Our Refuge And Strength

we're going to be going into the next lesson in our god's word for life it's called our refuge and strength and uh the big idea for today's lesson is i will look to god as my refuge and my strength so for the text we have a couple passages we'll read those psalms 46 starting in verse 1 says god is our refuge and strength a very 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 there is 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 moved god shall help her just at the break of dawn the nations raged the kingdoms were moved he uttered his voice and the earth melted the lord of hosts is with us the god of jacob is our refuge come behold the works of the lord he has made desolations in the earth he makes wars cease at the to the end of the earth he breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two he burns a chariot in the fire be still verse 10 says be still and know that i am god i will be exalted among the nations i will be exalted in the earth verse 11 the lord of hosts is

with us the god of jacob is our refuge aren't you thankful we have a refuge in jesus amen the second set of uh verses for this text or for this lesson is in second chronicles 32 and it gives us a story of when hezekiah was king and sennacherib began to see besiege the city of jerusalem it says in verse 1 after these deeds of faithfulness sennacherib king of assyria came and entered judah he encamped against the fortified cities thinking to win them over to himself and when hezekiah saw that sennacherib had come and that his purpose was to make war against jerusalem he consulted with his leaders and commanders to stop the water from the springs which were outside the city and they helped him

thus many people gathered together who stopped all the springs and the brook that ran through the land saying why should the kings of assyria come and find much water and he strengthened himself in verse 5 built up all the wall that was broken raised it up to the towers and built another wall outside also he repaired the milo in the city of david and made weapons and shields in abundance then he set military captains over the people he gathered them together to him in the open square of the city gate and he gave them encouragement saying be strong and courageous do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of assyria nor before all the multitude that is with him for there are more with

us than with him amen and with him is an arm of flesh but with us the lord our god to help us and to fight our battles and the people were strengthened by the words of hezekiah the king of judah amen we can find strength in our lord right so let's take a step back just a little bit before this moment and second chronicles and let's go back to when hezekiah was made king all right hezekiah watched as his father ahaz was buried and he said okay now i'm king and it's my turn to be in charge well hezekiah could be basically um he was he was not the same as his dad he was the complete opposite of king ahaz king ahaz was um

well he walked in the ways of the kings of israel the bible says you see he had forsaken the lord and he worshiped the gods of the surrounding nations even went to the point of offering children as burnt sacrifices second chronicles 28 tells us that ahaz had gone so far as to gather all the vessels that were in the house of the lord in the temple and he cut them all up you know destroyed them and he you know boarded up the doors to the temple to the house of the lord he made altars all throughout the city of jerusalem and in every city throughout judea or sorry judah and he made high places to burn incenses unto those other gods he was not a

good guy right but at the height of his idolatry and worshiping the the gods of the nations in the area king gay has died and hezekiah came to the throne and the bible says he did that which was right in the sight of the lord right so once he was in power he's now the king he's the man in charge he's the the one he says okay we're going to reverse everything my dad did he reopened the temple he gathered all the priests and the in the levites and he commanded them to consecrate themselves for service in the temple and to purify it and to restore it restore all the sacrifices he did a passover celebr celebration and uh he restored the right kind of

worship the worship to the lord and he removed all those altars that were throughout jerusalem and he commanded that they'd be destroyed even the high places all of those things in second chronicles 31 we read verse 20 thus hezekiah did throughout all judah and he did what was good and right and true before the lord his god he did what was good he did what was right and he did what was true hezekiah knew what was good what was right and what was true even though his dad did not even though his dad did not in verse 21 and in every work that he began in the service of the house of god in the law and in the commandment to seek his god he

did it how with all of his heart and what does the bible say and so he prospered everything's good right everything's been made correct all the things that were left are now on the right everything is turned around we were worshiping the idols of the neighboring nations now we're back to worshiping the one true god and everything is great and it was for 14 years hezekiah ruled with peace and prosperity and at that time something changed you see the report came to him that the mighty assyrians these brutal empire builders they they began to invade the territory that began to destroy the cities how could this be right the king i'm the king how could this be to me i did everything that was right

