"SHARING HOPE THROUGH SCRIPTURE FOR THOSE FACING ADVERSITY"

"SHARING HOPE THROUGH SCRIPTURE FOR THOSE FACING ADVERSITY"

Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

Psalm 46: 2 So we will not fear, even if earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.

Psalm 46: 3 Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! Interlude ( NLT Version )

Some explanatory thoughts, application, and a prayer:

1. Right off the bat, the Psalmist tells us 3 things about our God.

(1) God is our refuge.

(2) God is our Strength.

(3) God is always ready to help in times of trouble.

2. Let's look a little more closely at these wonderful and comforting truths about our Lord. God is our refuge, means, He is our shelter, our hope, our trust, used to speak of being that refuge against rain, storm, danger, and of falsehood. That definition is as we say a mouthful. He is so much for us.

3. When the Bible says, "God is our strength" the idea behind strength, comes from a word meaning, be strong, to prevail, to make firm, to strengthen. It's helpful to just pause and ask ourselves, "just how strong is God?" Well, the Bible teaches us that He is Omnipotent. Which means, He is completely strong, and that He is stronger then anyone, or anything else in all of creation. His strength is above all others, and all else.

4. The last of these 3 things said about God, is this, "God is always ready to help in times of trouble" Or adversity, crisis, hardships, temptations etc. God is never not ready. He is never not able to help. He is never distracted from You, or away from you on some other more important business. You are His business.

You are the apple of His eye. And, when trouble comes upon you, adverse circumstances, hardships, He is ready to help you. All you need to do, is to begin calling upon Him, In fact, he says, in Psalm 50:15 Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.”

5. Lastly, and this is where the application to these 3 truths in Ps 46: 1-3 comes in.  Here it is right from the Scripture itself. They are found in verses 2-3

Psalm 46:2 So we will not fear, even if earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.

Psalm 46:3 Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge!

So, the Psalmist says, actually, it's God speaking through Him, saying, we will not fear. Now, this was a choice the Psalmist  was making and encouraging those he was writing to, not to fear. You do not have to fear. you  can put our faith in God. Fear and faith do not mix. You can't be placing your faith in God and being afraid at the same time. Faith in God will prevent fear from taking over. 

And, you will notice that the rest of Ps 46:2-3 describes some very, difficult  situations. In other words, no matter how bad it gets, God is able to help you. He can and will help you as you face adversity, crisis and trouble. You can believe Him, He has given You faith, and He calls you to a place of rest in Him. But, You must exercise that faith. I pray You will.

A prayer:

Father, Your Word tells us of the troubles and the crisis, and the adversities we will face in this world. But, Your Word also tells us of Your always being ready to help us. And, You have, You are and You will. We want to say thank You for being who You are in our lives, and we want to as needed today, to be those who call upon You and receive Your help. We pray not only for ourselves, but for friends, fellow Christians, family members that know You, that Lord, they may call upon You during their times of adversity. And, if they do not yet know You, we pray in Jesus name, that You would use these times to reveal Yourself to them, and open the door for us even this very day to tell them the good news of Jesus Christ. In His name we pray, amen.

Pastor Bob Grenier
Calvary Chapel Visalia.