just a couple of things before the message, before I begin the message. And the first is someone said that you really ought to know that Mrs. Nelson is doing wonderfully after her surgery. So that will be good news for you and you'll be glad to hear it. The second thing is not good news. Early this morning at the Yonkers... Gospel Mission, a fire broke out in their chapel, the extent of it I don't know, but it destroyed their lovely big pipe organ which had been all refurbished, and the chapel was obviously badly damaged, and so they'll have needs as far as space is concerned. I don't know where they'll have the services or what they'll do. But I'm telling you so that you can pray with us. For them we've had a long interest in the Yonkers Gospel Mission. In fact, I can well remember going with three brethren from the Yonkers Assembly and looking at a shop front with the idea of starting that mission. And eventually they bought it and grew too big for it and bought these other properties and God has really blessed the work. But this is a time of testing for them. So let's remember them in our prayers, shall we? Now let's turn to Psalm forty six. Psalm forty six. I can remember a while ago going over in brief the life of Martin Luther with you. You probably will not remember all that I said. I don't even remember it myself. But whenever I read this Psalm, I think of Martin Luther, because it was not for nothing that it's called Martin Luther's Song in Trouble. This was a Psalm to which he turned whenever he had problems, and in his life he had problems a plenty. This was a Psalm that, according to his personal witness, sustained him and blessed him time and time again. Now I'm going to read it to you, and I want you to see if you can find the word that divides this Psalm into three parts. We'll do a little exegesis tonight. There's a big word. Please don't ask me what it means. but we'll examine the Psalm as we go down through it. I'm going to read it and see if you can find that one word that divides it into three parts. 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 shake with the swelling thereof, Sila. 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 write 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, Sila. 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 a bow and cutth a spear in thunder. He burneth a chariot 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. Have you got it? You see how intelligent you are. Sila, that's the word that I have in mind, because that word, very conveniently for me, divides this Psalm into three parts. Verses one, two, and three make up the first part, and they end with that word Sila. Verses four through seven, form the second part and that section also ends with the word Sila. And then the verses eight, nine, ten and eleven are the obvious third section and that one ends too with the word Sila. And incidentally that is really a musical term. which gives me a chance to plug the conference again, because we're not only having Brother Hurley Dixon down to give us a mini-concert every night, but we are going to bring in other musicians too and make it a time largely of music. We are going to see something of what the Word of God says about music, but we're also going to enjoy it during that conference. So let the folk around know that you come into contact with, and I'm sure we're going to have a good time. I'm going to have a good time anyhow, because I've made up my mind that I can't do anything else when the topic is music. I just wish that we were going to have our choir ready for that weekend, that long weekend. Brother Hodgman says we are here. How many choir members do we have here? Let me see. Would you raise your hands? You think that we could possibly try it? I think maybe we could. We'll have to just arrange something and get together. How many of you would like to hear the choir at that conference? Very good. How many of you wouldn't like to hear them, and don't you dare to raise your hand? That little word, Sila. Also, and I'm sure you've noticed this too, although this phrase did not divide up this Psalm into three parts, we find it three times in the Psalm, and it has to do with each of these sections. It is simply this phrase, God is our refuge. What a lovely thought. You find it in verse one and you find it in verse seven and you find it in verse eleven. God is our refuge, says verse one. The God of Jacob. is our refuge, says verse seven, and again the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge in verse eleven. I want to suggest three things to you from this psalm that may well have comforted Martin Luther when he turned so often with all of his problems to this psalm. I haven't had a chance to talk to him, so I'm not sure that these thoughts even crossed his mind. But they cross mine, and I think that perhaps they might be a blessing to us together. As we read the Psalm, there are three things, one in each of these sections, that are very obviously are meant to encourage and challenge us. Now the first one is this. that our circumstances must not disturb us. We're going to read those three verses and see what we find there about troubled circumstances. But the believer who allows them to disturb him is the believer who is not determining to find out what is God's purpose in allowing them. Now the second thing that is obvious to me from the second section is this. Our confidence must not be shaken. We must never allow doubt to cloud our confidence in God. Many years ago somebody gave me some very sound advice and it was very terse but very true and this was his advice and elder to me. Always remember, believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts. Now there's good advice, and I've carried it with me all through my life up until this point. Our confidence must never be shaken. The third thing, and it's found in the third section, is this. Our