We turn in sacred scripture to Psalm 46. This is our last sermon in our series going through this psalm. The text is verses 8 through 11. We will not reread that passage because I will be rereading it in the course of the preaching. We won't reread it now. Psalm 46, to the chief musician for the Sons of Korah, a song upon Alamoth. 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. Selah. 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 heathen 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. What desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease until 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 heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Beloved congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ, what is the child of God to do when he is facing troubles and tribulations? And what is the child of God to do when he sees his enemy rising up against him, wanting to destroy him? What is the child of God to do when he is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning? Or perhaps only an hour away? And he's overcome with worry and anxiety. What is the child of God to do when his life's pathway suddenly takes an unexpected turn? Well, as we said last time, he can turn to Psalm 46, and he can learn to sing this psalm with confidence. And beloved, when you have a friend, when you have a friend who is in need of encouragement, A friend who needs his mind or her mind turned to encouraging thoughts, what can you do? Well, you can do like what Martin Luther did to his friend Philip Melanchthon when he said, come, Philip, and let us sing together the 46th Psalm. Well, in our study of this Psalm, we come to the last stanza. Psalm 46 is made up of three stanzas which are clearly separated from each other by the word selah at the end of each stanza. And as I've studied this psalm, I think a nice way to distinguish the three stanzas of the psalm and a nice way to see the progression in the psalm is by describing the three stanzas as follows. The first stanza, verses one through three, describes events before the battle begins. It describes the event, what's going on before the battle begins. Then, in the second stanza, it describes the condition within the city of God during the battle. During the battle. And then in the third stanza, it describes what happens after the battle is over. So in the first stanza, the psalmist sees the enemy approaching. In the first stanza, we have comfort for God's people even before the battle starts. The psalmist perhaps hears news of an approaching enemy that is bent on destroying his city, God's city. And the temptation for him and for all the people is to become afraid. But in the face of that temptation, the psalmist reminds himself and all those around him, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, why should we be afraid? We will not fear. Let's not fear as the enemy approaches. 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, let us not be afraid. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Then, in the second stanza, As I said, we have a description of what is taking place within the city during the battle. The enemy has appeared, the people have hid themselves behind the city gates, and now comes the description that while the war commences, God's people in the city are nevertheless kept safe. There is a river. There is a river in the city. The streams whereof shall make glad the city of God. Even as the enemy surrounds the city, We have comforting thoughts within the city. God is in the midst of us. We shall not be moved. God shall help us, and that right early. Remember what God has done in former days. Remember the great victories God has given us and the city before over the enemy. That same God is with us now, right now, as the enemy besieges the city. And then in the third stanza, we have a description of what happens after the battle. And that's what we look at in the preaching this afternoon. We finish our study of this psalm by looking at these last four verses, this last stanza, verses eight through 11. And we take as our theme, beholding the works of the Lord. We look at that theme under three points. First, beholding his works. Second, contemplating his greatness. And third, repeating our confidence. Beholding His works, verses eight and nine. Contemplating His greatness, verse 10. Repeating our confidence, verse 11. Well, verse eight and nine read as follows. 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. Come, the psalmist says, come behold the works of the Lord. In fact, that word come could be translated even as go or walk. It's as if the psalmist is calling everyone else to look outside the city walls with him or even go outside the city gates and inspect and analyze what God has done. He says, don't be passive, but check it out for yourselves and inspect the things that God has done for us. Specifically, what the psalmist calls the people to inspect is the desolations, the desolations that God has made in the earth. And the word desolation there in verse 8. Halfway through verse 8 means horrors or appallings or wastes. It has the idea of something that causes someone to be appalled, to be stupefied. What horrors, what appalling destructions God hath made in the earth. Now that word desolations is more frequently used in