PSALM 46:4-7
BIG IDEA
WHEN YOU REST IN GOD’S PROVISION, HE WILL HANDLE YOUR IMPOSSIBLE SITUATIONS. GOD’S ULTIMATE PROVISION IS HIS PRESENCE.
INTRODUCTION: “WHEN BAD IS GOOD”
Last week we began a walk through Psalm 46. We saw that this Psalm is a song that was to be sung to remind us that even when our world is being ripped apart, we have a refuge to run to. As we dissected this Psalm into three parts, we saw that each part was a stanza that included a call to remember. Last week, our theme was Remember there is a Refuge. Later, we will see that we are to Remember there is a Reason. But today, we will be called to Remember that there is a River. Of the three, this may sound like the least spiritual, but there is a vitally important lesson for us to glean in this second stanza.
“THERE IS A RIVER WHOSE STREAMS MAKE GLAD THE CITY OF GOD.” PSALM 46:4
This may sound like a peculiar way to talk about our secure refuge and help in times of trouble. In the first stanza of the Psalm, water is a problem and not a provision. “Even though the mountains are moved into the heart of the sea, even if the seas waters and foam, we will not fear,” implying that this water is a fearful thing. But today, we will take a lesson from history and see that this river, this stream, this water is an item to build our faith not to burden us with fear.
Travel back with me in time. It is 700 years before the time of Christ. Hezekiah is the King of Judah. He is a good king, in fact, a righteous and faithful king. 2 Chronicles 32 will be the setting for our story.
AFTER THESE THINGS AND THESE ACTS OF FAITHFULNESS… 2 CHRONICLES 32:1
Let’s pause for a moment. King Hezekiah has torn down the idols and temples in his land; he has restored worship to the temple, and he has organized the priests. 2 Chronicles 31:20 says, “Thus Hezekiah did what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. Ans every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered.” This is quite a resume! Hezekiah was a good king who did good things.
AFTER THESE THINGS AND THESE ACTS OF FAITHFULNESS, SENNACHERIB, KING OF ASSYRIA CAME AND INVADED JUDAH AND ENCAMPED AGAINST THE FORTIFIED CITIES, THINKING TO KEEP THEM FOR HIMSELF. 2 CHRONICLES 32:1
Sometimes bad things happen to good people. It’s the age-old question, “why do the righteous suffer?” Why do horrible rotten, no-good things happen to really good people? Bad things happen to good people to remind us that people are really bad and only God is good.
But listen, just because a bad thing happens to you doesn’t mean that you are to do nothing. Sometimes you have to do something in faith to prepare yourself to see God do His thing.
AND WHEN HEZEKIAH SAW THAT SENNACHERIB HAD COME AND INTENDED TO FIGHT AGAINST JERUSALEM, HE PLANNED… 2 CHRONICLES 32:2-3
Planning is not an absence of faith. Planning is exploring in faith where God may choose to move. Planning is the act of placing your trust in something that is unseen but greater than what you know. Planning is founded on the certainty that God is faithful.
HE PLANNED WITH HIS OFFICERS AND HIS MIGHTY MEN TO STOP THE WATER OF THE SPRINGS THAT WERE OUTSIDE THE CITY, AND THEY HELPED HIM. A GREAT MANY PEOPLE WERE GATHERED, AND THEY STOPPED ALL THE SPRINGS AND BROOKS THAT FLOWED THROUGH THE LAND, SAYING, ‘WHY SHOULD THE KINGS OF ASSYRIA COME AND FIND MUCH WATER?’ HE SET TO WORK RESOLUTELY AND BUILT UP ALL THE WALL THAT WAS BROKEN DOWN AND RAISED TOWERS UPON IT, AND OUTSIDE BE BUILT ANOTHER WALL, AND HE STRENGTHENED THE MILLO IN THE CITY OF DAVID. 2 CHRONICLES 32:3-5
Outside the city walls of Jerusalem, the City of God, there was a spring known as the Gihon Spring. The ancient word “Gihon” is translated as “gusher.” It was a natural spring that was outside the city walls, continually gushing freshwater. Not wanting to give the Assyrians an advantage, Hezekiah built a wall between the spring and the advancing army, then constructed an underground passageway for the water to flow into the City of God. The 1750 underground passageway was known as the Siloam Tunnel. It was uncovered by an archeologist in 1838. It terminated in a pool inside the city walls. The pool was known as Siloam’s pool which was discovered by construction workers fixing a buried pipe in 2005.
The pool was significant because even when the Assyrians laid siege to Jerusalem, the inhabitants inside the city wall of Jerusalem would have access to fresh, clean water. It was a river that gushed into the city continually.
So listen, the Assyrians come, and they begin to taunt the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Emboldened by his master King Sennacherib, General Rabshakeh starts to trash-talk to the Judeans. He said to King Hezekiah, in 2 Kings 18
- “On what do you rest this trust of yours?”
- “Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war?”
- “In who do you trust?”
- “You who are with you are doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine.”
The Assyrians intended to lay siege to the city, allowing no one in and no one out until there was nothing but dung for food and urine for a drink. What a terrifying time. What a terrible diet.
All of this was a long lead-in to today’s passage. Psalm 46. Today we will be reminded that there is a river.
Can you imagine the day that the water flowed into the city for the first time? Can you imagine the security it brought? We will be safe. We will be secure. We will not have to eat dung and drink urine! The Judeans didn’t recognize it at the time, but King Hezekiah was just painting them a picture. Let’s unpack this passage and see what picture Hezekiah was painting. You see, the river was not the actual provision; rather, it was a picture of the provision. The true provision was the presence of God.