i did everything that we should have done we should have been doing all along with my dad king ahaz i turned it around but things change now all of a sudden there's enemy attack you see hezekiah in proving his devotion to god he um he'd made a change that his dad didn't do you see stopped paying and stopped being the yes man to the king of the assyrians because his dad was like a vassal king he was in charge but he really wasn't in charge he was just a mouthpiece for the king of the assyrians and hezekiah says i'm not going to do that instead i'm going to be the king god's chosen person for this nation and he rebelled against the king of the

assyrians and he decided i'm not going to serve him i'm not going to give whatever he wants i'm not going to allow the false worship to happen and the assyrian king he was he was upset his name was sennacherib and they there's even a picture of him i love what brother cardin brought this past wednesday night where he started speaking about the empires of the world and and i really enjoy history and so kingston akrib you know i love when the the bible is verified by history because kingston akrib he was a real guy you can research him and see him through history and uh he was the assyrian king and he was known for these campaigns that he did where he was conquering the

area of judah and babylon he he attacked all these different areas and i just love it when history confirms the biblical stories you see king hezekiah he withstood sanakrib and the assyrian king and he didn't tolerate the syrian king didn't tolerate that that withstand that rebellion and so he started to march onto the cities he started to march into the area and the bible in history tells us of this attack it happened all throughout judea and the bible tells us about the attack on lakish a town nearby and the attack on jerusalem well when sonaka had destroyed the area cities made his way to jerusalem it became clear to king hezekiah that jerusalem was you know it's going to be destroyed so he first tried

to avoid it he tried to avoid a fight and he tried to pay off the assyrian king hoping that he would withdraw but the money it didn't work the money he tried to pay it didn't work king sennacherib he took the money and then he he stayed he still was besieging the city hezekiah was a man who trusted god he had trusted in the lord and the bible says in second kings that he trusted in the lord god of israel so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of judah nor any that were before him you see hezekiah surpassed all others in trusting god even in the midst of this attack from an assyrian king this evil man that we

learn about in the word of god and in history his deep trust in god didn't mean however even though hezekiah had this deep trust it didn't mean that he would not face the attack it didn't mean that he would do all the work he had to allow god to help him had to allow god to be there for him you see hezekiah did what he could while trusting in god to do what hezekiah couldn't do hezekiah tried to pay off the assyrians and it didn't work he tried to undermine the ability for them to survive by getting rid of the water supplies outside the city it didn't work for a while and then he even went about fortifying the city itself he did everything that

he knew to do while trusting in god for success in short hezek hezekiah he prepared for the battle while seeking and depending on the lord he prepared the city wall where it had been broken before he built towers on the wall for which the soldiers of jerusalem could attack those attackers from sennacherib and assyria then he added an entire additional wall while repairing the military fortifications making weapons and shields in abundance he was getting prepared and after strengthening the physical city after talking to the people he knew he couldn't just focus on what he did but he had to be able to focus on something that he couldn't do so he had to focus on the lord he didn't focus on the fortifications when he

was encouraging the people we read no instead he focused on the lord he didn't encourage the people by having them to rely on something in the natural but instead he focused on the lord having them rely instead on the lord he encouraged them by focusing on god and the help that only the lord will give when he's looking after his people second chronicles 32 7 says says this be strong and courageous we read this earlier do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of assyria nor before all the multitude that is with him for there are more with us than with him but with him is an arm of flesh but with us the lord our god to help us and to fight our

battles and the people were strengthened by the words of hezekiah the king of judah courage swelled up in the people they stopped looking at what was around them and they started to focus on the lord the source their refuge and their strength hezekiah's words had the intended effect it was not just hezekiah putting on a bold face or in a desperate attempt to try to stir up the troops and rally them getting ready for an attack no hezekiah was trying to get the people of jerusalem to realize that the lord he is our strength we can be strong and courageous there's more with us than there are with them you see the people could not see they couldn't see what hezekiah could see they couldn't

see that abundance that support that help but they were encouraged by his words they were encouraged by what he said you know we can find strength in god's promises just like those children of israel did in the city of jerusalem that they you can find strength in knowing that the lord will protect you the lord is your refuge and your strength you know when hezekiah assured the people that god would be a refuge for them and would fight their battles he was echoing a theme that's throughout the old testament when the israelites for example they faced the red sea on one side and saw the egyptians approaching on the other in terror they cried out to the lord and moses tells them in exodus 14

