Pastor Brad DeLong - Our Ever Present Help

i believe the lord has a word for all of us this morning from psalm 46. i'm going to read this entire chapter all 11 verses because it speaks to what the very first verse proclaims that god is our refuge and strength a very present help some translations say ever-present help in trouble therefore we will not fear even though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea though its waters roar and be troubled though the mountains shake with its swelling sailor there's a river whose stream shall make glad the city of god the holy place of the tabernacle of the most high god is in the midst of her she shall not be moot god shall help her just at the break of dawn the nation's rage the kingdoms were moved he uttered his voice the earth melted everything around us was in chaos but the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob is our refugee sailor come behold the works of the lord he has done great things who has made desolations in the earth makes wars cease to the end of the earth he breaks the bow and cuts the spear until he turns the chair to burns the chariot in fire be still verse 10 and know that i am god i will be exalted among the nations i will be exalted in all the earth and again the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob he is the one who is our refuge this morning i don't have the cleverest of titles for you i don't have anything catchy necessarily to display on the screen but instead i've got a word from god for somebody here and i want to preach about our god from this title our ever present help our ever-present help and he's proving what i'm going to preach this morning i wonder before you're seated if you lift your hands and your praise to him knowing that he inhabits those praises oh would you glorify him right now especially someone who is needing his help in his presence right about now and you need the closest of god i wonder if you lift your voice and begin to worship him and praise him you have done great things and we exalt you and magnify you above any chaos around us we glorify you jesus we praise you jesus we thank you thank you lord amen you may be seated this morning

to this day i cannot remember exactly what i was looking at on my phone but i remember being suddenly interrupted by my three-year-old daughter i was obviously distracted as many of us are when we're on our devices and on our smartphones and that's another sermon for another day i'm sure i'll preach it at some point i was probably doing something very important with my phone something like checking the weather checking the the score of the baseball game who really knows just doing something you know absolutely critical with my time i'm sure that's when mila came over with her bat and her ball that i got for her several months ago and she asked me at least twice probably more if i would play with her and for those wondering it is a foam bat and it's a foam ball and we do play with it in the house until we break something we might get excommunicated then but uh we haven't yet so we're learning but anyway the problem with this sequence was i was so obviously distracted when she asked to play with me i was so distracted that mean finally got my attention and she said some words that still pierce my heart and still convict me to this day it was one of those out of the mouth of babes moments when your toddler unwittingly crushes your heart and snatches your attention and all she had to say was this dada put your phone down another sermon for another day that was the moment that this six-foot one-half inch dad felt about this tall it was also the moment i began to make up in my mind that i was going to be as present as a dad and as a father that i could be and lastly it was the moment that came to my mind as i considered our text today and the reality of an ever-present father and an ever-present hell and in a dane and age in which we're more and more distracted than we've ever been in a season in a society in which absenteeism and emotionally absent individuals abound i am reminded of and i'm thankful this morning for a god who has never once been absent and for a heavenly father who has been and will forever be present i am thankful for a king who has never once been sidetracked in a lord who's never once been distant or offhandled in other matters or off hand on other kingdom priorities but i'm grateful for a god who the bible says is near to all who call upon him and all who call upon him in truth and i'm thankful for what our text records that the lord of hosts is with us and the god of jacob is our refuge in terms of the story i just shared i'm grateful for a god who has never once been abstracted or absent-minded whether by a device or otherwise and i am thankful i have never once had to ask him for his undivided attention but he is ever present and he's attentive to the needs and the prayers the conditions and the petitions of his people now again i know i'm telling on myself this morning with many of you parents in the room could relate to what i'm about to say it happened in the story that i just mentioned but it's happened at least one or two other times beyond that instant whenever mila or one of your kids they need something they often call our names over and over and over and over and over again until they get our attention they are persistent little human beings when you all know the drill mila calls me dad i finally respond you can see the comparison i'm about to make because

