those letters, and he laid them out before the Lord on the floor, and he bowed down on those letters, and he cried out to God for help. There is nothing more anxiety-producing in a leader than to not know what to do, to have no answers. Well, King Hezekiah did what we should do, pastor, leaders, moms, dads, he went to God. He cried out to Him. Guess what? God answered him that very night. In verse 33 through 35 of Isaiah 37, I'm gonna read to you the response that God sent to Isaiah, who then transmitted that message to King Hezekiah. This is what he said. Thus saith the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, he shall not come into this city. nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way he came, by the same he shall return and shall not come into the city, saith the Lord, for I will defend this city and save it for mine own sake and for my servant David's sake." There you have it. God's promise. Everything good now? Nothing had changed. They still had the army out there. They had no idea how God was gonna deliver it. But that's when I believe that Isaiah took a pen and composed this song. After he got God's promise, but before he saw how God was gonna do it, he expressed his confidence in his God. There are three stanzas of the song, like you heard Brother Craig read this morning. But at the end of each stanza, there's a little word that I love. What is that word? Selah. You can say Selah if you want to, but that's what we say down in the South. Selah. Now Selah, what does that mean? I looked it up before we put the name on our ministry, and it was interesting what I found out about the word Selah. There are three meanings. The first one is pause. Stop. Think about it. Number two, reflect on what God had just said. And as the Israelites would sing all these psalms, they're all songs, so each one of them were sung. And as they were singing and they came to the Lord's Selah, it would go quiet. And they would take a moment right in the middle of the song and reflect on what had just been sung. But then before they went to that next stanza, do you know what they did? They would raise their hands and then they would thank God for that truth. In other words, they would say, Amen. In other words, I believe it. Thank you. And then they would move to the next stanza. So as you're reading the Psalms now, practice that. Every time you come to the word Selah in the Psalms and in Habakkuk, pause, reflect on what God has said, and then thank him for that truth that he's given you. Psalm 46. Three truths, brothers and sisters, I like to draw from here, just three simple truths. Let's look at them this morning. First of all, we have confidence in our crisis because of God's presence. Because of God's presence. Verse one says that God is our refuge and strength, a very what? A very present help in trouble. Yeah, Jerusalem was surrounded and great fear gripped the king, King Hezekiah and everybody that was in that city. But now they have been given God's promise. Maybe you're hurting significantly right now. physically, emotionally. The most powerful confidence-producing truth that you can think about is that God is with you. No one else can be with you like God can be with you. Not just to hope for one day I'm gonna be out of this mess, but right now, God is with me. So that's why when somebody comes to you and says, why would God allow this to happen to you? Or when you start thinking, God, why would you allow this to happen to me? This is what you can say. Friend, I don't have to go through this alone. My God has promised that he is walking beside me. And not only that friend, before the foundation of the world, he knew I was gonna be going through this. and He's given me everything that I need to face this with confidence. How about you, friend? What a testimony to someone who is seeking the Lord, to see a Christian and a believer with confidence in the middle of an excruciating crisis moment. What does Psalm 23 verse 4 say? Say, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I'm not gonna fear any evil, why? because thou art with me. And then I love this passage, Isaiah 43, two, when you pass through the waters, when you pass through the rivers, when you go through the fire, it will not touch thee. Why? Because I will be with thee. And in our passage today, you have very present help in trouble. Verse two, therefore, what? Will not we fear. Therefore, will not we fear. Are you tracking with me? No, please think about this. If it's true that God is with us, then fear is irrational. Can you say that with me? Fear is irrational, one, two, three, fear. But you don't know my circumstance. No, if we truly believe God is with us, It's not to say that there won't be moments of anxiety. Yeah, we're going to face that. But when you think about it, God is with you, fear becomes irrational. Whatever those fears are that grip your heart and your soul, that's what creates the anxious feelings. So you can't stop anxiety. I can't look at someone or a counselee or my wife can't and say, OK, just stop being anxious. It's impossible. Why? Because anxiety is an emotion. Can I just look at you and say, stop being sad. Stop being happy. What's wrong with you? Can't do that. So how do you deal with those anxious feelings? You can't cure it, but you can manage it by dealing with the fear that's inside of your heart. And when you address that fear, no matter how bad the circumstances may get, you must