A Very Present Help — Dean Stump

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold.

You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www .charityministries .org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1 -800 -227 -7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, Africa, PA 17522.

These messages are offered to all without charge by the free will offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry.

Good morning to everybody again. God bless you all. Thank you for coming. May God give us all ears to hear this morning. What a beautiful word we heard already this morning. Did you hear it? God of our strength, on Thee we call.

God of our hope, God of our light, God of our all. Thy name we praise, Thy love adore. Our rock, our shield, forevermore. God of our strength, enthroned above. Our sure defense, forever be. Our sure defense.

The Lord as a Very Present Help

I thought that was very fitting for what was on my heart this morning. Let's turn to Psalms 46. I'm not sure what the title should be, but I guess it was mostly on my heart. A very present help. A very present help.

This chapter was a rhema to me one morning probably a month ago and have gone back to it numerous times since. Never realized it before, but as I studied a bit, realized it seems to be coming after the defeat there, or their victory over Sennacherib in 2 Chronicles 32 there.

I think what we'll do is read the chapter and then go back and read the account in Chronicles and come back to our text here again. It says, God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble.

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the depth of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, there is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.

God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged. The kingdoms were moved. He uttered his voice. The earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us.

The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Sorry, I missed the Selah there in verse 3. Come, behold the works of the Lord. What desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth.

He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spears in thunder. He burneth the chariots in the fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Now let's go back and read the account there in 2 Chronicles. I think this will bless your soul. Will be a good introduction here to the chapter. Sometimes it adds more weight to the word when you know the battle that the person was going through.

Hezekiah Trusts God Against Sennacherib

We're going to start reading in verse 1 of chapter 32. After these things and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came and entered into Judah and encamped against the fenced cities and fought to win them for himself.

And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, he took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city, and they did help him.

So there was gathered much people together who stopped all the fountains and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come and find much water? Also, he strengthened himself and built up all the wall that was broken and raised it up to the towers and another wall without, and repaired Melo in the city of David and made darts and shields in abundance.

And he set captains of war over the people and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city and spake comfortably to them, saying, Be strong and courageous! Be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with them, for there be 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 the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah. After this did Sennacherib king of Assyria send his servants to Jerusalem, but he himself laid siege against Lachish and all his power with him unto Hezekiah king of Judah and unto all Judah that were at Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Sennacherib king of Assyria, Whereon do ye trust that ye abide in the siege in Jerusalem?

Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The Lord our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Hath not the same Hezekiah taken away his high places and his altars and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall worship before one altar and burn incense upon it?

Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the people of other lands? This sounds like another time that I know of back in the Garden of Eden. Know ye not what I and my fathers have done unto all the people of other lands?

Were the gods of the nations of those lands any ways able to deliver their lands out of my hand? Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed that could deliver his people out of my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you out of my hand?

Now therefore let not Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you on this manner, neither yet believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand and out of the hand of thy fathers, how much less your God deliver you out of my hand.

Wow! Sennacherib and his servants spake yet more against the Lord God and against his servant Hezekiah. He wrote also letters to Rael on the Lord God of Israel and to speak against him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of my hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver his people out of my hand.

Then they cried with a loud voice in the Jews' speech unto the people of Jerusalem that were on the wall to affright them and to trouble them that they might take the city. And they spake against the God of Jerusalem as against the gods of the people of the earth, which were the work of the hands of man.

And for this cause Hezekiah the king and the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz prayed and cried to heaven. And the Lord sent an angel which cut off all the mighty men of valor and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria.

So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his God and when he was come into the house of his God, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.

Thus the Lord saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria and from the hand of all other and guided them on every side. And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from henceforth.

Wow! God! Don't you just like the way that chapter starts? God is our refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble. So this God, Hezekiah thought, if the gods of the earth that all these other kingdoms trusted in could not deliver their people out of his hand, he thought that surely the God of heaven couldn't deliver Judah out of his hand.

If the gods that were on the earth couldn't deliver, well then all the more the God that they say is in heaven couldn't deliver. But poor Sennacherib, poor soul, poor soul that defies the only true and living God, the God that created the person that's mocking him, the God that breathed into each one of you the breath of life and made you a living soul, the God that made order where there was chaos, life where there was death, light where there was darkness, the God that made light before He created the sun that is our only basis for light in the natural.

He created light and a few days later He created the sun. Wow! That God is your refuge and strength. A very present help in trouble. What are some examples where we see God as being very present? Very present help in trouble.