consolation must not be overlooked. We must never be so taken up with our troubled circumstances as to overlook the very consolation that we need. Now it's possible to do that. And every one of us have had the experience of doing it, and we know it's foolish, but we have to be reminded of it from time to time. Let me give you those three things again. Our circumstances must not disturb us, our confidence must not be shaken, and our consolation must not be overlooked. Now let's think about the first one. Our circumstances must not disturb us. Well, right at the very beginning, we read, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Says the Psalmist, therefore, because of that, will we not fear, though the earth be removed or changed, though the earth be changed, 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, Sila. Now these are troubles, if you will, and in fact that is how they are described. These circumstances here are described as trouble. And it's obvious in verse one that God knows all about them. and that God knows how we feel about these troubles, and God knows how to describe them. That's why he says, a very present help in trouble. And that word can cover a very wide territory. And one thing at this point might be troubling you, something entirely different may be troubling somebody else, And a third person may have a variety of other things bringing trouble into his life, but the word trouble covers them all. It's an all-embracing word to do with troubling circumstances. And so God describes them that way as trouble. Somebody wrote an old song, I think it's a Negro spiritual. Nobody knows the trouble I've seen. It ain't true, you know. It really isn't true. Because it doesn't matter where you go, somebody else has had the same kind of trouble. Somewag wrote, Here we suffer grief and pain. Over the road they're doing the same. It isn't true that nobody knows the trouble you've seen. Lots of people have gone that way. And if they hadn't, it wouldn't be true. Because there is one who knows the trouble you've seen, and the Scripture says he was in all points tempted, like as we are, apart, entirely, of course, from sin. Isn't that a wonderful thought? God describes trouble. And here it is. He knows all about it, and he knows that you know plenty about it. These things then are described as trouble. And in these three verses, they are illustrated by turmoil, or at least in verse two. When God speaks of trouble in verse one, He goes on to illustrate what he means by trouble. Therefore will not we fear though the earth be changed. Now we have a way of looking upon the earth as unchangeable. It seems to be so solid, it seems to be so unchanging. But God says, even if these very, very unchangeable things to you are suddenly changed, suddenly altered, and that's really what is being illustrated here. The older we get, the less we appreciate change. Isn't that right? The more we get shaken when change comes into our lives, but God is saying here, we will not fear... though even the earth be changed, change is going to come. Inexorably it's going to touch every life here, but God says, or the psalmist says, speaking for us, if we are truly walking with the Lord, we will not fear change. He goes on to say, And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, again there's the thought of change of that which you thought unchangeable. When Mr. Gilbert and I were standing on Kilauea, on the big island of Hawaii, the island there was actually changing as we stood in the volcano crater. Fortunately, it wasn't changing where we were standing, but lava was running down the far side of that mountain and eventually reaching the sea and actually changing the size of the mountain. In fact, there was a time when there were no mountains in that part of the ocean, but they've appeared as volcanoes and they grow. Mountains do change, and the earth does change, but God says we don't have to be afraid of change. We mustn't let our changing circumstances disturb us. That's a thought. They're described as trouble, and they're illustrated by turmoil. Not only the removing or changing of the earth, and the removal of the mountains, but it says, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake, by the swelling thereof, turmoil. Removing earth, roaring waters, rocking mountains, things that have been so solid and so dependable suddenly seem to turn against us. We must not let our circumstances disturb us. These things that are described as trouble, and these things that are illustrated by turmoil are conquered by trust. That's the secret. You will notice what it says here. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. If we are willing to trust God in the midst of these troubling and trying and could be disturbing circumstances, they are not going to disturb us at all. The word help is used here in the first verse. God is our refuge and strength. He's a help in trouble. Now if we trust him, we are obviously going to be able to draw on that strength. But it says more than that, it says he's a present help in trouble. At this very present moment, whatever your need to overcome the disturbance that would come about because of change in circumstances, The Spirit of God says, you trust him, and you'll find him not only a help, but you'll find him a present help. And he goes on to say, a very present help. In fact, he's right at your elbow. More than that, the Word of God actually declares, he says, I will never, never let go your hand. That's a literal translation of one of the scriptures that we know very well. I will never, never let go your hand. Why then should we let our circumstances disturb us? Let's go on to the next section. And notice after the roaring waters, it says there is a river. Now that's a very different tone. There is a river. The streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy places 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 nations 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, Sila. So just in case we should be disturbed by our circumstances, the Word of God reminds us, God is our refuge. And now, just in case our confidence should be shaken, the Spirit of God again reminds us, God is our refuge. But look at what he says here, how he develops the thought of the kind of refuge that we have. In verse four he says, gladness is possible. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, and that's true of the people of God. When we trust him, instead of our circumstances, disturbing us, we shall find that the river that God flows into our lives of grace and strength and enabling will cause us to know gladness of heart in the midst of all our troubles. And that's the sort of thing that is a wonderful testimony, you know. When a believer is going through the mill and a gladness of heart shows upon his face People stop and wonder. People stop and ask. People stop and say, I must know what that man has, and I want it for myself. Gladness is possible in the midst of trial and trouble. Verse five says that stability is assured. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. Now here the city of God is being used as the illustration. It is true of the believer. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. There it is. Stability is assured. She shall not be moved. But you'll notice two things. That God's presence is the secret. God is in the midst of her. and God's place is the requirement. God is in the midst of her. When everything revolves around God, there isn't anything that can shake our confidence. When God is right in the center, our confidence we know is well placed and it isn't likely to be shaken. It is wonderful in such an unstable world. to have such stability. Then verse five tells us something else, that support is promised. In the midst of whatever kind of trouble we may be, or that may yet be before us, and into which we may yet be brought, support is promised. Verse five says, God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. Now there it is in his words. I will not permit it, God is saying. And it's also not only his word, but it's also his wish. God shall help her, and that right early. Do you have a marginal reading here? Do you have something tucked away in your margin here? I have a little two here, and I look into my margin, and this is what it says. God shall help her when the morning appears. Or put it the other way around. The morning shall appear when God does the helping. That's the thought. It's a wonderful thing to realize that... Well, let me put in the words of the chorus that we used to sing. I wonder if you know it. I can't remember singing here. Singing it here. It is morning. It is morning in my heart. Jesus, bad, the gloomy shadows, all depart. When God comes in with his very early help, it's mourning. It's mourning. And our foundation cannot be shaken. Now there's a reason for all of this. Not only is he telling us, the Psalmist telling us, using the city of God as an illustration, that gladness is possible in the midst of trouble and stability is assured in the midst of trouble, that support is promised in the midst of trouble, but he's telling us this too, that control is already in place. Nothing is getting out of hand. That trouble has not come to you because God turned his back. These testings have not reached you because somewhere along the line something went wrong. No. God is in control of every situation. After talking about the nation's raging and the kingdom's falling and the... The waters roaring and so on, it says, he uttered his voice. And what's next? The earth melted. There can be no doubt as to whose hand is on the helm. There can be no doubt as to who has the reins in his hand. God is in control. Nothing just happens to the believer. Nothing is coincidental in the life of the believer. Good, bad, or indifferent. Because there is a God and he's a loving father of the believer. And he has everything under control. And he won't allow it to get out of hand. When it seems to be getting out of hand, all he does is open his mouth. He heard his voice, and the earth noted. The raging and the roaring, and all of these things died away when God spoke. That took care of the whole situation. God's able to do it. Now, when our circumstances are some that we cannot understand, we must not permit our confidence to be shaken. God has not changed. The love of God is still the same. His care for you has not listened. He is just working something out. There's a verse that's a favorite with many of you which says, For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called God. according to his purpose. Our confidence must not be shaken. Let's go to verse eight. 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 a bow and cuttheth a spear in thunder. He burn of the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. I spent the days of the war in Britain. The days of the blitzkriegs on the big city in which I live, and they were many, and there are many here who shared those days with me, although I didn't know some of them at that time. But it's a very wonderful thing to realize that when you really need it, there's a shelter. Another chorus we used to sing, Shelter Door. Shelter Door. Do you remember that one? With his love forevermore. I can't think we've sung that one either. I can remember teaching that to some boys and girls in the Sunday school, and somebody very naughtily, one of the children wrote it in the back of the hymn book, and I found it afterwards, and it was written Shelter Door. Shelter Door. My anglish evidently needed a little bit of brushing up. But you know, it's good to have a shelter and a shelter door. It really is. Jesus says, I am the door by me if any man enter in. He shall be saved. Now mark you as we think about the consolation that comes from