not succumb to distrusting God. Be confident. God is with you. He says, I am near. I am here. He has his hand upon you. You're not alone. Selah. Pause. Reflect on his word. And then thank him for his word. So when you face an oh no moment, what do we do? No. Take a step back and pause. Tune that instrument. Sometimes when they were doing the pause, the musicians would tune their instruments during that time. So tune your instrument. If you start playing your instrument rashly, when a crisis moment comes up, then you'll distort your life song that God's given you. Take a moment, reflect. Remember the presence of God, reflect on his word, and then go forward in confidence. We have confidence, brothers and sisters, because of God's presence. Number two, we have confidence because of God's provision. Look at verses three, I'm sorry, four through seven. One of the greatest fears during that siege upon Jerusalem was that the water supply would be cut off. When the water supply is gone, it's just a few days when there's no choice but to give up and surrender. And so the psalmist here, Isaiah, speaks directly to this fear. He says, 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." Unknown to King Sennacherib, do you know what King Hezekiah had done? You see, he knew when Sennacherib began his descent upon Jerusalem, and he had a few years to prep for that. So he wisely dug a tunnel called Hezekiah's Tunnel, from inside of Jerusalem to the outside of the walls of Jerusalem that connected to the brook Gihon. And so underground that tunnel fed fresh water into the center of Jerusalem to the pool of Siloam. No one could see it. It was a hidden supply. Thousands of years have passed, but Donna and I last June were able to go to Israel and that our Hispanic church gave us this trip. And so we were able to visit the brook Gihon. Here it is, right here. There's sound on that, and I would love to hear that sound. There you go. Brothers and sisters, do you see that? The brook Gihon is gushing up with living water thousands of years after they dug that tunnel, King Hezekiah's tunnel. What does that remind you of? How about this? He that believeth on me, as the scripture saith, out of his belly shall be a continual flow of living water. That hidden resource that only believers can claim is inside of us in the person of the Holy Spirit, giving us, providing for us what we need to face those moments. You know this lady? Talk about crisis. Corrie Ten Boom was in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. Now she was not a Jew, but her family hid Jews. And as a result, they experienced tragedy. When she was about 10 years old, Corrie saw one of her cousins pass away. Very, very traumatic situation. And that caused great fear to rise inside of her. And she went to her dad and said, dad, what if that happens to you or to mom or to me? And her dad said, Corrie, let's go for a walk. So as he was walking, he began to calm her doubts and fears with scripture, but it just was not working. So then he said, Corrie, let me ask you this. Whenever we go to ride the train, when do I give you the ticket to ride that train? She said, well, when we get on the train and you give me the ticket. He said, yeah. Whenever the train comes for whatever God permits in your life, he's gonna give you the ticket of his grace to ride that train. Years later, that train came and it was filled with suffering. She saw her mom and dad killed, her sister starved to death, and she experienced great tragedy. But God gave her the ticket of his grace. Look at her. After all that trauma, she was able to forgive those Nazis. Not only that, when they were making the movie, The Hiding Place, the actress that starred in that movie spent a lot of time with Corey and they asked the actress, what was that outstanding characteristic of Corey? And she said, no way, no question about it, it was the joy of the Lord. We get a hangnail and we lose the joy of the Lord. We have these little things happen and we just, it ruins our day. How about this? That spirit that is inside of you is providing you what you need to face whatever comes your way with joy in crisis. The Bible never promises, this is important, that we as believers are immune from suffering. Sometimes we think that. We think, well, I've got God with me, surely he's gonna protect me. Doesn't Psalm say that no evil shall befall me? It means that no evil shall consume you. You won't be cast down. There's always hope and he will provide for you what you need. There will be times of suffering, but God is not only strong for you, he is strong in you through the power of the Holy Spirit. He promises that He Himself, He Himself is our refuge. So whatever the struggle is, brothers and sisters, whatever it is, if it's suffering, it could be those sinful desires that you're battling against. And one part of you says, no, I don't want to do that. But the other part of you says, that's the only way to find happiness and satisfaction. Or if you're doubting your faith this morning, it's not going to get better with less of Jesus. It's going to get better with more of Jesus. Inside of you, the Holy Spirit is providing you what you need. Then number three, finally this morning, we have confidence because of God's purpose. Confidence because of God's purpose. Look at verse number eight. Verse eight says, come behold the works of the Lord. Here, God is rehearsing, I'm sorry, Isaiah is rehearsing what God has