psalm 34 among other places it says the eyes of the lord are on the righteous and his ears are open to their cry verse 17 the righteous cry out and the lord hears them and he delivers them out of their troubles in other words you are not communing with an absent minded father today you're not calling on a distracted god or a preoccupied sovereign this morning instead you've got an ever-present help you've got the full attention of your heavenly father whether you're here or you're beyond this place and when you start lifting your hands and lifting your voices in the middle of your pain in the middle of your pit you get his attention all the more you've got the full attention of your heavenly father you have a heavenly father who isn't just present in the room today he's not just occupying space in the atmosphere but instead he is present in your life and he's attentive to what's going on in your life so much so that the book of daniel records in chapter 10 that on the very first day daniel begin to lift his voice and seek the lord the angel said your words were heard on the first day and i have come because of your words angels started moving because they started praying angels and all of heaven went into motion because someone started to lift their voice it was if he said your heavenly father is not far off he's not distant from you but the moment you set your heart towards him in the moment you begin to call on that name we just sing about you have his full attention and you have his unrestricted presence and i feel that presence here this morning sweeping through this roof i felt it before we ever started service in that pre-service prayer time our heavenly father just came in the room or he was here already waiting on you to come in and lift your voice and your praises so he could respond to you haven't ever present hell he himself speaks to us along the same lines from

isaiah 41 it's a powerful passage and message to israel he said fear not for i am with you be not dismayed for i am your god i will strengthen you yes i will help you i will uphold you with my righteous right hand for i the lord your god will hold your right hand saying to you fear not child of god for i will help you in matthew 28 and some of his last words before he ascended he said this to his disciples it's notable some of the last words he said he said i'm with you always even to the end of the age he speaks along the same lines of the people of jerusalem zephaniah 3 and 16. he said don't fear zion let not your hands be weak the lord your god is in your midst the lord your god apc is in your midst today he's in your mid the mighty one will say he will rejoice over you with gladness he will quiet you with his love he'll rejoice over you with singing and then one of my favorite verses of scripture he speaks again to israel in deuteronomy 31 6. again he says be strong and of good courage do not fear nor be afraid of them for the lord your god he is the one who's going with you he will not leave you he will not forsake you other translation says he will not fail you he will not abandon you child of god you have not been failed by our god you have not been abandoned by our god instead he's with you he's going to be with you he's going to be present he's going to be attentive to your knees and attentive to your cry you will have his undivided attention and he'll be an ever present help on your behalf we find the same theme in

genesis 16 as well abraham's servant hagar runs away from her home and her master because sarah is treating her harshly she's pregnant with ishmael a name that means god hears she's sitting beside a spring of water out in the middle of the wilderness and what happens next is so remarkable to me she's out in the middle of a wilderness dejected and alone and isolated just facing harshness and ridicule and the angel of the lord goes looking for her out in the wilderness i'm not going to have her come to me i'm going to go looking for he finds her beside a spring of water this is a servant in the house of abraham this isn't father abraham this is one of his servants but god had heard her out in that wilderness and not only did he hear but that angel comes out and encourages her and in the middle of the wilderness he gives her a promise i just felt to tell someone today i know you're in a wilderness but god could give you a promise god could give you a call god could give you an assurance right in the middle of that wilderness right in the middle of your pain right in the middle of your sickness god could call you god could equip you god could give you a promise he says you're going to have more descendants than you can count he encourages her in the midst of it she makes this declaration and i just felt someone needed to hear today she says this in verse 13 in line of god's presence and his promise even in the wilderness it says thereafter hagar used another name to refer to the lord who had spoken to her she said you are the god who sees me you are the god who sees me i want to encourage someone today he is still the god who sees you this morning this god is ever present he has not missed a moment of your trial he has not missed a moment of your storm there has not been a moment when you've been out of his sight and out of his reach but i feel to tell someone he has seen every tear he has heard every prayer he has noticed every moment of brokenness and i believe he's recorded every praise in the middle of that brokenness the bible tells us he's watchful over the sparrow in the lilies of the field and then it says are you not of much more value than they so if he's watching them he is present with you he's present with you with me and i know we're going to get to the part when i talk about how much of a help he is that he's an ever-present help but i just felt to park here and remind someone first of all yes he is a help but thank god he's present thank god he's with you i don't ever want to gloss over the fact that you and i are never alone that we're never out of his sight and i thank god he's a help but i never want to take for granted that he is ever present but mcguire referenced it wednesday night that there are many people that are outside the walls of this church that they could experience just one moment in the presence of god it would change everything for that one moment one interaction with him can change a life in an eternity and if you're a guest with us today and this is your first time we want you to have a moment like that when you realize how close god is maybe he fills you with the gift of the holy ghost or you're baptized in jesus name and all your sins are washed just one moment and his presence can change everything and for the rest of us i never want to get so accustomed to his presence in his constant closeness that i take for granted that two-word attribute of god that he is ever present i don't ever want to gloss over and overlook the fact that i get to come in here every week lift up my hands and feel the glory and the power and the presence of god oh god don't ever let me get used to your presence and take it for granted but i want to recognize and celebrate the fact that he is present this morning and not only is he present but he's ever present not only is he with us and not only do we have his attention today but he's always with us and we always have his consistent and constant attention he is simply always present always there and near in fact the bible records instances examples over and over again demonstrate what i'm preaching today even in a geographical way in manner the truth remains you see it regularly in the bible that the people of god they often found themselves in some pretty precarious places places of trouble places of pain places of turmoil but it's remarkable and i want to take note of the fact that even in those places the low places the valleys the pits the prisons the lions dens the pain even there he's present and he's always present and i mentioned geographical places but we also know that physical and geographical places are not the only ones we find ourselves but we can also find ourselves in need of his presence in spiritual and emotional and mental places as well and both of those are demonstrated in another one of my favorite passages of scripture it's out of