Scripture. The prophet Jeremiah especially uses that word desolation and sadly he uses it enough times to refer to what God is going to do to Judah because of her sin. He's going to make Judah a desolation. But for another example, another passage where Jeremiah uses this word, we read in Jeremiah 49 verse 13, this is his judgment, God's judgment against Edom. For I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Basra, Basra is the capital city of Edom, Basra shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse, and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes. That's what the word desolation means, if you want other words, synonyms. And so here in Psalm 46 verse 8, we understand what the psalmist is talking about. In fact, you go to verse 9, and the psalmist makes it explicit. 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. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. Now, what does that mean? Well, there are two ways to make wars cease. One way is to have the enemies reconcile with each other so that they stop fighting. Or what is more likely the meaning here, God makes wars to cease by entirely annihilating the enemy and destroying the enemy so that there is no war. He makes the wars to cease because He completely destroys the enemies of God's people. And therefore, there is no more war. To the end of the earth. Again, the second half of verse 9 would seem to indicate that that's the meaning. He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot in the fire. He snaps the bow in half. He cuts up the spear into pieces and causes the chariots to be utterly destroyed in the fire. Utter destruction. And we should understand, that doesn't just mean that God breaks the bows and He cuts up the spear and burns the chariot. It means that He destroys the people who are using the bow, who are throwing the spear, who are riding the chariot. He completely destroys the enemy. That's the idea. Now, if you remember from last week's sermon, on this psalm. We said that Psalm 46 lines up very nicely with what you read of during the days of King Hezekiah and the attack of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria. King Sennacherib marched with his army against Jerusalem and surrounded Jerusalem with at least 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. And if you remember from our sermon last week, we reflected on how Sennacherib raged against the city and Rabshakeh, the general of his army, gave a big speech trying to intimidate God's people, tempting God's people to not trust in the Lord, but to give up, but to admit defeat and to trust, instead of in God, to trust in Sennacherib. And he raged, he roared against God's people. As verse 6 says, the heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved. And then remember we said last week how the Lord answered Hezekiah's prayer and that same night the angel of the Lord came to Jerusalem and slew 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. And we applied that to the second half of verse six. He uttered his voice, the earth melted. And now with verses eight and nine, it's as if it's the next day, the next morning, and the psalmist is now telling the inhabitants of Jerusalem to look out their city gates, city walls, to come out of the gates and behold what God has done. Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he has made in the earth. And what happened in that wonderful event? We read that King Sennacherib took what remained of his army and he returned to Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire. And notice, it wasn't just the end of warfare for Jerusalem, but in a sense it was the end of warfare for the whole world. The king of Assyria, the world empire, the king was defeated and he was sent home with his tail between his legs and God gave peace throughout all the world. So what has God done? He has made wars to cease until the ends of the earth. That's the idea of this language. Last week, we also looked at that wonderful event during the days of King Jehoshaphat, where the three armies of Moab and Ammon and Edom were marching against Jerusalem, ready to destroy it. And God said to Jehoshaphat, the battle's not yours, the battle is mine. And the next day, God caused the Ammonites and the Moabites and the Edomites to fight against each other. And there was such a slaughter, we read, that no one escaped. The enemy was completely destroyed. And what happened thereto? God made wars to cease unto the ends of the earth. Come, behold the works of the Lord. What desolations He has made in the earth. We have this in many other passages as well. Just two Psalms over. In Psalm 48, we have the same thing. Psalm 48, verses 4 and 5. For lo, the kings were assembled. They passed by together. They passed by the city of Jerusalem. They saw it, and so they marveled. They were troubled and hasted away. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain as a woman in travail." You see, God makes wars to cease until the ends of the earth. There are many other passages we could point to as well, but the emphasis of the text is on this idea of beholding it. Come, behold the works of the Lord. Take a look. Make an inspection. Analyze. Take in the sight. Slow down for a second. Take in the sight of what God has done. 185,000 Assyrian soldiers lying dead on the ground around the city of Jerusalem. Beloved, can you imagine that kind of a scene? Try to picture it in your mind's eye. 185,000 Assyrian soldiers lying dead on the ground. And here you are, a citizen of the city of Jerusalem, walking out the city gates, and you're called to walk around all these dead corpses. Take in the sight. An eerie silence fills the air. The wheels of the abandoned chariots slowly turn in the soft wind. Bows and arrows lie everywhere. Swords and spears innumerable spread throughout the land. And all the soldiers are dead. Fully clothed, perhaps still in their tents, but dead. And now you look off way into the distance and what do you see? You see Sennacherib with his few living servants in utter shock and confusion turning around and making that long trip back to Nineveh. Do you see it, congregation? Do you see it? Do you see the works of the Lord? The appalling desolations He has made in the earth? That's what it's talking about. Now, beloved, what we need to understand is that this is our calling today, too. We need to come behold the works of the Lord and the desolations He has made in the earth. Now I'm not preaching this sermon this afternoon with any particular event in mind. Reverend Voss preached a sermon on this passage way back in 1956 when there was a tornado that ripped through the town of Hudsonville. And this was, you can imagine, a powerful passage on such an occasion. We haven't had a typhoon that hit the shores of our land like what happens far too often in the Philippines. We don't have an earthquake that has destroyed buildings leaving many dead. Or a flood that has ruined building after building. We aren't battling wildfires. Imagine the desolations of the Lord in the forest fires. There hasn't been a plague of locusts or any other disease that has consumed our crops. We aren't in the middle of a world war that is decimating our lands and our homes and families. Yes, there are disturbing things we see in our society, but still there's nothing this afternoon that's particularly capturing our attention. But this is still our calling, beloved. Come behold the works of the Lord. The question comes, are we doing that? We might ask, well, what are these works that we are supposed to behold? I think that's one of the reasons why there's so much history in the Bible. So that over and over again, as we read the scriptures, we behold the works of the Lord. I just had it this past week in family devotions with the little ones in our family. We were reading the story of how Joshua was fighting against the five kings of the south. And remember that Joshua's leading the people of Israel, taking over the land of Canaan, and they fight Jericho, and then they go down, and they fight the five kings of the south. And it was during that time that Joshua spoke to the Lord, asking the Lord to stop the sun and stop the moon so that they would stand still in the sky so that the people could continue to fight. We read in Joshua 10 verse 14, and there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel. And as I was going over that history with my children, it just captured my attention again. Wow. What an awesome event. What a wonder God performed so that He caused the sun to stand still in the sky. So that the day was twice as long. Now you think to yourself, how is that possible? Maybe that's just me not seeing the wonder of other miracles. We know with every miracle, it's like, how is that possible? But it just struck me this past week. How is it possible? Scientifically, right? The world of unbelief doesn't believe it. The world of unbelief says it's impossible. And ultimately that's what they do with all the rest of the miracles in the Bible as a whole. But the child of God is given faith, and by faith he beholds the works of the Lord. Think of the flood. Think of how there were possibly millions and millions of people on the face of the earth. Perhaps even billions of people after 1600 years. people living to 900 years old. And there were only eight souls that still belonged to the church, and they were at risk of being utterly destroyed by the wicked. And so what does God do for his church? He saves his church by sending the flood, and he destroys the entire world. He destroys every living thing on the face of the earth except for what's in the ark, and of course the sea creatures. He maketh wars to cease unto the ends of the world." That takes new meaning when you think of the flood. Think of Sodom and Gomorrah, how God sent fire and hail and utterly destroyed those cities. Think of the ten plagues and the devastation God brought upon Egypt so that the whole land was in misery. Then think of the Red Sea and how God destroyed Pharaoh's army and all those chariots. in the Red Sea. Think of the walls of Jericho come tumbling down. Think of God's works in the days of King David. Conquest after conquest after conquest. Victory after victory. What desolations He has made in the earth. And then think of God's work in the day of King Solomon. He makes wars to cease. That's what characterizes Solomon's reign. Peace throughout the whole land. And we might ask, why so much history? Why all this history in the Bible? Exactly for this reason, that we might behold the works of the Lord. And this is what all of history is