Jump Start # 2995

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

Here we are in a brand new year—2022. The year has just barely started. Will it be a good year or will it be a hard year? Will it be exciting or will it be full of tears? Some have vacations and concert plans made. Some are working on wedding plans. For some, a new baby will be born this year. For some, it’s a new house. For some, a new job.

As a church, we have all kinds of classes and special events lined up for the year. We have a theme and we are focused on  building all around that concept.

But here we are in this new year and the pandemic is still lurking about. Vaccines, boosters and masks have not gone away. We can flip the calendar, but there remains some lingering issues from last year and even beyond. Some families will have another year with a prodigal in their family. Some families will continue to have another year of misery in their marriages. Some will continue to tread water financially, just one disaster away from going under. Some churches will continue to manifest poor communication and lifeless worship. The year may change, but the same ole’ problems surface again.

Our passage today from the Psalms reminds us of three wonderful truths:

First, God is there. He’s always been there. He’s been there before you were. And, not only is He here, but He is aware of our troubles. Our troubles may be caused by others. For David, much of his troubles came from King Saul. You may have someone in your life that is toxic and committed to making things difficult and miserable in your life. God is there. He is aware.

Second, God is a present help. That means, today. That means, NOW. If God could only help yesterday, that would have been fine, but what about today? And, if God could only help Tomorrow, what about today? God is a present help today. And, today is when we need God. Tomorrow hasn’t happened yet, and it may not. Things can change and the outlook may not be troublesome tomorrow. And, yesterday is over. When we need God and when we need help is right now.

I love the story line from 2 Kings 20 and Hezekiah’s prayer. He was told by the prophet Isaiah to set his house in order because he was going to die. Hezekiah turned to the wall and prayed. Before Isaiah got out of the royal compound, God called him and told the prophet to return to Hezekiah. The prayer was heard. The tears were seen. Faster than a text, a phone call, or an email– God heard the prayer and God added years to Hezekiah’s life. Indeed, God was a present help. He was a fast help. He was the best help. No one could do what the Lord did. We can take life, but we can’t extend it. We can fill our lives full of adventure and fun, but what we can’t do is add days to our lives. Only God can do that, and that’s exactly what He did for Hezekiah.

Got troubles? Have you the Lord on your side? Or, more importantly, are you on the Lord’s side?

Third, God is our refuge and our strength. Two thoughts there. First, a refuge is a place of shelter. A haven to get out of the storm. A place you can be protected. People do not need a refuge on a bright sunny day when everything is fine. People run to a shelter or a refuge when a storm is approaching. In my area, it’s tornados. When the local sirens are blowing, you stop what you are doing and head inside. If you have a basement, you go there. We need spiritual havens of safety. The church serves as one. Worship can certainly calm the spirit and rest a wearied heart. But, greater than the church is God. God is our refuge. He is the help in present troubles.

Yet another thought, lying right beside a refuge is strength. God is a shelter. God is protection. God is a place to run to in a storm. But, God is also our strength. There are times when we cannot and should not run. There are battles that we must fight. On our own, we are likely to tire and be outmanned. But God is our strength. The battle against temptation. The battle against self. The battle against error. How do we fight these battles? What chances do we have? On our own, the outlook is not very good. But with God, who is our strength, we are more than conquerors. Walls have tumbled. Lion’s mouths have closed. Seas have collapsed armies. Prison doors have opened. God is strength. God is power.

So, as we head into a new year, there may be some old, old problems still hanging around. God is our refuge. God is our strength. God is our help. God is present. God is today. We will be fine, because of God. We will be victorious, because of God. The one fast ball that Satan has is death. Jesus conquered that through His resurrection. He pounded that out of the park. We have nothing to fear. If this year is our last here, so be it—we get to be with the Lord. If this is just the start of decades more to come, lets make the most of it by being busy in the kingdom.

We enter this new year with strength, hope and help. We enter the year with the Lord. In the year of the Lord, is more than a way of determining dates, it is also the theme of our lives. God be with us.

Roger

Jump Start # 2842

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

A while back I was talking with someone who struggles with many mental issues. His medicine helps. It’s hard for me to understand the road he travels. He loves the Lord. After that, I was talking with someone who just had a funeral in their family. There were many similarities to what I have just gone through. I could understand the feelings and found many things in common. Two conversations within a short time of each other. Both people needed Jesus. One struggle I could relate to. The other, I had no clue.