lamentations chapter 3. this book is usually attributed to jeremiah in verse 52 he talks about a pit in which he found himself we know from jeremiah 38 that he was placed into a literal pit and he was left to die in that but it sounds very much like jeremiah's talking about more than just a dried-up well in this passage he's obviously referencing that literal pit but there was more than just a physical place in which he found himself and that moment was probably one of the lowest points of his life they lowered him down by ropes into that mire and his feet and everything shank and as he's in there they're tormenting him down in the middle of a well in the courtyard one of the lowest points of his life he writes this in verse 52 my enemies without cause they hunted me down like a bird they silenced my life in the pit they threw stones at me the waters overflowed my head it flowed over my head and he said i'm cut off when i read that last phrase i'm cut off something just left in my spirit because i know that there's someone here today and i may not be able to point you out per se but you have this exact same feeling and sentiment that i'm cut off from god i don't feel him right now i don't know where he is i'm down the pit of my life i'm cut i'm in a place of despair and a place of turmoil where is he and i want to reassure you from the word of god this morning from verse 55 jeremiah said i'm cut off but i called on your name o lord from the lowest pit and you have heard my voice do not hide your ear from my sigh from my cry from help you drew near on the day i called you and you said do not fear this morning i've come to tell someone whether it is the pit of your life or a den of depression or a storm of sickness and discouragement you can call on the name of the lord and you can call on that name right now you can call it right here in this service and he will draw near in the very moment you i know it looks hopeless from that vantage point of the pit but i wonder if someone would just utter the name of jesus and see how close he really is this morning oh someone that's desperate someone that's in a low place someone that doesn't see a way out why don't you call on that name of jesus and see who comes running and see what glory of god fills that place even the lowest pit oh there's someone i i want to park here for just a moment i wonder if you just stand to your feet and we'll do whatever the lord wants us to do but i truly believe there's someone who just needs god to meet them in that pit i wonder if you just lift your hands in your voices and start to intercede for that person that individual maybe you know about them and they're here today and they're the lowest pit or place of their life and there's darkness and chaos around them oh jesus we call on your name oh even in the pit you're able even at low place you're able even there you're present even there you're with us oh jesus we call on your name lord we call on the name of jesus and we know that even there you're able to meet us even there you're able to help us even there you're able to move and to heal us and to strengthen us oh jesus david said this he said where can i go from your spirit i don't know all the places some of you have been recently you do and god does where can i go where can i run from your presence he said if i ascend into heaven you're there if i make my bed in hell you're there if i take on wings and i dwell on the outermost parts of the sea even there your hand upholds me your right hand helps me and strengthens me there's someone that's laying as it were in the bed of hell this morning you've been calling out to god you've been desperate and i believe god has heard you and god's got my attention and god's got the attention of the body this morning because you're so broken and what you need is for god to descend into that pit and to pull you out and i believe he's doing it this morning god's going to where you don't have to climb out of that pit before you get to him someone hear me you don't have to climb out of that place he's coming to where you are he's coming to your brokenness he's coming into your trial in your storm and pulling you out of that pit ah god's doing it now i want you to just continue that praise and make that atmosphere palpable make that atmosphere for him to come oh jesus god's helping us this morning he's helping us