That speaks to me of a God who is not just someone who's off in the vast heavens that man has not come to the end of being able to search out all the ends of the heavens and they never will. But He's not just a God that's out there who is not concerned about what's going on in our lives.

He is a very present help. Here we find an example where He showed Himself to be very present without Hezekiah lifting His arm of flesh or putting His armies into action. He showed Himself strong and He defeated the armies of Sennacherib.

God’s Presence in the Deliverance of His People

I thought of Noah when he was told to build the ark and then he built the ark and he goes in and waits there for eight days and then God Himself comes and shuts the door. A very present help in trouble.

No, He wasn't just some unconcerned being off in the universe, off in space somewhere. He came and shut the door. Very present. Do you think there was any doubt in Noah's mind, in Noah's family's mind that God was there, that God was present?

And I had to think of Jacob. First of all, Abraham, when he was told to sacrifice his son, maybe he was tempted on the way out there to that mountain to think, God, do You care? Are You concerned about my feelings?

Are You just far off somewhere, unconcerned about what's going on in my life? But when he had his hand raised, that angel came right there and stopped his hand. He couldn't bring his hand down. He was a very present help.

He was right there. And Jacob, when he wrestled with the angel that night, he walked away from that scene knowing, God is a very present help. God is right here. He touched me. He made me limp. And yes, he found out too that who was more powerful.

I thought of Moses. When he was out there in the wilderness watching his father-in-law's sheep, he saw the bush burning. And I'm sure Moses was out there for 40 years in the wilderness. He was now 80 years old.

I'm sure he was tempted because he was made of the same thing that you and I are made of, from the dust of the earth and had all the same temptations to deal with, all the same weaknesses to deal with.

I'm sure he was tempted to think, God, where are You? Are You concerned about Your people that are in slavery? And God spoke to him right there out of the bush. Well, first of all, the amazing thing was that the bush was on fire, but it wasn't being consumed.

Moses walked away from there, I believe, with his faith strengthened and his awareness of the presence of God strengthened. Maybe never to doubt again, if he had doubt, that God is ever present. He is very present.

He is right here with me. And showed himself that way many more times in Moses' life. A very present help. Here they are, all right there, ready to go across the... Well, I don't know if they were ready to go across the Red Sea, but here they were, cornered against the sea.

And Pharaoh's army was behind them. And again, Moses learned that God is very present. And many other experiences even before that, there with leading the people out of bondage there, out of Egypt. We also, and this here I think is my favorite one, in light of this, this God who is a very present help was the three Hebrew children.

They would not bow to the statute that King Nebuchadnezzar had put up. And maybe they had their doubts. It seemed like they must have knew how to exhort one another because they sure didn't give in to much doubt, because they boldly stood up to the king and said, we will not bow.

We have a God who is ever present, who is very present with us, who we fear more than a king who is able to kill these physical bodies. So they were thrown into the fiery furnace. Is there anyone here that's ten years or younger that can tell us what happened to the three Hebrew children when they were thrown into that hot oven that was heated up, how many times, seven times hotter than it was once to be heated?

Back here? Okay, they didn't get burned, but what else happened? What else happened in there, in that furnace? Okay, Jesus was with them. You see, brothers and sisters, a very present help in trouble.

He showed up on the scene, but he was there all along, even though they could not see him, he was there all along. And God did that throughout history and does that in our lives today and shows us small things along the way that he is a very present help in trouble.

Jesus was right there with them and even opened King Nebuchadnezzar's eyes to see that that fourth one that was in there was like the Son of God. How did he know who the Son of God was? May God give us spiritual eyes to see and to know what's going on in the spiritual, in the heavenlies.

He came and shut the lion's mouth when Daniel was thrown into the lion's den. Well, God is our refuge. A refuge. And the Strong says, it's a cliff or other lofty or inaccessible place. It's a lofty or inaccessible place.

Taking Refuge in God Amid Spiritual Opposition

Are you taking opportunity of this refuge this morning? Well, I guess, Myron, what my goal is this morning is to do a little of what you were telling us this morning. I want to encourage you, brothers and sisters.

I want to prod you a little bit here this morning. I hope to challenge you. I hope to lift you up. I hope to stimulate you and urge you forward, to cheer you on, to beg you and treat you, beseech you, console you, comfort you, instruct you and teach you with this here in Psalms 46 this morning because I believe that's what it's there for.

It's there as an exhortation to us. It's there as a faith builder for us to not doubt. It's there to defy all of the armies of evil that are out there, that are against you. It stands there as a strong bulwark against the enemy.

