One June 8, 1999, Jonathan Aitken was sentenced to eighteen months in prison. At one time he had been touted as a future Prime Minister. All such talk came to an end, however, as he had been caught in a lie, investigated, and ultimately imprisoned. Shortly before his sentence was handed down, he was able to address the C. S. Lewis Foundation, speaking from Isaiah 6:1-8. There, Aiken declared, “Then Isaiah heard the wonderful words: ‘This has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for.’ And the Scripture goes on: ‘Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying: Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? And I said: Here am I! Send me.’ Note the total unconditionality of that response, ‘Send me.’ It does not mean, ‘Send me, I was going that way anyhow,’ or ‘Send me, I was planning to do that,’ or ‘Send me, I rather like the sound of that idea.’ It may mean something much more disagreeable. In my case it means, ‘Send me to prison.’”¹

No doubt all of us here today are challenged by such a repentance heart that declares, “God, I have done wrong, let me reap whatever punishment is just.” In fact, thoughts probably come to our heads, like, “I wish all politicians spoke that way.” One thing none of us probably thinks, however, is, “I sure wish I could say that myself. I sure wish obedience for me meant I would go to prison.”

None of us wants our road through life to be greatly difficult. We would rather not face the consequences of our sins or suffer through catastrophes like hurricanes and terrorist attacks. Yet we all know (as Aitken knew) that suffering and hardship is unavoidable. Yes, there are greater degrees of difficulty for some than others, but all of us will face difficulty in life. All of us will be tempted to be consumed with fear and gripped with anxiety at points. If the Lord does not return within our lifetime, all of us will face death. And though we acknowledge that glory awaits the Christian on the other side of death, none of us thinks of death as something pleasant; nor should we.

So how do we live a world like this where we see hurricanes, terrorist attacks, poverty, death, news of Christians being persecuted for their faith, persecution in our own lives, and the daily consequences of our own sins? How do we live life each day in a God-honoring, Christ-exalting, church-edifying way when we are faced with such battles internally and externally?

Psalm 46 is a psalm written to help us with that question. Even historically it has been used that way. In the midst of the Reformation, in which Luther’s life was under threat again and again, he wrote “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” being inspired by Psalm 46. Therefore, though we are not in the same place as Luther, the psalm is indeed helpful in aiding us in living Christ-exalting lives though we might find ourselves in the midst of turmoil, as the psalmist exhorts us to understand more of who God is and what he has done for us.

This morning, therefore, I want us to receive the truths that the psalmist has to say, for I think we need desperately to realize them ourselves. Thus, let us turn to the first of these. The psalmist first makes clear that …

God is with us and for us (vv. 1, 7, 11)

The structure of the psalm leads us to see it in three sections, each ending with the word “selah” at the end. Thus, we see the psalm divides into verses 1-3, 4-7, and 8-11. What is also clear, however, is that there is a repeating theme in each of the sections. It begins the first section and ends the second two. In verse 1 we read, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Verses 7 and 11, then read the same, namely, “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” The psalmist wraps all three sections around the truth that God is with us and for us.

I’ve often thought about the things that each generation struggles to appreciate. I never lived in a time when we were not able to hop in a vehicle and go wherever we wanted. And my son will grow up without the realization that the internet wasn’t always around. He’ll no doubt be amazed that people used to sit and write letters instead of emails or blogs instead of journals. He’ll never realize that if you wanted to find a deal on a hard-to-find book you used to have to go to yard sells instead of just looking on Ebay. And as much as I’m thankful for these things, I wonder if he will ever appreciate them without knowing what life was like without them.

As someone living after the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, I think we face the same danger with regard to this truth the psalmist declares about God being with us. It’s almost as if that’s something that we’re tempted to blow by and think not much about it. We might hear that truth and say, “Right, of course. But I need something rich and deep in my life if I’m going to make it through this difficult time.” But the psalmist holds up this truth as that which should change our lives. God is with us.

Why does he declare it throughout the psalm? I think it is because he was quite familiar with the reality that this is an amazing blessing. After the Fall, as Adam and Eve were driven from the garden, man was separated from God. No longer was there the fellowship that there was before. And it seemed impossible that man would be able to have God’s presence with him. Therefore, the sacrificial system was a great grace. It was a way that God might dwell in the midst of his people. Moses treasured this and pleaded with God not to take his presence from them after the Israelites had worshipped the golden calf. In the Old Testament, at every point that God wanted to comfort and encourage his people it was with the reminder that he would be with them, whether it was Moses, Joshua, or Gideon. And when the Christ comes, he is called Immanuel, meaning “God with us.” Indeed the entire hope of the Old Testament is that might dwell with his people. It was a miracle to be celebrated when Christ came, God himself with us. And it should be almost beyond belief that from the day of Pentecost forward, all who place their faith in Christ have the Spirit of God dwelling in them. The one who existed before all time and is himself God dwells within us through his Holy Spirit.

Do you not see what a miracle that is? Do you not see why the psalmist makes that the theme of every section in this psalm of comfort? What more can you to a people tempted to be gripped by fear than, “God is with you”? And yet the realization of the psalmist in these verses that he wants the people to see we know even more richly than he. We are blessed beyond that which Moses, David, and Isaiah experienced, for God’s Spirit permanently indwells us. How is it that we are not crushed in difficult times and weighed down by the worries that could grip us? Our first weapon is to realize that God is with us and he is for us.