That made me think of this verse. God is help in trouble. Here are some thoughts:

First, all of us have trouble. It may not be at the moment, but sooner or later, trouble always finds us. Health issues. Financial issues. Family problems. Church problems. Stress at work. Tired, twisted and rung out is how we often feel. We gather on a Sunday, smile at each other, but deep within so many of us are hurting. We do a pretty good job of covering up our hurts and pains. Most never know, but we do. And, then the song leader joyfully leads us in “I’m Happy Today.” That, for many, is more of a wish than a reality. We can think that we are the only one that is hurting. Truth is, more are hurting than not hurting. We just don’t know that.

Second, our troubles are so different. James tells us that there are various trials. There’s not just one kind of trouble. Physical troubles. Emotional troubles. Feelings hurt. Relational troubles. Health troubles. Family troubles. Work troubles. All around us, are all kinds of troubles. Now, I might think that my troubles are a lot worse than yours are, and, they just may be. However, to you, it’s still a mountain that stands before you. Some troubles pass quickly. Some seem to last a lifetime. And, we can focus on our troubles to the extent that others feel neglected or ignored. We pray about our troubles and we can forget about praying for the troubles of others.

Third, God is the help for all of us. That clicked for me the other day when I was having all of those discussions. Different people. Different troubles. Same God. The person with family problems doesn’t need one kind of God, while the guy with financial troubles needs yet another type of God. One God for all. I went to the dermatologist the other day to look at a scab that just wasn’t healing. He decided to do a biopsy  of it. All is fine. Now, why didn’t I go to my eye doc, or the dentist for my scab? That’s not what they do. That’s not their expertise. When my car engine makes a funny noise, I don’t drop by the tire shop and have them look at it. They are all about tires and wheels, not engines. When the ice maker in the frig stops working, I don’t call the cable company. I don’t take my laundry to the post office. We’ve learned to navigate this world by finding those who know what to do. Experts. Experienced. Spiritually, our Lord can do it all. It’s the same Jesus for the family that is grieving, as it for the man who is struggling with debt, as it is for the person who needs to forgive. Different troubles, same God. That’s amazing to me. God can handle any and every problem. There is no trouble, whether it’s the weather, it’s wars, it’s personal, it’s church related—God can do it all. God has the answers for all. He is the help that we all need.

You and I may not understand where some people are coming from. They may have problems that we have never heard of before. We may not even know where to begin to help them. But God does. God is always the answer. God is always first.

Fourth, we find that we have a common bond with each other. All of us have been helped by God. Not all of us have been helped by the church, or by the family, or by our friends. But God is there for His people. If you have sought Him out and humbled yourself, He has and He will help you. And, that connects us together. Maybe what God did for you was different than what He did for me, but we both have been helped. We both have been blessed by God. Together, we can join our voices in praise and thanksgiving to the God who has wonderfully made things better. I may not know your pain and you may not know my pain, but together, we understand pain. And, I may not have been blessed as you have and you may not be blessed as I am, but together, we have been blessed by the Lord. God hasn’t favored one over the other. God hasn’t specialized in just one type of problem. He’s seen them all.

And, to how our verse ends, God is a present help in trouble. God doesn’t make things worse. He makes them better. What He wants and expects, may be hard. It may not be our choice of things to do. But, following Him is always the best thing to do. Many a person has regretted not listening to God and walking away from God. I’ve yet to met the person who felt like following God was a waste of time. Nope. God is good. God is help. God is there.

Great reminders as we journey through this crazy world we live in.

Roger

Jump Start # 2142

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

Our verse today begins a powerful section that reminds us that not only is God in charge, but that He is there to help His people. Affirming that God makes wars cease and at His voice, the earth melted, the Psalmist reveals that God is with us and God is out stronghold.

This chapter is often read at funerals. It is a reminder that in the midst of the darkest storms, God is there. God is able to do what we cannot. We cannot stop wars. We cannot quiet the earth. We cannot stop the chariots. But God can. This Psalm is a victorious praise of God who helps His people.

Now, the practical question comes to our minds, just how does God help us?

Some would assume that we are to just sit back and watch God at work. He’ll take care of it all. Just go on with your life and everything will work out in the end. That sounds wonderful, but it doesn’t help much when the storms are closing in all around you. It’s easy to see God on a Sunday. It’s easy to see God in the sunshine of life, when you are feeling well, you have money in the bank, and everything around you is at peace. But it’s the nights that change all of this. What about the days when I do not feel well. Not, just an occasional bug, but a disease that will not go away. What about the days when there is no money in the bank and the collectors are calling? What about those days when we don’t find peace? Trouble at home. Trouble at work. Trouble in the church house. Trouble within my head. What then? It’s hard to sit back and watch, when fear, discouragement, and worry fill our hearts and our nights. Problems is all that we see and problems is all that we talk about. Where’s God at those moments? Where’s the help?