about. Students, I know it's the end of the year, maybe this would be good at the beginning of the year, but don't minimize the importance of studying history. Whether it be Bible history, or church history, or American history, or world history, it's all important. Because in all this history, we see the works of the Lord. We see God's work in creation, we see God's work in providence, we see God's work in His judgment upon the nations. And where especially do we see the work of the Lord? We see the work of the Lord in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Come, go, behold the works of the Lord. Behold Jesus Christ. Isn't that what we do at Christmas? Behold His humiliation. Behold His lifelong suffering. Behold His hellish agony on the cross. Behold His resurrection. Behold His exaltation. Soon we're going to look at that. His ascension into heaven. Behold His victory over sin and death in the grave. What desolations He has made in the earth. He, through His death and resurrection, we might say, especially in those three hours of the cross, destroyed Him who had the power of death, that is, the devil. And He conquered the grave, and He took captivity captive, and He gave gifts unto men. He saved us from our enemies and from all those that hate His people. He has performed the mercy promised to our fathers. I'm borrowing language here now from Zechariah, in a song of Zechariah, when he hears about who John the Baptist, his son, is going to be. He has saved us from our enemies. He has performed the mercy promised to our fathers. He has remembered his holy covenant. He has obtained for us full and free salvation, full remission of sin, everlasting righteousness, eternal life. He's made wars to cease between Himself and His people. He has established peace through the Prince of Peace, His Son, Jesus Christ, so that instead of being enemies of God, we have been made God's friends, reconciled unto God through Jesus Christ. And this is the work of the Lord, and the work of the Lord alone. Come. Behold the works of the Lord. The enemy has been defeated, and already now we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For we are dead to sin and alive unto God, delivered from sin's bondage. We're the freeborn children of God. God's renewing us after His own image. Through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ, what desolations He has made in all the earth. And these desolations will come to their full realization, their full expression at Christ's second coming, when death and hell itself, themselves, will be cast into the lake of fire. And it will be shown to all of us the full victory, what Christ actually accomplished in His death and resurrection. And why do we need to see all these things? Well, because we're prone to forget. Especially when we see the enemy coming. Especially when we are hiding behind the city walls. We're prone to forget God's greatness. We live in the midst of a world that gives no thought for God. A materialistic world. You never hear anyone on the news, a news reporter saying, behold the works of the Lord. Or the weatherman saying, behold the works of the Lord. And we're influenced by that. We forget sometimes that God is. We forget sometimes that God is with us and that He is our refuge and strength. And then we need to steal away for a while with the Lord in devotions and in worship. We need to pick up our Bibles with greater intentionality and read them so that we might behold the works of the Lord. So the psalmist says, come, behold, really take it in. See who your God is. And that's really the purpose. We behold God's works so that we might contemplate His greatness. So that we might contemplate His greatness. That's what we read next in verse 10. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. Now verse 10 is a well-known verse, perhaps even the most well-known verse in this well-known psalm. But there are two different ways to understand verse 10, and I think that the way we usually understand these words is not really the first way in which we should understand these words. The question is, when the psalmist says, be still, to whom is he talking? Be still. Well, considered in its context in the psalm, the best explanation is this. He's first of all speaking to the enemies of the Lord. Be still. That doesn't mean find your cozy spot on the couch, get your coffee, and get into a meditative mood. Rather, it means this. Leave alone. Be done with your hostilities. Forsake your raging against My people. Stop your roaring against My precious inheritance. And know that I, I, I am God. I alone am God. That's the idea. Jehovah is God. Not the idols whom the Assyrians worship, not the idols whom the Moabites and the Edomites and the Ammonites worship, or whom unbelievers worship today. Jehovah, God of Israel, He is God. And the psalmist writes it as if God himself is speaking. That's kind of a change in the language, isn't it? Verse 10, all of a sudden it's God speaking. And that's so that the words might have more weight. That's a poetic device that the psalmist uses, so that God himself is speaking. Be still, you enemies of my people. Be still and know that I am God. And how does he do that? He does that by bringing about great desolations in the earth, destroying the armies of the wicked, And then it says, if