Our Very Present Help

Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

Psalm 46:2 “Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;”

Psalm 46:3 “Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.”

What God is God?

The Lord, he is God.

We are in a time where many people acknowledge and believe in “God” whatever that or they mean… and believing in “God” won’t carry the cost and power of the cross or attract you too much heat, but when you say the Lord Jesus Christ is God, and “the only true God”, that’s when the viper comes out the fire ready to strike you. …Like Paul did in Acts, just shake that sucker off without harm.

Watch out for people who always claim God but never name him… the Lord Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit. The Preserved Pure Perfect Word of God. Terms matter. Sound speech that cannot be condemned.

But today I really want to encourage you from Psalm 46, a most beautiful Psalm in the word of God… a Psalm which begins by promising us refuge in him.

You need refuge? You need somewhere to run, to literally run for your life to for shelter and protection? You need a place to hide your very soul in, like Noah sealed in the ark? The animals have their dens… but have you found your refuge in the Lord? His name is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and are safe.

I hope you’ve fled to Jesus Christ for your refuge. But be aware, there are many people who want the refuge, but not the repentance, the righteousness, the regeneration or the relationship that comes package deal with the refuge.

The Bible says to be not deceived, God is not mocked. Because it’s refuge you seek, does not mean God’s refuge you are entitled to.

Running to Christ when life gets big on you is something many people do, unsaved and saved alike. How many people “find God” and go on their little faith journey, not because of any redemptive work of Christ in their heart, but because they’ve stuffed their life up with their sin, they couldn’t manipulate the consequences of sin to their favour, and now they find God in much the same way Pharaoh, a hardened sinner against God who called for Moses, made many good and right profession, probably sounded more Christian than most do today when he urgently called Moses in!… but the need he had for God was respite from the flies and lice and locusts afflicting his land… he was actually only getting harder toward God despite his concessions sounding more and more spiritual! Heal my land, but not my heart. Amazing hey.

Don’t worry, God will examine your case. And in time, even if at the judgment seat, eventually the difference between those who truly have refuge and those who think they have refuge will become apparent.

Yes, there are many benefits to believing in Christ, I would never say to the contrary, he will give you a life truly worth living, and what that might look very different to how you think right now as well, and bringing him into our broken situations does provide “very present help”… but that’s not the basis and foundation of salvation. God wants to change who you are, and bring you back to original creative intention… it’s important you go to him how he says to come and get from him what he came to bring… he’s not Santa Claus, neither a genie you rub for good luck, he’s not your personal God… he’s the Lord of glory.

To flesh out this idea of refuge a bit more, some context really helps. Because there was an Old Testament law to God’s people all about “refuge” and very instructional and requires quite a bit of thought! …When the Lord brought his people into the promised land very high up on the priorities list was the institution and provision for “the law of the slayer” and the cities of refuge, which were cities strategically placed throughout the land which were near enough for anyone to flee for their life to in time of great need.

If you accidentally killed someone, you were instructed to flee to the city of refuge nearest you. God had made provision for you. But if you had murdered someone, when your case was investigated and reviewed, you were not entitled to the refuge that city offered. And so while both cases would seek the refuge those cities promised… some were safe there, others were delivered up for judgment there.

Of course murderers tried abusing this law and benefiting from the refuge while rejecting God. This same pattern is playing out today, people with no heart for Jesus, who do not know Jesus, who’s life Jesus never changed… but boy they want in on the candy don’t they. If you only view God in such a small minded way that he’s a solution to your selfish life who services you at your request, behest and leisure, you are in for an almighty shock… quite literally Almighty.

Get saved while your heart may still be soft enough!, because as life goes along, many a person has gotten harder and harder to God, to where nothing will ever get past that calloused heart of pride and bitterness and lived experience and senselessness and loss of feeling that we can get towards God.

You need refuge? God is my refuge. I hope you have made him your refuge. Because we are living in uncertain times, the threat of economic collapse, the spectre of war, and God does say that a shaking is coming to this world … I hope you’ve got a faith, a salvation, the Lord who cannot be shaken.

There was a king in Isaiah’s day who’s heart got greatly shaken by news he received when his enemies had teamed up together to come up and conquer Jerusalem… he was a wicked king, but God graciously gave him the sign of victory, the sign of overcoming… which was that a virgin would conceive and bear a son.

A mystery indeed… peculiar indeed… a peculiar truth for a peculiar people… if the gospel of Christ is utter foolishness to you, the Bible says that just proves you’re not saved, if you had been saved by Jesus the message of the gospel, the arrival of the Saviour would be power and wisdom, the wisdom of God from above to you, not stupidity.