Some are waiting for a knight to come riding in on a white horse to save the day. That’s the help they are anticipating from God. Someone is going to turn all of this around. This is why so many look to the White House. Turn this country around morally. Turn this country back to God. Turn this county away from wrong. Their hope is in someone saving the day. On a personal level, some are looking for someone to come and save the day for them. They are looking for the church to bail them out financially. They are looking for a sermon to change their marriage. They are looking for someone to go talk to their prodigal so he will come home. Where’s the knight on the white horse? Whose going to help us?

Biblically, the answers are found within Scriptures. God does help. He has always helped and He will continue to help. But the help doesn’t come independently of us. We don’t sit back and watch it happen. It doesn’t come about through voting for the right person. Our help comes when we walk by faith, trust God and apply the Scriptures to our lives. God has provided us with the armor to face anything the world or Satan throws at us. Satan won’t pitch underhand to you. He’s going to throw fast balls. He’s going to throw everything that he has at you. The weak, those who have not filled their hearts with God’s word, those who ignore God, they will knocked out of the box in seconds. They don’t stand a chance. Trouble, trouble, trouble and they are gone. It’s to the bottle they turn. It’s to immoral relationships they turn. It’s sour, miserable and unfulfilled lives that lack meaning and purpose and direction that define them. They don’t have God and thus, they don’t have God’s help.

But for the people of faith, God helps. God has given us everything within the Scriptures, to not just be able to stand in there with Satan, but to be victorious. The battle is not up in the air. It’s not a contest that could go either way. God wins. God’s help is found as we walk with Christ and become like Him. That’s the hope. That’s the power of God working through us. Does this mean every problem goes away? Health returns? Money flows? Peace abounds? No. But what it does mean is that you will not collapse like the fool who build his house upon the sand. There will be storms. The rain will descend. The floods come. But your faith, God’s help, will keep you standing spiritually. The storms may take your life, but that’s ok when you are walking with the Lord. Ours is not to live here forever. This is not Heaven and it never will be. Our goal is to be in His presence forever.

Got problems? Who doesn’t. Got God? That’s the difference. His help is there. His help not only makes you strong and able to endure, but His help will make you victorious. Give us all you have, Satan. As long as God is among us, we can overcome.

Sometimes we forget about God’s help. Sometimes we don’t realize that God’s victorious. We get upset with family because they let us down. We get snippy with the church because they don’t come through for us. We want quick answers to our prayers. We want everything to be resolved by morning. And, we walk up, and it’s yet another day with the storms. I think about that pitiful bent over woman in the gospel of Luke. For 18 long years she had this disease from Satan. Bent over and unable to straighten up. It didn’t happen over the weekend. Eighteen years ago. You just know that she prayed about her back. Every day, multiple times a day, she must have prayed. Yet, for her, the storms remained. She must have thought that she would never get better. She may have thought that God was doing this to her for a reason. But Luke introduces us to her as Jesus is in a synagogue. The synagogue was a place to worship. It was a place to pray. There she is, bent over and all, storms and all, in a place of worship. She hadn’t given up. She didn’t turn her back on God. She didn’t throw in the towel spiritually. I expect many of us would have stayed home that Sabbath day. We got this back problem, we’d say. Just can’t make it out. Not her. There she is. And, Jesus just happened to be there that one particular Saturday. He calls her to come forward. She doesn’t know why. The audience doesn’t know why. And, right then, she is healed miraculously. God helped.

Had she stayed home that day, she would have remained bent over. Had she blamed God, she would have remained bent over. Maybe we run out of patience with God. Maybe we expect God to work in our time table, rather than His. Maybe we remain bent over because we are not where we ought to be in our faith and in our worship.

God is a very present help in trouble. Do you believe that? His help may not come in the fashion nor the time that you expect. But He helps. His help may not stop the storm. We want the problems to go away. God may want us to become stronger, tougher, more patient, more dependent upon Him and all of that may come through continual storms. Health, money and no drama in our lives are what we seek. What God seeks is our faithfulness, righteousness and dependence upon Him. God helps accomplish what He wills and what He knows is best.

Fear less and trust more. God is near. God is there to help. He has provided everything we need to endure any storm and any thing Satan can throw at us. The victory belongs to the Lord.

Roger