God says to everyone, I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. I will be given my place of prominence. My name will be exalted in the earth. Isn't that exactly what happens with the devastations that God brings? He brings his devastations upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. And the whole world trembles, so that even 40 plus years after, in the city of Jericho, they are still trembling over what God did. He brings his desolations upon Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, and the whole world trembles at the name of Jehovah. This is not the God of Sepharvaim, and of Havah, and of Rezeph, and of the rest. God of Israel is God alone, and He brings His desolations upon Satan as well at the cross of Jesus Christ. In a sense, we could say He brings His desolations upon Jesus Himself, as Jesus suffers for the sins of His people, and you have the terrible three hours of darkness that descends over the land. And even there, too, with those desolations, what's the response of the heathen? Matthew 27 verse 54, Now when the centurion and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. God and Jesus will be exalted among the heathen. And the day is coming, beloved, when he will be exalted in glorious fashion by all creatures. He is God. He is the sovereign one who does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? And you know who said that? The heathen Nebuchadnezzar. God will be exalted among the heathen. He is the one who causes His sovereign counsel to stand, who declares the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure. So that what happens? I will move King Cyrus to let the Jews return back to Jerusalem. So that even Cyrus exalts My name. You know, not as a regenerated child of God, but Cyrus says, the Lord has given me the decree. And Cyrus, and the Lord is exalted in the life of King Cyrus. He is the one who raises up one nation in power and casts down another nation according to His sovereign purpose. Like I said, He is not like the gods of Gozan and Haran and Rezeph. He is not like the gods of Hamath and Sepharvaim and Arpad and Hina and Iva. He is the one true and living God, the God of the Scriptures, who made the heaven and the earth by the word of His power. He is the one who forms the light and creates darkness. He is the one who makes peace and who creates evil. He is the one who creates calamities. He is the Lord and He is the one who does all these things. Whatever you see, He is the one who does all these things. And He is the one who brings enemy nations to the doorstep of Jerusalem. And He is the one who brings hard and difficult things along your path and mine. Exactly, so that through the history that takes place, He might show His covenant people His faithfulness. Exactly, so that He might cause them to experience in deeper and more meaningful ways that not only is He God, but He is their God, and He is faithful, and He is worthy of all their trust. So that they're not afraid. He is the God of salvation, the God who's come in our flesh, given Himself to die in our flesh on the cross that we might be redeemed, brought out of death into eternal life. He is the God who graciously forgives the worst sinner, the chief of sinners. He is the God whose mercy knows no end and who saves all those who call on Him in truth. And He will be exalted among the heathen. And beloved, He will be exalted also among us. This is a word for us today too, be still. You too, me too, be still. And know that He is God. How busy our lives sometimes are, aren't they? How consumed we can be with the things of this world and we sometimes forget God. And we don't behold Him like we ought, and then we can become vexed with all kinds of worries and frustrations. Maybe we even are so busy we skip devotions, family worship, or we read Scripture without seeing God's glory. And then in the humdrum of life we can get so worried sometimes we forget to think about God. We see the enemy approaching, and our heart shakes and quivers. We're no different than the saints in the Old Testament who feared the enemy. We must know. We must know. We must know that He is God. We must perceive. We must understand. That's the meaning. Not just confess it, but know it. And this is a daily act. So that when you're at work and the boss has just given you a tough job to do, Know that Jehovah is God. Whatever that means for your situation right now at work in these circumstances, know that Jehovah is God. When the children are such a handful and you feel at your wits end, you're pulling out your hair, stop, be still, and know that He is God. Whatever that means for you in those circumstances, know that He is God. When you're fishing on Fox Lake, you see the beautiful scenery. Then too, know that He is God. When you're sitting on the patio catching the last rays of the sunset, fellowshipping with family and friends, then know in those moments too and confess that to each other. He is God. It's like Martin Luther saying to his friend Philip Melanchthon, this is manliness, young men and old men. Come, Philip, let us sing the 46th Psalm together. That's what men immersed in the Word of God do when they're frightened, when they're prone to become anxious. Let's do this. I remember another story from Charles Spurgeon. He and his friend were