In this beautiful Psalm, God promises us he is our refuge and our strength. I do not have the strength to handle life, what life can and will throw at me, I never had it to handle what it has already thrown at me, and yet God’s grace has been sufficient, and when I’ve been at my weakest is when God has been my strongest.

You can’t do it. You won’t make it. But in Christ, through his strength, “as thy days, so shall thy strength be”. But unless you make the Lord your strength, you will not be able to handle what the future holds, you won’t be able to face death, you won’t be able to overcome death and hell and judgment if you did not place your soul in Christ’s hands.

Phew, but now where I wanted to go to! Today I want to focus on God being “a very present help in trouble”. This word “very present” carries a double double meaning. He’s “very present” meaning he’s nearer to you than you could ever think. And very doesn’t mean just “a lot” but also “truth”. The fact our Lord is very present is VERY truth!

I heard an angry atheist once cry out “show me God right now”… God was much more present than he realized, just the blindness of eyes is what prevented him from seeing. Hagar was on death’s doorstep, without hope, in the book of Genesis, but it wasn’t because a well, a very fountain of water wasn’t there, it was she couldn’t see it. Imagine dying and going to hell when you could’ve had forgiveness of sins and eternal life just you could never see it quite literally “at hand” because Satan and your sin and selfish life had hidden it from your eyes.

But just because you don’t see it, because you cannot see God, doesn’t mean he’s not there, that he’s not present. Because he is very present. Psalm 145:18 “ The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.”

You could make that verse your salvation today, right now, if you would just call upon him in truth. If you called upon the name of the Lord right now, in truth, he would save your soul, you’d find out just how very present he is. Thank you Lord!

And it doesn’t finish there! Because “present” also means “now”. There is no time like the present they say. Guess what. God isn’t back then. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever. He’s as present now as he was in Genesis 1 and as he will be in Revelation 22. That’s why he can prophecy like he knows the future… because he wrote it. He’s present! But are you present? That’s more the issue isn’t it.

I see people looking for God in the past, like he ceased to exist. I see people trying to find God in “endless genealogies” of the Bible. I see them trying to find him in dead ancestors and ancient manuscripts.. BUT … Why seek ye the living among the dead? He’s not in the Dea Sea scrolls, he’s not in the back then… he’s NOW… VERY PRESENT… you can literally talk to and be right and safe and secure and save in Jesus Christ today. That’s how very present he is. This is VERY true. I’ve seen it become very truth in people’s lives, but why not yours also? Pick up the authorized King James Bible, he’s as present now as he was every single hero of the faith you read of then.

And because he is very present, in both senses of the word … “THEREFORE” will not we we fear! The Bible says “What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.” If he was not very present, he couldn’t help you in fear and trouble that takes hold at uncertain unplanned times of our life. Yeah yeah you’re strong and indepent and self made and talking stout, hard, brave, strong wrong words right now, you and I are a bone cancer diagnosis or a stroke or a car crash or literally anything and any way we could die away from being a quivering wreck. We are NOTHING. Our strength is nothing. Our sufficiency is nothing. What God is God you may scorn and scoff and say? … THE VERY PRESENT GOD! The one at hand and on hand who would redeem, wash and regenerate and save your lost dying soul right now if you would call upon him in truth.

To have God in the midst of your life as verse 5 of this magnificent Psalm says, is the most wonderful truth… Because he’s very present. You know how when the roll is taken, like for instance when I was at dumb dumb university and in class they would do roll call first and foremost… and my name was called out “Joseph!?”… and I put my hand up “present!” or “here!”. Guess what, God is very present. You don’t need to comb archives, you don’t need to cross the seven seas, you don’t need phds and endless degrees, you definitely don’t need psych nonsense and the wisdom of this world… you just need a believing, trusting, surrendered, broken heart that calls upon the Lord’s name in truth… you would find out just how very present this God … THIS Lord is God. “For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death. “

When everything else fails, when the world ends, when your personal world ends and when this present evil world really does end… yes it does have an expiry date, that’s why you shouldn’t invest your soul in it but lay up your treasures in heaven in the kingdom of God… Jesus remains.

Hebrews 1:10 says “And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands:

11 They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment;”

12 And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail.

Pretty big God hey. More and more I’ve discovered the issue and impossibility isn’t in God, it’s in our feeble, stupid, WRONG conception and image of him. Like for instance Bible translations. That’s entirely an issue because of your unbelieving heart and not knowing the power of God… translating and preserving is literally nothing to God.

I hope you’ve found your refuge, your strength, your life, your hope, your purpose, your future, your marriage, your job, your house, your dreams, your ALL in Christ our all in all. He is our very present help in trouble. Very present… he’s not lost in time, he’s not too far away, he’s very near you dear reader, lay hold on the blessed truths in this wonderful and very present Psalm today!

Our Very Present Help!

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