this do not be afraid stand still i don't know if i could do that i can swim but i can't save you if you start to drown okay so i'm okay if i get out in the water but i don't know if i can save you and i'm not so much of a warrior i'm more of a lover than a fighter so i don't i that would be hard for me i don't know about you but don't be afraid stand still and do what and see the salvation of the lord which he will accomplish for you today for the egyptians whom you see today you shall see again no more forever the lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace that's encouraging

amen that is encouraging at another time when the ammonites and moabites came to make war against king jehoshaphat and the people of judah the king cried out to god that there were they were too weak to stand and against you know this mighty enemy that's coming well there was this levite named jehaziel who prophesied and encouraged them to stand strong in second chronicles 20. he says listen all of you of judah and you inhabitants of jerusalem and you king jehoshaphat thus says the lord to you do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude for the battle is not yours but whose but god's the battle is not ours church it's the lord's we can find encouragement through the scripture we can find

strength through the promises and believe that god is there to still fight today like he did back then yeah that was a long time ago you know the the selfies they took were in stone with chisels okay so it looks a lot different than it did today but it is the same god still today right we're still dealing with the same heat they dealt with today and we still have the same god they had back then right god still fights for his people and he's still a saving refuge for us it's not only true in the old testament but it's also true in the new testament paul tells us in romans 15 for whatever things were written before were written for our learning that we

through the patience and comfort of scriptures might have hope he added in first corinthians 10 now all these things happened to them as examples and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come we can claim these promises by reading these stories in the old testament in the new testament we can claim and stand on the fact that god is our refuge god is our strength a very present help we later learn in second chronicles 32 that the lord sent an angel that day and he cut down the assyrian army sending senator back to assyria in defeat he saved jerusalem that day god is our ever present help just like he was on that day the psalmist expressed this

encouraging truth in psalms 46 1 when he said god is our refuge and strength a very present help and trouble you know the hebrew word for refuge here translates as a shelter he's he's our shelter a shelter from rain or storm a shelter from danger and even a shelter from falsehood our lord is a protection from the rain and the storms of life church he protects us he protects us when life just happens it just happens we just we we have a setback and the lord is able to protect us you know the bible says that the rain falls on the just and the unjust sometimes things happen and things are come against us that we have no involvement with we're just a victim of

circumstance right but god is able to provide a shelter a refuge for us in those situations even when it's out of our control simply because we're alive god is able to be our refuge and strength he is a shelter and protection from danger you know he protects us when we find ourselves in a place where there could be physical harm from danger this past week we have a chapel at work and occasionally i see sister kay there but no i'm just teasing and we have this chapel at work and brother bernard was telling this story now when i first heard this story i'm going to recount it to you i thought it was from the bible the way that it worked out because it truly

was in my opinion a miracle what happened a protection a shelter from danger because it happened in kiev the war in ukraine right there is one of the ministers in the local church there he has a family of i don't know about 10 kids or so and what happened is when the russians were coming all the men of kiev were told they had to stay and defend the city the capital city of ukraine well so what happened is they decided he and his wife okay you take the children go to a nearby village you'll be protected there you know you'll be out of the way of the danger of the capital city of of kiev and i'll stay here do my civic duty you go

take care of the kids so the wife goes to the village with their kids and just so happened lord has a sense of humor uh the russians never made it to the city of kiev but they did make it to that village so this this lady with her children were trapped inside of this home where they were staying and they started to run out of food i've got three little girls and i know how fast they eat i can imagine you know nine or ten children here eating along with an adult and so they started to run out of food brother bernard recounted the story that she testified to that they got down to their last little bit of flour whatever they were eating and

she scooped out just enough for last meal and they ate that day the next day she comes back to that pot and there's just enough meal there to scoop out and make another meal for their family the next day she goes back and there's just enough food for their family to make another meal that sounds like a bible story to me right amen that's a miracle but they ran out of food eventually oh brother adam that's not how the bible stories end they end up high you know but after 14 years king hezekiah lived in peace prosperity right after a while that food ran out the miracle stopped so the mom says i don't know what to do because this whole time they're surrounded by

the enemy there's russian soldiers outside she can hear the screams of their neighbors screaming for their lives saying please don't do this please please please let us go help right she hears this the whole time she's out of food she decides i'm going to go outside and i've got to talk to the soldiers that are out there because if we stay inside we will starve she goes out she talks to the soldier and she says i know you're my enemy and everything but please help us i have all these children we are hungry he stops her and says i'm not your enemy and she's like okay he says but i can't let you go. he said because if i let you go what you don't