And God wants you to take your stand there in that place of refuge. In Him. In His refuge. He is our refuge. And it's in Him that we can find help in our trouble. A cliff or other lofty or inaccessible place.

If we have the confidence that we are standing in an inaccessible place to our enemy, we need not fear. We need not doubt. We need not be troubled. We need not be anxious for anything. But in everything by prayer and supplication let our requests be made known to God.

And the peace of God which passes all understanding shall keep your heart and mine through Christ Jesus. God. This only true and living God is our refuge. A very present help in our time of trouble. Therefore, will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and what more chaotic situation and fearful situation could you encounter, brothers and sisters, than the earth being removed?

Here you are hanging in space. The earth is being removed from you. Your world is being turned upside down. And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, therefore will not we fear, because God is our refuge.

A very present help in trouble. Selah. Think about it. Stop. Be still and know who is God. Be still and know that Sennacherib has no power over you. Be still and know that King Nebuchadnezzar can have no power over you, except it's given to him from above.

Be still and know that he is God. God is our refuge. I should say a little more about that in some of my thoughts and meditations here. In studies I wrote down a few things about God being our refuge and just want to try to make that a little practical to you.

First of all, understand that it's God that is your refuge. This God who has a character of truthfulness, of light. There is no deception. There is no variableness nor shadow of turning with this God.

He has spoken and He will keep His word. He is a sure foundation to stand upon. This God that our text is about. You can stand upon His promise. He is a refuge from Satan's attacks. Satan will attack you.

Satan is your Sennacherib. Satan is your Nebuchadnezzar. Satan is your Pharaoh. The one who wants to defeat you. The one who will put questions in your mind. You see how tactful Sennacherib was? He questioned and railed on them through questions and tried to get the seed of doubt planted in their heart that they would be fearful that they wouldn't have the strength to go forward in battle.

Well, this God is our refuge against those attacks. Know in your heart that when doubts come into your mind that it is from the enemy of your soul who wants to destroy you. And yes, He has quite a history of victory behind Him.

Do you notice how Sennacherib came with all of His trophies hanging on His rack, so to speak? He was, at this point, undefeated. And He made sure He let them know, God's people, that He was the winner.

He had defeated everyone else. Everyone else that He fought against. He had won. So what? So what? We serve the only true and living God. We will not be defeated. We will not be turned back. He's a refuge.

This God is our refuge from the wicked desires of our heart. From the natural man. You know, each one of us were born in sin. We were each born plagued with a sinful nature. Well, this God is also a refuge.

You know, through Christ Jesus, we can be delivered from the wicked desires of this flesh. I say wicked because those desires of the flesh take us away from God. We, in ourselves, the natural man, it goes its own way.

It goes away from God. It goes away from the One who would save you. It goes away from the One who would protect you. He's also a refuge from the allurement of the sinful world. There are many influences out there.

If the devil and your own carnal nature is not enough to turn you away from this God, there is also many allurements out there. Many wicked people out there. Many wicked influences. Many friends, brothers and sisters, that will not be a good influence on you.

Many, many sorts of flashing lights to attract you. Well, this God is a refuge against everything that can come your way. Some have said to me in their discouragement, is there any hope? Some have felt like if they're not being tempted by their own carnal nature, then it's somebody else coming against them.

And they're tempted. Is there any hope? Is there any help? Well, there is a river. It says in verse 4, The streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High.

There is a river. The streams whereof shall make glad the city of God. The city of God is you and I, brothers and sisters. If you have entered into the kingdom of God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, through the sacrifice of Jesus, if you have entered into His kingdom, you are of that city.

And there is a river. The streams whereof shall make glad the city of God. I had to think of the river that it talks about in Revelations that flows out from under the throne room. And the rock that water came out of in the children of Israel's day when they were thirsty.

And we know that that rock was Christ. Well, there is a river flowing from the Lord Jesus Christ, from this God who is our refuge, a very present help. A river. Not just a trickle. A river. The streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.

It's a river that makes many different tributaries, many different little streams that flows out to you and I that shall make glad the city of God that is going to be plenty. It's going to be more than what we need to be strengthened in our inner man with might by His Spirit.

This river is what it's all about, brothers and sisters. I believe that we can stick with our text and call this river the Lord Jesus Christ. Out of this river comes hope. Out of this river comes peace.

And it shall make glad the city of God. God is in the midst of her, in this city. He is a very present help. She shall not be moved. She shall not give in to doubt, to hopelessness, to discouragement.