done in the past. He says, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He makes wars to cease into the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, cuts the spear and sunder, burneth the chariot in the fire. Prousonacriab did not know who he was dealing with, right? He had no idea that God, Jehovah God, is not going to be mocked. And so that very night, God came, the angel of the Lord, literally is what it says in Isaiah 37, which is a Christophany. That means Jesus Christ himself showed up And in one split second, he killed 185,000 troops. Done. And King Sennacherib turned tail and ran, just like God had said. Now we come to the verse in verse 10 that just flips. It just flips from Isaiah talking, and now it's God himself speaking directly to us. What did he say in verse number 10? Famous verse, brothers and sisters, he said, be still. and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. Be still is not in the first place a meme that we put on Facebook or Instagram with a coffee mug in our Bible when we're stressed out. Now, if this helps you to read this verse when you're stressed out, do it, no problem. But that's not the tone of this verse. The phrase be still is actually a rebuke. to a turbulent and a restless heart. It has the idea of this, quiet! You remember when Jesus calmed the sea on the Sea of Galilee? What did he say? Peace, be still. And it was calm. Literally this phrase in Hebrew means, I have given you everything you need, you've seen my power in the past, you have it right there before you, I've given you my word, now trust me. Lay down your arms, stop fighting and stop arguing with me and trust my plan for your life. It's almost like a little kid when you won't listen or she won't listen to you, right? Mike, Michael, stop. Michael, Michael, come here. Michael, look at me, look at me. Stop, be still, listen to me. And we may be 57, but we still have those moments, don't we? When we need God to say, Chris, stop. Stop fighting against me. Lay down your arms and arguing and just trust me. So when we go through a difficult time, we can react in anger, we can question why, Or, some of us are freaker-outers. Anybody know a freaker-outer? How many are sitting beside a freaker-outer? There we go, now we get honesty. Or, some of us are pity-partiers. We don't freak out, we just pitch a big pity party. How many are like that? Pastor, you have no issues then in your church. Which one of those, the pity partier or the freak or outer, exalts God? Neither one. Neither one does. We can descend in self-pity, lose heart, and then make sure everybody knows it. Or we can explode. Let me say that we have a choice. We're in that crisis. And let me just make this parenthesis statement. There are times when the grief when the tragedy, when the pain and the suffering is raw, and God's not gonna tell you to just stop and trust him, he's gonna come beside you, maybe in the form of his word, maybe in the form of a believer that's gonna hug you and comfort you during that painful experience. But there comes a time after you've been given that comfort, after you've been given that encouragement, after you've read his word, after you've seen his promises, that you must choose to trust God or to continue down that path of destruction. He is saying, I'm with you. I will complete my work in you. I will complete my purpose in you. You trust me during this time, and I'm gonna glorify myself among the heathen around you. Those at work, those in your home, those in your church, those in your neighborhood that don't know me, they're gonna see something that just baffles them. How can it be that you can trust me during this time? That's how I'm gonna be glorified in your life. If you're in the middle of a crisis, practical steps. Number one, trust His promises. You have to trust his promises. He promises his provision. He promises his presence will be accomplished. Trust him, Selah. Trust him, Selah. Faith is the belief that God can work. Trust is a verb that means you are trusting him to work somehow, some way. If you're writing notes, write down this definition. This is the best definition I've ever heard of what it means to trust God. It means believe the word of God. And then you act on it, no matter how you feel, knowing that God promises a good result. In a week, in a month, or may take a lifetime. He will come through. He keeps his promises. Some of you, are going through crisis, well Dawn and I faced some crisis too. When we were in the Dominican, we were trying to make the decision to come off the field or stay on the field. Dawn had lupus. That was creating a great crisis in her body and in her life and in her emotions. She did face depression during that time. I faced paralyzation of what are people gonna think of us if we come off the field? That's real spiritual, isn't it? but you have no idea how many missionaries are going through a crisis right now, but they're afraid to say anything because of support. If I admit one little weakness, then I'm gonna lose support. What am I gonna do? And we were writing some good prayer letters, weren't we, honey? And the ministry was going well, but behind the scenes, it was a crisis, and we were that close to throwing in the towel. When a group came down to the Dominican, A dear friend of ours saw what was going on and he knew us and he said, Chris, something's not right here. What's going on? So for the first time in my life, I was transparent. And