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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/brandon-doll/psalm-46-encouragement-for-sisters/
Let's turn together to Psalm number 46. Psalm number 46. We'll read together at verse number one. Psalm 46 verse 1. 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 midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shall shake with the swelling thereof.
Selah. 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 God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. 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. He cutteth the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot in 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. Lord, bless to us the reading of his precious word. If this isn't one of your favorite psalms, it should be.
This is a tremendous good psalm, tremendous powerful psalm. The writing of the time period sometimes is disputed, and I think that's for a reason, because it's good for all time and every time. The truth and the reality of this psalm is absolutely thrilling to the believer, to think that God is our refuge and our strength.
When we go to the past, we look at this applicable to the nation of Israel, to the tribe of Judah and the city of Jerusalem. We can take it into the future, and we can look at it there as the seed and the remnant and the overcomer.
But we're not in the past, and we're not in the future. And what I would like to look at this psalm just very simply this morning is this is for us in our day, but my burden is particularly for the sisters.
I've never preached, I don't think, to the sisters, and I'm not preaching at the sisters. But verse number five has been the verse that has been on my mind by itself, and notice this. It says, God is in the midst of her.
She shall not be moved. God shall help her. And that right early. There might be a dear sister here today, and you're going through many troubles and many trials and many confusions. Something that is overwhelming, something that is discouraging, something that is most stressful.
And I guess if I would have to say anything that this is the burden for me for this conference is for the sisters. We could look at it in our day and in our age as this is relevant for the church, the body of Christ.
This psalm is relevant for the assembly, absolutely. This psalm is relevant for the saint, for sure. But as you go down through here, you'll see the feminine aspect of her. It's relevant for the sister.
And so if there's a sister here, this is for you. We think of verse five, and it says God is in the midst of her. There's nothing like knowing and understanding that God is in the midst. When it comes to the local assembly, when it comes to gathering to his name, that is what we crave, and that is what we long for, and that is what we appreciate.
The presence of God in the midst, is it not? That's why we come. We come for him. We come to be to be with him, that he would be in the midst. And when our text says this today, that God is in the midst of her, of her.
Dear sister, never forget God is in the midst of you. He has indwelt you. You have the spirit of God. And all of the blessings that we've read on this psalm already, that God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble.
Four times in this short psalm, it talks about the presence of the Lord. In verse one, it is the presence. He is present to help. In verse five, God is in the midst of her. In verse nine, the Lord is with us.
In verse 11, the Lord of hosts is with us. If there's a dear sister here, and you are going through something in your life, never forget that God is in the midst of you. That's how real, that's how real he wants to be.
And I know there's times in every one of us, and brethren, you can, you can apply this to you today, that what we're longing for is to know God's presence with us. But you see, sometimes when it comes to Christianity, and it comes to the assembly, and it comes to the family, we hate to admit it, brethren, but the sisters carry the biggest load.
Men are in the public sphere, and men are in the public realm, and so on. But in the scenes, and behind every good man is a better woman. And she is bearing a tremendous burden. As women do, they enter into the stress and the burden of their husband.
And they carry the stress and the burden of their children in a far deeper way than we men ever will or ever do. And that's just the reality, isn't it, brethren? God is in the midst of her. What a statement.
What a promise. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. She shall not be moved. She shall not fall. She shall not fail. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. How do you know, dear sister, that you won't be moved?
God himself has said it. God himself has declared it, that I am in the midst of her. And whatever it is, she shall not be moved. She shall not be moved. We can argue with God if we would like today. But this is what God has said.
I am in the midst of her. Now, if you're here, and you're a woman, and you're not saved, you have no claims to this reality this morning. God loves you when God is gracious to you and merciful to you.
But the reality of being indwelt by God is a family truth. It is a reality that is only there for those who are saved, indwelt by the Spirit of God, that God is actually in them. Isn't that something that we overlook?
Isn't that something that we take for granted and take lightly? That the living God, the Spirit of God, is in me. Where I go, what I do, the thoughts that come at the right time, where does that come from?
It comes from the Spirit of God. And sometimes the brethren, and they get up, and they wax eloquent, and they give us a good lineup. And I always remember this. I'm thrilled. I'm thrilled at the work and the study that men do.