God shall help her and that right early. Or in the right time. Or not a minute late. God shall help her and that right early. We need not be discouraged. The heathen raged. The kingdoms were moved. He uttered His voice.

The earth melted. Now, if you keep in mind the scene in which this was written, the heathen was raging against Judah. The heathen was raging against the kingdoms of the world. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, he had gained much power in his day.

He had become a powerful nation. And he was raging. But all God had to do was utter His voice. And they melted away. You might be familiar with the scripture there in Isaiah that talks about the enemy.

Our adversary, the devil. Who in that day, when our eyes are opened to see Him as He is, we will say, You mean, that's who it was that made that look like such a big mountain that was causing doubt in my mind?

That's the one that defeated me back there on that day? You mean it was Him? Well, when you see Him in light of this God who is our refuge, you will say, Why did I ever doubt? Why did I ever step back?

When God is in the midst, she shall not be moved. He uttered His voice. And the Lord of hosts is with us. Sennacherib thought he had a powerful army. What he didn't realize is that Hezekiah had a God who was not a God made with man's hands.

He was a God with a host. He was a God with power. He was a God with a mighty army behind Him. And if he had any idea, he would have fallen on his face and repented. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Now, I went back and used some examples from Scripture to show us how God is a very present help to us in trouble.

Remembering God’s Faithfulness and Waiting in Faith

I think that's what is going on here. When the psalmist says, The God of Jacob is our refuge. He's saying, Look at the God that worked in Jacob's life. Look at what happened in his life. Go back to Noah and Abraham.

Go back to all of the men that God worked in their lives before us and how He led them and directed them and how He delivered them out of the hand of their enemies. That's my God. Come, behold the works of the Lord.

What desolations He hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow and cutteth the spear in thunder. He burneth the chariots in the fire. Yes, He does those things.

Yes, He is all-powerful. Yes, He is invincible. And yet, so often, as in, as we, I don't know, we just get caught up in the tyranny of the moment and we get maybe pressed down with all that's happening in our life and God is at work and God is there with us and He is breaking the bow and He is conquering our enemies and we somehow, so many times it seems, we just sort of overlook.

We don't see what God is doing. We don't, we're not conscious that, wow, God is really at work in my life. God does know what He's doing. And so the admonition, be still and know that I am God. Now, when I, when I come through for you, brother, sister, when I come through for you with my strong arm, with my host, when I come through for you, be still and know that I am God.

Quiet your heart. Know what God is doing. I will be exalted among the heathen. Be still and know that I am God when it seems like the enemy is triumphing. It seems like the enemy is having heyday. It seems like all of God's people are being shut up in prison or being sawn asunder.

You be still and know that I am God. Quiet your heart before me and know assuredly I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth. Know that the last chapter has not been written.

I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. And note here that this same verse is in this chapter twice. I pondered that. That doesn't happen very often in scripture. Few times. Not very often that you'll find a verse just completely repeated.

But here we have it. And God wants us to get this point. The Lord of hosts is with us. He is the God of the universe. He is the God of all power. He is the God that has a powerful army behind Him that will not be defeated, who will be exalted in the earth.

The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Just stop and think about that. Now, Brother Rick told us at the men's retreat that we had in December that the Word of God hasn't been preached until we've made application.

And that's a real trial in my life to try and make application to the Word of God. I'd like to try and make some application to this here this morning. It sounds wonderful, doesn't it? And, oh, doesn't the chills go up your spine sometimes to know that, wow, this God is my God.

And in Christ, I can have a personal relationship with Him. Through the blood of Jesus, like we heard from Brother Phillip last Sunday, because of that wondrous cross, we can walk in newness of life with this great, awesome God, the One who spoke and there was life, the One who upholds all things by His Word.

Walking With God Through Personal Devotions

How do we apply this? How do we come down to earth with this and walk this out in our life? Well, there are many things, and you could make many applications to it. But the application I want to make here this morning is in the area of what we do with our free time.

I hear many times that, I don't know, sort of, maybe as an excuse, the fact that we live in America, in 21st century America, where technology has taken everything to such a fast rate of speed that in order to halfway stay up with things, you got to, I don't know, just sort of let the Word of God fall by the wayside, I guess, is sort of the impression that's given.

But I guess as I ponder it, we have all the modern conveniences that we have. If we use our time wisely, if we use the modern conveniences that we have wisely, we will have free time. And I would like to lift up any leisure time as free time, any time where you're driving in your vehicle, or even if you're at your job and you don't have to think what I'm going to do next, if you're familiar enough with your job that your mind is free.