walking on a hill, and they had a cheery moment. There was a joke, and Spurgeon said to his friend, Let us give the Lord thanks for the gift of laughter. And there they did, two men, three men, whatever they were, prayed and thanked the Lord because of the joy that he gives them. So my point right now is this is a daily act. When you get the troubling news from the doctor, know that he is God. When you hear of sad things taking place in your family, your church family, then know that He is God. That is, recognize He sits on the throne. He is to be trusted above all things. He has always been faithful. His word is true. Everything is in His fatherly hands. And you must give Him praise. because he will be exalted in all these things. Recognize that his way is best. Recognize that he can and he will work all things together for your good. He is God, not you. And recognize and know that he is emphatically your God. He's yours. Seek all good only from him. And in that way, worship His greatness. Contemplate His greatness, worship His greatness. This is why God does everything that He does. We might even ask, why did God send Jesus to die on the cross? Was it just to save us? No, it wasn't just to save us. But it was so that we might know in a special way that He is God, that He is glorious, He is great and greatly to be praised in the work that he did and in the salvation he gives to us through that work that he did. That we might worship him and we say as the Apostle Paul says, oh the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his counselor or who hath first given unto him and it shall be recompensed unto him again. So you first give God something and then he recompenses you. No, for of him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. That's the purpose of everything. In congregation, when you behold his works and when you contemplate his greatness, then what will you do as his beloved child? Look what the psalmist did. Look at what God's people did when they were singing these words. You will burst with praise and you will burst with confidence at the thought that this God, Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Jacob, is with us and He is our refuge. That's what the psalmist proceeds to do in verse 11. He repeats the glorious confidence that he first proclaimed back in verse 7. It never gets old. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Yes, he's the Lord of hosts. Remember, the God of angel armies. Like in Dothan when he appeared before Elisha and his servant with chariots of fire all around protecting his people. He has thousands and thousands and tens of thousands of angels at his disposal. And each one of those angels perfectly, willingly, joyfully bows before him and does his will. That's a picture of his unbelievable, unbelievable, immeasurable power. He's the Lord of hosts. And He's the God of Jacob besides. Your covenant God who has established a relationship of friendship with you through Jesus Christ and who maintains that relationship and perfect that, He will perfect that relationship to the uttermost. He will never abandon His people. He will never forsake them. He loves them with an everlasting love. That's why He drew you to Himself in the first place. And that's why He will keep you under the shadow of His wing. He's your God, the God of Jacob, and He is with you. The God of unspeakable fatherly love. And beloved, when you've got those two things, immeasurable power, Lord of hosts, and unspeakable fatherly love, the God of Jacob, then there's nothing that can stand against God's people. Because there's nothing that can stand against their God, who is God over all. This is who our God is, beloved, a mighty fortress. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Congregation, what comfort? And when you struggle with enjoying that comfort, because we do, take a look again at the works of the Lord. Take a look again at the desolations that he has wrought in the earth. Look again at what he did in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Remember that history. Remember the history of the church. Bible history, example after example of God's power and his goodness on behalf of his people. I will send the seed of the woman. And over and over again, God does wonder after wonder to keep that promise to his people. So when you struggle with fear or are consumed with worry, Be still and know, perceive, see with the eye of faith, He is God. He will bring glory to His own name perfectly and He will show His faithfulness to me, His covenant child, and to all His covenant people. The Lord of hosts is with us. the God of Jacob, is our refuge. Amen. Let us pray. O Father, it is good to sing the songs of Zion. We see how Thy people might have needed it in their own day, and now in Thy compassion didst give them these songs. And we feel our own need, Father, today. And we thank Thee for giving us these songs. Write these songs in our hearts. Work within us Thy Spirit that we might truly behold Thy works. And we might be still and know that Thou art God. And we might know that Thou, the Lord of hosts, art with us. And thou, the God of Jacob, art our refuge. Shape this preaching that we might live out of it in our day-to-day lives, confident in the Lord. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.