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Well, good Monday morning to you. Off to a new week, and I hope your week is off to a good start.
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Well today, let me begin by asking you, do you remember the old Gershwin song from years ago?
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Now, if you're an old -timer like me, maybe you will. It's the one, Our Love is Here to Stay.
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Remember that one? There's a line, a couple of lines in there that go like this, In time the, what is it?
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In time the Rockies may crumble, Gibraltar may tumble. They're only made of clay, but our love is here to stay.
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Well, that makes some good song lyric for a romantic song, but let's think about that.
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What if the Rockies should crumble? What would that mean? What about if Gibraltar should tumble?
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I mean, those mountains have been around for a long, long time, and of course, if the
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Rockies crumbled, that would create quite an earthquake. Well, what about when the mountains crumble in your life, and the
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Gibraltars of your life, the rocks that you look to as being, you know, you can really count on.
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What happens when they tumble, when they crumble? Now, the reason I ask that is because of a passage, one of the sections in our
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Bible reading plan for today. We're reading Numbers chapters 11 and 12, Luke 2, and then
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Psalm 46, and Psalm 46 begins and ends to me with a pretty significant challenge, because here's how
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Psalm 46 begins. Verse 1 says, God is our refuge and strength.
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He is a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear.
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All right, here's where I was going with that. We will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.
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Is that true of my life? How about yours? When the mountains in your life are removed, they're carried into the midst of the sea.
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What happens in those times? Do you fear, or do you find great refuge in God as your strength, a very present help in trouble?
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Well, here's the thing. Intellectually, theologically, I know that that is the case.
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I know that God is a very present help in trouble. I know that he is a refuge to whom
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I can flee, and he is a very present strength that can sustain me and get me through those times when the mountains crumble, and they're carried off into the sea.
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But how oftentimes do I nevertheless respond with fear, with anxiety, with my heart in a turmoil, with my mind all jumbled in a buzz?
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Sometimes it takes a little bit for me to reorient myself and to say, no, wait a minute.
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No, wait a minute. I have a God who is a very present help in trouble. I have a
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God who is a fortress, and he is a strength to whom I can turn, upon whom
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I can rest, and in whom I can trust. I need to go to him. I need to find refuge in him.
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The mountains are crumbling all around me. So that's one way this psalm challenges me, and then when you get to the end of the psalm, it's a challenge as well.
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The Lord says, be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations.
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I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.
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Can I be still? Do I know stillness in those times when it seems that the nations are coming against me?
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Of course, that can be figurative, or that can be literal. Am I still? Am I waiting patiently, knowing that the
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Lord, my refuge, he will take care of this matter. He will deal with the nations that are coming against me, and the nations that are exalting themselves against him.
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Therefore, I can be still. I can be still and experience that he is
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God. How about you? You look at the world around us. You look at the nations and the saber -rattling that's going on, the threats from Russia, the challenges of China, the missile launches from North Korea.
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You hear all these things. Are you at rest? Are you still knowing that your
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God will be exalted among the nations, that your God is with us, that he will be exalted in all the earth, that he is our refuge?
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Well, as you listen to the news, I trust that you'll flee to that refuge.
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As the mountains around you may be crumbling, and you may be going through some really difficult times, and your earth is shattered, your world is in an upheaval, your personal world,
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I trust that you can flee to the Lord, your God, as your refuge, your strength, who will carry you through those times of difficulty.
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Because he is, after all, a very present help in times of trouble.
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Let's go to him in those times. So, our
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Father and our God, we are grateful for who you are. We're thankful that you are a refuge, and a help, and a strength.
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We're thankful that we can flee to you. We can turn to you. We can be still in the storm.
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We thank you for this hope and these promises from your word today. We ask these things in Jesus' name.
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Amen. All right, listen, have a good rest of your Monday. Again, I hope your week gets off to a great start.