It's in those times when, yeah, I think that's put right, when your mind is free. Here we're exhorted. I like to use verse 10 here as sort of the conclusion of this chapter. Be still and know that I am God.

How do we work that out? You know, brothers and sisters, many of you know it and experience it, sometimes we just need to be encouraged in it, don't we? That it is a thrill. It's an absolute thrill to walk with the God of the universe.

There's nothing more compelling, nothing more fulfilling than to be in right standing with this God who is our refuge, who is a very present help to us in whatever trouble we find ourselves in. Well, it's my persuasion this morning that many of us have ample opportunity, even with a full-time job and raising a family, that we can be still and know that this God is our refuge and strength.

Yes, we do have Sennacherib to deal with and all the forms that that comes our way through doubt, through fears, through the lusts of our flesh, through the drawings of other evil people or evil influences, but there is so much available to us in Christ, brothers and sisters, that if we just got the tip of the iceberg, we would not be discouraged.

We would not believe the doubts, those questions that the enemy throws at us. Hath God said? Does God care? I bring this up this morning because it is my battlefield. I am clearly aware of my battlefield in this area.

When I am driving down the road, sitting in my house, when my mind is at leisure, it is a battle to press through, to be still and know that He is God, to meditate upon the Word of God, to let God's Word wash my heart.

It is so easy to let my mind go in every direction it wants to go and to just take my leisure. We have talked about in the past few months, it seems like it has come up a number of times, about the entertainment world and the dangers that are in the entertainment world of going down that road of entertainment.

Well, this, brothers and sisters, young people, if you will learn to overcome in this battle of what you do with your leisure time, what you allow your mind to meditate upon, it will take care of the entertainment world.

It will direct you down through the maze of all the things that come our way. No, we don't want to make a rule book and say you can't do this and you can't do that and you have to do this and you have to do that.

We want the Spirit of God to be alive and well in your heart and quick in you and be guiding you and directing you and showing you the right path to take. As David prayed different times, I'll just...

I think I can find one here quickly. Psalms 5 here it says, Psalms 5 verse 8, Lead me, O Lord, in Thy righteousness. Because of my enemies, make Thy way straight before my face. Because of my enemies, make Thy way straight before my face.

What is that saying? I don't want to be allured by all these things that are pulling. My flesh, the devil, my friends, they're grabbing at me, grabbing for my attention. Go here, go there, do this, do that.

I want to introduce you to the greatest thrill you will ever experience and that is to walk with this God who stepped out of eternity and into time and said, let there be light. And there was light. He said, let there be life.

And there was life. Because He is light. He is life. He is the fulfillment of every aspect of life that you can experience. He cares about you. He wants to walk with you. He wants to be very present with you.

One way you can start, take a 3x5 card with you in the morning when you have your personal devotions, as you're reading your Bible and the Word of God jumps out at you. Just, wow, I never saw that before.

It was something that was neat to your soul. Write that verse down on a 3x5 card. Stick it in your pocket. As you have time throughout the day, get it out and read it. Meditate on it. Be still and know that He is God.

Be still and know that He spoke that verse to your heart that morning. Be still and know that He cared enough about you that He spoke to you this morning. He gave you strength for the day. And I think He's doing that to you all and many times to us all and many times we miss it.

And we go throughout our day and we face a temptation and Lord, I wanted to stand strong, but where were you? I didn't feel your presence. I didn't know you were there. And He probably spoke to you that morning.

He probably gave you a word that if you would have taken His word seriously and meditated upon it and stilled your heart before Him and knew that He was God and He was there for you that day to encourage you and strengthen you and put you in that inaccessible place from the enemy.

As you walk with God in this way, bringing your mind into captivity, bringing every thought captive. As you learn to walk with God and meditate upon His word, repent. Be quick to repent when you find yourself thinking down some road that's not true or honest or just or pure or lovely or of a good report like it says in Philippians 4, verse 8.

Don't just say, well, I shouldn't be thinking like this. No, repent. Take God serious. God says, that's not the right thinking. That's not right. I'm going to turn away from that and pull out your 3x5 card and look at the word of God.

See what it says and dwell on that. And you'll be encouraged by the end of the day. You can go through a day, come home at the end of a work day and through all of the hustle and bustle of busy America, busy Lancaster County, you can know assuredly that this God talked with me today, walked with me today.