“THERE IS A RIVER WHOSE STREAMS MAKE GLAD THE CITY OF GOD.” PSALM 46:1
This river is the manifest presence of God Himself, working for the benefit of His people.
EXPLANATION
- YOU ARE SUPPLIED BY THE RIVER.
“GOD IS IN THE MIDST OF HER…”
In the midst of a perilous predicament, it is often necessary to adjust your perspective. Think about the perspective of the Judeans. If you were to crawl upon the wall of Jerusalem, there would have been Assyrians as far as the eye can see. Over 185,000 soldiers!
You can imagine a sentry upon the wall, calling down to those terrified citizens below, “They’ve got us surrounded! They are on every side of the city!” How horrifying. There’s no way out!
Maybe that’s how you feel today. Maybe you feel like the problems of this world have pressed you in from every side, and there is no way out. Victory is impossible. There is no hope.
Remember, there is a river, the presence of God. It is in your midst. The Hebrew word here for “midst” literally means “entrails, bowels, inward parts.” When you are afraid of everything that is around you, remember that if God is your refuge, you have a power supply within you. It is God Himself. Therefore, as Hezekiah said, “God will help us! He will fight our battles!”
The battles of this life, the real wars, are not won with what our hands can build; they are won by the God we hold in our hearts. Only the presence of God can provide your provision.
II. YOU ARE SUPPORTED BY THE RIVER
“SHE (THE CITY OF JERUSALEM) SHALL NOT BE MOVED” PSALM 46:5B
In light of the verses before this, we have here an amazing promise. Even if the earth is giving way, even if the foam and roar of the ocean can be seen, even if mountains tumble into the sea, we shall not be moved.
The word here for “moved” means “totter, to be overthrown.” When God is in your midst, you have no need to waver, and you will not be overthrown!
- The world may seem like it is melting, but the people of God will not be moved.
- The world may seem like it is falling apart, but the people of God have an unfailing foundation.
- The world may seem like it is shifting and sinking, but the people of God can stand firm.
This City of God, though literally in time and space the City of Jerusalem, is a picture of God dwelling in the midst of His people. That means you! If the Living God is your God, then you have a foundation that shall not be shaken.
“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ Name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand.”
The tunnels you build with your own hands will totter. The foundations you lay with your own hands will fall apart. The streams you redirect will ultimately run dry. Only when you stand upon the foundation of God can you say, “I shall not be moved!”
III. YOU ARE SUSTAINED BY THE RIVER.
“GOD WILL HELP HER WHEN THE MORNING DAWNS” PSALM 46:5C
The Assyrians were still knocking on the City Gate, but Hezekiah went to the Lord in prayer.
SO NOW, O LORD OUR GOD, SAVE US, PLEASE FROM HIS HAND, THAT ALL THE KINGDOMS OF THE EARTH MAY KNOW THAT YOU, O LORD, ARE GOD ALONE. 2 KINGS 19:19
Hezekiah was invoking the provision and presence of God. Almost immediately, Hezekiah is given an answer through the prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah told the King,
HE SHALL NOT COME INTO THE CITY NOR SHOOT AN ARROW THERE, OR COME BEFORE IT WITH A SHIELD OR CAST UP A SIEGE MOUND BEFORE IT. BY THE WAY HE CAME, SHALL HE DEPART. FOR I WILL DEFEND THE CITY, FOR MY OWN SAKE, AND FOR THE SAKE OF MY SERVANT DAVID… AND THAT NIGHT THE ANGEL OF THE LORD WENT OUT AND STRUCK DOWN 185,000 IN THE CAMP OF THE ASSYRIANS. AND WHEN THE PEOPLE AROSE EARLY IN THE MORNING, BEHOLD, THESE WERE ALL DEAD BODIES. THEN SENNACHERIB, KING OF ASSYRIA DEPARTED AND WENT HOME AND LIVED IN NINEVEH. 2 KINGS19:35-37
Now, I know what you are thinking. Did King Hezekiah waste his time by diverting the Spring of Gihon through the Tunnel of Siloam into the City of David? No. Because the river was never the solution, it was always a symbol. The river was never a provision, it was always a picture.
2 Chronicles 32:7ff,
BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS. DO NOT BE AFRAID OR DISMAYED BEFORE THE KING OF ASSYRIA AND ALL THE HORDE THAT IS WITH HIM, FOR THERE IS MORE WITH US THAN WITH HIM. WITH HIM IS AN ARM OF FLESH, BUT WITH US IS THE LORD OUR GOD, TO HELP US AND TO FIGHT OUR BATTLES. AND ALL THE PEOPLE TOOK CONFIDENCE FROM THE WORDS OF HEZEKIAH KING OF JUDAH.
The answer was never a human answer. The answer was never to be found in the strength of men. The answer to their fearful situation was the presence of God. God in their midst, fighting their battles.
CONCLUSION:
Where is your hope? Where have you placed your trust? Is it in the tunnels you have built with your own hands? Is it in the walls that you have built with your own strength? REMEMBER:
THERE IS A RIVER WHOSE STREAMS MAKE GLAD THE CITY OF GOD.
The Sons of Korah were reflecting back on the provision of God’s presence, and they are begging you to do the same.
- When God is in your midst, you have all the supplies you need despite what your circumstances say.
- When God is in your midst, you have all the support that you will need despite what your situation says.
- When God is in your midst, you have all the sustainment that you will ever need despite what your feelings says.
THE NATIONS RAGE (BUT IT DOESN’T MATTER); THE KINGDOMS TOTTER (BUT HE REMAINS STRONG.) HE UTTERS HIS VOICE AND THE EARTH MELTS. THE LORD OF HOSTS IS WITH US; THE GOD OF JACOB IS OUR FORTRESS.
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