my dad tells a story he just remains standing i don't know where he's leading us but i have a good idea i'm all over the place but god knows my dad tells a story we just had a trial in our family in a very low place we just lost someone very near and dear to us and around the same time my mom got diagnosed with the exact same form of cancer i remember ted you brought me and shell in that room and you told us i was a young teenager i was so broken fear was an understatement and you all know that feeling when you get that diagnosis some of you are living that feeling right now he called us in said it's cancer okay we were wearing the weight of the world on our shoulders but we had a moment like this one right here we came to the house of the lord on a sunday morning and i thought about that how many testimonies start like that i was in the lowest pit but i went to the house of the lord on a sunday or wednesday i just showed up i was so broken i could hardly praise him but i was here and he did the rest and the body did the rest thank god for our bishop who pulled our family out we stood right here in this altar space he had the church gathered around us you just don't know what a prayer like that can do for a family it is 15 years later and i remember standing right here behind my dad my arms on his back crying seeking the face of god i remember it vividly in that moment our bishop had us all come to the front they pray the church family gathered around us and prayed my dad described it like this he said it was like seeing reinforcements coming up over the hill the psalmist says where where comes my help my help is from the lord who made heaven and earth the keeper who made heaven and her my help is in him that every present helped he said it was like reinforcements coming over the hill i just described it like god coming down and hearing us in the lowest pit and responding in the very moment that we called on him and i wish i could tell you this morning that he immediately pulled us out of that pit he didn't we stared down years of surgeries pain and difficulty ah but oh how present he was oh our present our heavenly father he never left us alone in that pit but he helped us and he strengthened us and on the days when we couldn't climb out of it he came down to us and strengthened us and this is what i felt this morning if there are individuals who walked in this place and you would describe yourself in a low place you feel cut off from god and god's just getting your attention i know i'm talking at least one person but there's probably several and i'm asking for you just to be sensitive to the holy ghost we're going to have a time of prayer and we're going to agree together this may not be a mass altar call but what i'm asking is for brothers and sisters to be sensitive and to come and lay hands like you all did for my family in that critical moment our musicians are going to come and if you're needing help this morning and you need god to meet you i wonder if you wouldn't hesitate but hebrews says come boldly to the throne of grace would you just step out of where you are and kyle i know this is a vulnerable moment as we admit yeah i need the help of god but there's individuals already coming and god's going to meet them here oh should you lift your voices right now and begin to pray as these individuals come i believe the lord's just interrupted our day he just interrupted our service because he's been hearing a cry from the lowest pit and our brothers and sisters knowing how critical a prayer like this can be i wonder if you'd just be sensitive did you just come and if all you do is put a hand on their back and let them know i'm with you i'm going to pray with you oh that could be what they need this morning there is desperation in this altar i wonder if someone would come and recognize it and pray in the holy ghost so so so so always beside me oh i am always beside me always besides me behind me always me i will not be i will not feel the way my i will not be i will not feel the pain i'll away i me me foreign so so so so so thank you jesus cheers so obvious that the lord's here this morning i want us to pray another prayer before we go any further would you just link up with someone nearby or someone that's around you i believe god's put each other along with us this morning god's put someone next to you would you just be sensitive right now and go lay hands on someone and pray we know that god's here but i also know that god is using the body to let others know that we're here this morning oh jesus oh we stand with one another lord maybe we can't climb down in the pit along with one another but i pray you'd help someone to know that they're not alone this morning that there's a family there's a church there's a body that's come alongside them it's put their hand around them with their hand on their shoulder and let them know i'm going to bear your burden along with you you're not going to be alone in this you're not going to be isolated in this but i've come alongside you because god has called me to do it and i'm going to be there for you i'm going to intercede for you i'm going to be the body he's called me to be oh jesus

there's a cry of intercession right now let's say continual just take a season here and call for god's help and our brothers and sisters who are hurting alongside of us oh jesus you know we're not alone this morning we're not alone this morning thank you for the body thank you for brothers and sisters thank you for other voices thank you for just a hand on a shoulder thank you for the knowledge and the peace to know that i am not alone i will not be alone oh but there's someone carrying me there's someone helping me along with the help of god consistently the places in my personal life that i could point to as a low pit god has been there and his body has been there i remember so many times during our season mom's season of sickness people bringing us food and hugging us my elder brother smith coming and putting his hands on my shoulder and look me in the eye and say it's going to be okay and i believed him he had walked through some things himself if i could come and put my hand on each of your shoulders and look at you and say it's gonna be okay he's with you he's helping you today we owe him a great praise this morning i wonder if you just lift your voices and hands and glorify him as you've done already today and so many other times but he's worthy of it oh god for your greatness and glory and mercy that we feel here we give you praise we glorify you this morning jesus we magnify you this morning lord thank you that you are ever present thank you that you are our help you are our help we thank you jesus we thank you joshua chapter 1 and verse 9 he says have i not commanded you be strong and of good courage do not be afraid nor be dismayed for the lord your god is with you wherever you go not just here not just in the pit wherever you go you don't have to be here for him to be with you you can take him home with you when you get in your car he'll be there then you can take him to someone else it was also in a desperate need for his help in an ever-present god