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"God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn."
(Psalm 46:5)
A large part of our nation out west has suffered horribly from wildfires and the subsequent poor air quality. The Gulf Coast of the USA was pounded by Hurricanes Laura and Sally. I have never suffered through an inferno like what many are experiencing in California, Oregon, and Washington, but I have endured my share of hurricanes, and those things are incredibly scary! Yes, things may be in total chaos here on earth right now, But God is in control. He will deliver and come through for us, as the psalmist reminds us in chapter 46 verse 5.
God always comes through for His children. True, at times, He waits until the last moment and helps us just at the break of dawn. Other times (as with martyrs), God allows His people to go through something that even takes their lives. But even then, we still win, because we go to heaven to be with Him. If we know Him, then we will be in heaven with Him no matter what happens here on earth.
Some of you reading this message today may have powerful enemies that stand squarely against you. You feel the weight of their opposition. Your enemies may threaten you, But God is stronger, and He is with you. Psalm 46 goes on to say in verses 6-7, "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. Selah." There will always be some individual, group, or ideology opposing what you believe. For example, Marxist, fascist, and other authoritarian regimes will always oppose liberty and undermine people's inherent rights. But there is a far greater enemy than these, and that is the enemy of our souls who seeks to kill and destroy, as Jesus said in John 10:10. Sometimes in the heat of the battle, we forget who is on our side: Jehovah Sabaoth, the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of heaven! Chris Tomlin sings, "The God of angel armies is always by my side." And He will prevail! He has never lost a battle, and He will not start with you!
Martin Luther wrote his most famous hymn, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, based on Psalm 46. Luther encountered tremendous opposition from the religious authorities and establishment of his day, but he persevered in what God led him to do. He helped give rise to the Protestant Reformation. One time as Luther worked, he felt the presence of Satan so powerfully that he threw his ink bottle in the direction he felt the Devil was located! The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12-13, "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."
Just last Sunday, here in our church in Austin, after I preached, one of our members came up to Ashley and me and asked us to pray for him because he was going to witness to a lady he was hiring at work. She and her daughter do not know the Lord, and her daughter had a horrible dream, a demonically influenced dream of a man with a goat head telling her to do ungodly things. Immediately I prayed for him, and in my prayer, I quoted two wonderful verses that address spiritual warfare, 1 John 4:4 and Revelation 12:11.
Luther wrote, "And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God has willed his truth to triumph through us."
"For God" sounds a lot like "But God."
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But God!
In the midst of so much suffering, calamity, and hardship in our world today, you may have developed spiritual amnesia and forgotten how awesome God is and how, through Christ, we are more than conquerors. This episode serves to remind us of Who our God is and help us take heart in His power and all He has done for us.
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