we told them, he said, I've got a couple who are biblical counselors. Can I call them? We said, yes. And those counselors, that couple flew down to the Dominican, paid for their flights, and they spent a week with us speaking truth to us. And I can tell you this, everything wasn't fixed that week, but they gave us steps, the next step to take. And we were making all the excuses, you know, we were thinking, well, what's gonna happen to the church here on the mission field? It's gonna fall apart. Well, it was in a poor area, one of the poorest areas in the Dominican. We left, 20 years later, they had purchased two buildings and guys they got saved are now the pastor, youth pastor. You know what? God uses you, but he doesn't need you. He'll do the work. So whatever excuse there was, we gave it up. We transitioned off the field. And God, in his grace, allowed us to take the steps of healing. And we're still going through healing today, 20 years later. But a church was planted, that church that you saw on the video with those dear believers now have their building and a national pastor. Souls have been saved, why? Because someone came alongside us and helped us. And the work went on. We recently also had another crisis. My daughter-in-law, Toni, 27 years old, I'm sorry, yeah, she was 27 years old and she was 27 weeks pregnant. and they found a brain tumor, the size of a softball in her brain. We didn't know what in the world was gonna happen, and I was struck with fear. They called us on a Saturday at 4.30, and I was supposed to preach the next morning on Habakkuk chapter three, 17 through 19, that says, rejoice in the Lord, no matter what the circumstances are, even the worst case scenario is happening in your life, then you must rejoice in the Lord. And I was like, how am I gonna preach that? Preached it, then we got in the car and we drove, pretty much in silence, didn't we, honey? We were driving to their home. And for the first time in my life, I felt a panic attack. I'm cool, collected, calm, I don't panic. But I did that day. I was thinking, what's gonna happen to my son? What if she dies? They already had a little girl. Oh, these thoughts were just going through my mind and then I remembered Selah. Okay, I better practice what I'm preaching. I reflected on the sermon I just thought, rejoicing the Lord no matter what. Okay, good, that's good, but I ain't helping. Until, until I said, okay, God, thank you. I believe it. I can't explain it, but just, the anxiety just left because I expressed my trust in God. Now, an hour later, I had to do it again. And then again, and then again. But through that, God showed us another level of dependence. Now, Tony made it through the surgery. The last recovery of two 12-hour surgeries, she was in the recovery room and she had a full placental abruption, which the baby was now gonna bleed out unless they got him up four flights of stairs. They did, and now he is one of the one of the most happiest babies that we've ever met. There they are, right there. See him? There's Tony, beautiful. In fact, if you follow us on Facebook and Instagram, every single graphic you see is done by her. So God was so gracious and wonderful during that time. Now, it doesn't always turn out that way. Not every situation has a happy ending. But I can tell you what, brothers and sisters, no matter what, God is faithful. He will be there for you. Second thing is follow his commands. As we're going through those crisis moments, it is extremely important that we remember that we don't get an out just because we feel badly, like we talked about in Sunday school. We must make the decision to follow his commands no matter what. As I'm trusting, I have the responsibility to follow what God has clearly instructed me to do. So therefore, Remember that your feelings are following your thoughts. Feelings are followers. Can you say that with me? Feelings are followers. So therefore, you must have truth to guide your thinking, and then eventually your feelings will follow along. I'm going to go back to this. This is an example. You can write a card of a truth that God's given you. This is a truth. Since God is love and is so great, I live beyond harm in His hands. There's nothing that can happen to me that will not turn out for my good. Nothing. Because of this, that will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. Why? Because he trusts in thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. So as we're praying, as we're walking through this, we're still feeling badly. We still have no idea how this is gonna turn out. You gotta do these four things. Obey faithfully, James 1.22. Pray fervently, Philippians 4.6-7. Love selflessly when you feel bad. And then number four, get help willingly. Don't we have a hard time with that last one? Get help willingly, and you will see God do amazing things in the middle of whatever crisis he allows in your life. Johnny Erickson Tada, you've heard of her, right? Paraplegic for over 50 years now. In an interview, she said, being handicapped is an advantage. I took a double take, what? How can being a paraplegic be an advantage for you? And this is what she said, because this handicap has forced me to the arms of Christ. Your crisis, the only purpose could be to force you back to the arms of Christ in this moment. Psalm 46 is an anchor for us in the middle of crisis. His provision, His presence, and His purpose will be accomplished. if we allow it.