But I know this, that every thought they ever had came from God. They put the work into it, and God opened their understanding, and God opened the passage to them. And it's the same for the sisters. God is in the midst of her.
She shall not be moved. I hope that's a comfort to you today, because that's what the Holy Spirit is. He's the comforter, isn't he? He's the paraclete. He's one in like manner as the Lord Jesus. And the Lord Jesus had to go away so that the Holy Spirit could come.
And there you are, dear sister, indwelt by the Spirit of God at the day of conversion, with as much of the Spirit of God as you're ever going to get. He's there. He's there. So where would she not be moved from?
She will not be removed from the presence of God. I am in the midst of her. She will not be moved from my presence. She shall not be moved from the purpose and the plan of God. I am in the midst of her.
She will not be moved, be removed, fall from what I have called her for and to do for the purpose of God. She shall not be moved. She shall not be moved from the power of God. And that's the whole theme of the song, that God is our refuge and God is the strength and an ever-present help in the time of need.
And to not be moved, to not be moved from the power of God. The dear sister is kept and she is preserved by the Word of God. And she is preserved and kept by the presence of God. And she is preserved and kept by the power of God.
The sister will not be moved from the eye of God. She will not be moved from the heart of God. She will not be moved from the hand of God. She shall not be moved. Life is stressful for everyone. But dear sister, today, appreciate afresh the presence of God.
Appreciate afresh the reality that you are noticed by God, even though you may not be noticed by your family, even though you may not be noticed by those in your assembly, even though you may not feel appreciated for the things that you do that may seem to most as just the everyday things of life.
You have not been moved from the eye of God. Could I say today that he knows the heartache that no one else knows? Could I suggest today that he knows the tear that falls in the dark? He knows every ache of a broken heart, even when no one else knows.
God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. What does it say next? It says God shall help her. Shall help her. He knows the inner cry. When you wondered, dear sister, why will no one help? Why is it that no one wants to seems to notice?
Why is it no one wants to help? God knows that and he will help. He is the only one really who can help, isn't he? The Lord is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God shall help her. When help comes from God, oftentimes it comes in mysterious ways, doesn't it?
When help comes from God, oftentimes it comes in ways and shapes that we never imagined. And in our preconceived ideas, we see that this is what help would look like. This is what help would feel like.
This is how help would respond. This would be the results of help. And sometimes we don't know it, we don't see it, we don't grasp it. But the promise is still there. God will help her. Some of you sisters, I can tell by looking at you, you know what this verse is talking about.
You've known the very precious presence of the Lord. You've known the very real reality of help from God. You've known the reality in a time where it felt that you could well slip or slide or be moved, that God was there.
Could I encourage you, dear older sisters, do something that the man can never do. Teach those younger sisters what that's like. Teach them to recognize that. Teach them to understand that, because they're going through the same waters that you've gone through, and they need your help.
They need your understanding. And it says God will help them. But the last phrase is quite remarkable, really, and that right early. The idea is there is it's the dawn of the morning. It's quick. You know, sorrow endures for the night, but joy cometh in the morning.
In the morning. The prospect of another day. The joy and the freshness of the sunshine that rises again. The possibility and the anticipation of a new day. Or is it the same old day? It's living the dream one nightmare at a time sometimes, isn't it?
But joy comes in the morning, and the Lord's help comes right early. Right early. You know what that tells me? That God is willing that there wouldn't be the same old day every day, every day. That the help would come in the morning to change the outlook of the day, and to change the reality of the day, and to change the praise of the day.
God's interest in the sisters. I'm going to say this publicly because most of us never say it privately. You, dear sisters, are so much needed. And you, dear sisters, are so much appreciated. And you, dear women, are no not inferior to men.
You have authority on your head. That's it. Some say, well, I'm just a weaker vessel. No, you're just the one that's not, that doesn't have the authority, and you display that with your heads covered.
That I am under, I am acknowledging headship. I am acknowledging the authority of the Lord over me. I'm acknowledging the authority of the man over me. But you are not second-class Christians. You are not inferior believers.
You are gods. You are gods. And so that's my burden for this conference. We might all be encouraged by Psalm 46. Three stanzas in it. Much truth in it. But just to give the sisters some encouragement this morning, God is in her.
She shall not be moved.