having the Lord and the God of Jacob as our refuge, we have to realize that sometimes he allows desolations. Our Psalm says that these are the works of the Lord. And it not only says that he allows them, it says what desolation he makes upon the earth. He's responsible for them. Now that's so very hard to understand sometimes, isn't it? And I don't know just what kind of desolation the Psalmist had in mind here. But any kind of desolation that God may be responsible for is meant to bring his blessing in its wake. Because that's the way that God works. Yes, he allows and even sometimes brings desolations. There are those of us here. to whom life at a given point has seemed almost desolate when a loved one has been snatched away. The Lord knows all about that kind of desolation, and with some of us it's only been days, some of us only weeks, some just a few months, and the desolation stretches over a long period, doesn't it? But the Lord knows, and the Lord doesn't make any mistakes. In his purpose he allows desolation. But in the midst of it he introduces peace. Look at verse nine. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth. The one who allows the desolation is the one who gives the peace to comfort in the midst of it. If he can give that kind of peace in the earth, he can give that kind of peace in the heart. But oh, how hard we have to lean upon him in order to really benefit from this peace. that he so much wants to bestow upon us. He repudiates conflict here also. He says he maketh wars to cease. He breaketh a bow, he cutth a spear, and he burneth a chariot. God is not a God of conflict, although God permits it sometimes. God allows it to achieve his purpose. and to do what he wants and accomplish his will. But God is a peace-loving and a peace-working God. And what he can do again in the earth, he can do in the heart, breaking and cutting and burning the things that make for conflict in our hearts, that make for conflict in our lives so that he can say, be still. He allows deflation, but He introduces peace, He repudiates conflict, and He provides rest. You know, that's a lovely verse, that verse ten. Be still. Do you know what that actually means in the Hebrew? It doesn't mean sit down wringing your hands. It doesn't mean sit down with your hands drooping into your lap. and a sort of despair creeping over you. In the Hebrew that actually means leave it to me. That's a very different thought, isn't it? Leave it to me. Now you can be still if you're not trying to work these things out for yourself. You can be still if you're not looking to others if you let the Lord take care of it. And that's the meaning of the word. Leave it to me. Be still and know that I am God. Don't sit and wring your hands. Don't sit and weep. But just cast your burden, the trouble upon him, says the Scripture, for he carers for you. Be still and know. What you have to know, of course, by intimacy day by day is the God that the psalmist is writing about. He goes on to say, I will be exalted in the earth. I will be exalted among the nation. You're not on the winning side, you know. As a believer, you're on the side that has already won. And the guarantee is here. It's going to happen. The love for God and the word of God is going to cover the earth. As the waters cover the sea, there's a great day of triumph coming. And he's going to be the victor. And we are going to be victorious with him. One last thought as I exposed. When we read in verse one, God is our refuge, it's a different word in the Hebrew than we read in verse seven and verse eleven when we read God is our refuge. The first word that is used that opens the psalm is a word that means a place of refuge. Somewhere where you can flee, a place you can flee to. The other word that's used twice means a high place. It means a tower. It means a defense. It means a fort. It's a word that is translated at least once, hope. Now there's one, it's one thing to have a place to flee to, which is a place of safety. That's the thought in verse one. But it's another thing to flee to a refuge where you'll not only have safety, but you'll have a singing heart because you'll be lifted up to the high place, which is what the word means. God is not only a refuge, God is a high place. God doesn't expect these people ever to be down in the mouth because we're human, sometimes we get that way. And yet we do it, although we know it really isn't necessary. God's our refuge. We can plead to him for safety. God is our high place. We can go to him for a singing heart, no matter what the trouble may be. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. So we're not... going to feel. Let's pray, shall we? Our Father, we thank thee for a delightful psalm like this one. We've all read it from time to time. We've read it together. We have pondered it in times past. And now again we think of the messages of these three sections And we ask so very earnestly that we shall not, because we lean upon thee, be disturbed by our circumstances. We shall not, because we trust thee, have our confidence shaken. And we shall not because we know thee and love thee and love thee. know that you care for us. We shall not overlook the consolation that so often we need, grant that we shall not be occupied with other things so that we become distressed and disturbed and unhappy, that grant, Lord, in spite of these circumstances, that we shall be able to look up into thy face with joy and a singing heart, and say, No, I'm not afraid, and I'm not fretful, because the Lord is in control, and I trust him implicitly. Lord Jesus, dismiss us with thy blessing. We beseech thee, and what little we may need here or there that has been mentioned tonight, granted thy spirit shall impress it upon our hearts. A little for this one, a little for that one. Something for all of our hearts to encourage us to look up. And we'll never be depressed. In Jesus' name. Amen.