If that is not a comfort to us I fear that it is because we have lost our understanding of who God is. For you has God become nothing more than some abstract topic or object for academic thinking but not a Father with whom you have a personal relationship? I fear that we can get to a point of being able to spout off many thoughts about God and yet not be moved in any way by the news that God is with us because we do not know him. My prayer is that you have so often thrown yourself upon God’s mercy and turned to him so many times in prayer and trusted in him so many times as you walked out in faith that you feel you know him as your loving Heavenly Father.

If you do not, however, then realize today that the God of Isaiah 6 is with you and for you. God is not some abstract topic but your heavenly Father. He created the world and is able to do whatever he wants, and he is with you and for you. Ponder on that reality today until your heart is moved by it. Do not stop pondering this reality until your heart is moved because we need this truth to move us. The psalmist knew that this news is what God’s people needed, and I know it’s what we need as well. Therefore, let us first realize today that God is with us. In whatever situation we’re going through, however difficult times are, God himself is with you and for you. He is not absent and he is not against you. He is with us and for us. He is our refuge and fortress.

Not only is God with us and for us, but he will preserve his people even when judgment comes (vv. 2-6)

In verses 2-6 the psalmist moves to talking about the Lord’s judgment on the earth. He pictures it in terms of the earth giving way, the mountains being moved into the sea, the mountains trembling, and the earth melting despite nations and kingdom raging against the Lord. These are images of God’s judgment. The worst thing that this world could imagine is the judgment of the Lord. And yet what about God’s people in such judgment? The psalmist pictures them as having no need to fear. He declares in verses 2-3, “Therefore [that is, because God is with us and for us] we will not fear thought the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.”

Then he declares that God will preserve and nurture his people though judgment comes, as he writes in verses 4-5, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.”

We do not have to fear because in the midst of God’s judgment his people will be like a nurtured city, with God in her midst, helping her.

But why does the psalmist picture judgment here? After all, we might say, “God’s judgment is not foremost on my mind, it’s my struggle today. It’s the issue that’s gripping my heart and mind in such a heavy weigh I can do nothing without feeling overcome by my struggles.” But I think the reason the psalmist mentions God’s comfort of his people in the midst of judgment is because there will be nothing worse than God’s judgment. And yet, even though judgment would come, even then God will be with us and care for us.

We are tempted to be like a child, who when his parent tells him that he would protect him from a giant army says, “But what about that tiny bug?” God tells us he will preserve us in judgment and care for us and uphold us then so that we might clearly know that he will indeed do that now – whatever our struggles might be. God is with us and for us. And God will preserve and uphold us even in the midst of judgment.

Finally, we can be confident in God because of what he has done and what he has promised (vv. 8-10)

The psalmist knows that his hearers might say, “How can we know God will bring us peace? How can we know these words are true?” Therefore, he invites them to look at what God has done and what he has promised. He writes, “Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (vv. 8-10).

To a people with war around the psalmist reminds them of what God has done and that he will one day end all war. And to a people who knew their good was wrapped up in God’s glory being displayed, God reminds them that he will be exalted. They simply need to pause and hear his declaration.

And so to you today I say the same. I know what it’s like to struggle. Maybe I’ve never experienced what you’re going through and have never felt anything half as weighty as that which is weighing on you now. But I know anxiety gripping me so deeply that that I can almost do nothing to which set my hands to do. I know something weighing on my so heavily that just feel like being sick. I know the feeling of thinking you’re alone in your struggles – not because there aren’t people around who love you but because you feel like they can’t comprehend the thoughts of your mind and heart. And I know what it’s like in those times to think, “Will God really uphold me through this and bring out my God? How do I know God really will display his love to me through this?” I’ve had those burdens and been overwhelmed by those thoughts, maybe not just like yours, but I’ve known something of struggle.

And to myself and to you, I encourage you to look up from your situation and consider what god has already done in Jesus Christ. We were in a far worse position than any of us is in today as helpless and hopeless sinners on our way to eternal hell. And God sent his Son to die for us. And he has promised that he will come back and get us. In fact, he has promised that between now and then everything in our lives will work toward the goal of making us more like Christ, which is our great need. Therefore, I invite all of us today to ponder anew what he Almighty has done and what he has promised to do, and rest in him.

Know he is with you and for you, that he will uphold and care for you even in judgment, and that he has already sent his Son to die for you and promised to come back to get you. In the words of the apostle, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, \"For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.\" No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-39).

Let us today remind ourselves of God’s goodness and grace as we remember something greater than anything the psalmist could have imagined, the death of Jesus of Nazareth for us. May God be honored as we come to the table. Amen.

¹Jonathan Aitken, “Address to the C.S. Lewis Foundation, August 2, 1998, quoted in Margaret Hebblethwaite's “Jonathan Aitken Says Sorry,” The Tablet Website, June 12, 1999, http://www.thetablet.co.uk/aitken.shtml.

THE GOD OF JACOB - OUR FORTRESS

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