know is just beyond the village there are a lot of landmines in the field between here and where the ukraines are so i can't just let you go he says here's what i want you to do get your family line everybody up single file and you come walk behind me so what are you gonna do there's no more food there's no more hope she does it she doesn't know if they're gonna live or die she gets behind the soldier the soldier walks them through the minefield and takes her to the edge and says you see those people over there that's the ukrainians you'll be safe if you go there go on that's god as a refuge protection from danger that's a shelter and protection amen

that's not that's not book of kings book of chronicles that's 2022 in this world that we live in today god is our refuge and strength he is our shelter from danger the lord is also a protection against falsehood he protects us when there's emotional harm or lies or things that spread about us you know whether it's just the setbacks of life physical harm lies from the enemy god is present with us church god is present with us he was a shelter of protection for noah and his family in the ark when the whole world was literally being destroyed he was a he was a shelter in the homes of the israelites during the night of the first passover in egypt when the blood was applied

over the doorpost that home was a shelter of protection the lord was there with those folks he he he's a protector he's a he's our redeemer he's our savior and you know what he even uses us to provide shelter and protection first peter tells us that what covers a multitude of sins love love covers a multitude of sins love from a brother covers the multitudes we can find protection we can find our refuge and our strength not just from the lord but also from each other it's important for us to note that this verse what this verse implies about trouble though in verse 46 chapter 46 verse 1 and that's unfortunately that we will have it god doesn't always promise that he'll keep us away

from trouble but he does promise that he will be with us in the trouble he will always be with us in the trouble that the trouble that will inevitably come our way as we live in this fallen world the trouble that might come our way even when we're doing the right thing and we're you know we've turned away from sin but when trouble strikes knows this god is sufficient to get you through god is your refuge and your strength he is sufficient he's a very present help in that time of trouble he will get you through there's no problem whether it be emotional whether it be physical whether it be spiritual whether it be an actual soldier outside your door that is too big for

our god amen if we learn to take refuge from god and lean on him alone for our strength you can face anything you can face the most extreme crisis with confidence because guess what god is with us and we know he's sufficient not only is god with us in our time of trouble but he calms our fear verse 2 of psalm 46 says therefore we will not fear we will not fear the psalmist applied the logic of faith to this and he says you know what if god is a real refuge if god is a real strength if god is real help to his people then there is no reason why we should be afraid even in the biggest crisis he says even though the

earth be removed we will not fear all creatures everybody whenever they're in distress they run to their help i can remember when my girls were little and they would be in a situation where they would get afraid and maybe they would get startled by something it would never fail they would always run to me or to sarah always and sometimes they may hide their arms you know and in our elbows or in our chest or something like that they knew that if they could just find themselves in my arms or in sarah's arms that everything would be okay everything would be fine they would be safe they knew that if they could get to us although they were afraid although they were concerned in the

moment they knew that everything would be okay everything would be okay i grew up in the country i think most of y'all know that and my grandpa willett he had chickens and sometimes those hens would have babies and like most little boys who are raised around chickens i like to play with those chickens and i like to run around with those chickens and and sometimes they played back and sometimes they didn't they would attack me but one thing that i knew for sure was depending upon the temperament of that hen right depending upon what was going on i might get to play with those chicks or they may get startled and and run and do that right there right all creatures if you start of

them they'll run to mama and they'll find safety under those wings psalms 91 verse 4 says he shall cover you with his feathers and under his wings you shall take what refuge his truth shall be your shield and buckler has some big wings it's god's truth that shields us in our refuge folks run to truth and you'll find your refuge you'll find your help we can run to him and his truth and he will hide us underneath his wings and we know that we will be covered and protected just like my girls know they could run to dad or mom and they'll be covered they'll be protected just like those baby chicks know i can run and get under mama's wings and i'll be covered

and i'll be protected yeah i'll go through it but i'll be protected in the midst of it not only will god be with you in your trouble and remove fear but we can find a stillness with god verse 10 of psalm 46 says this in light of his promises right what does he say be still and know that i am god be still and know that i am god be still and know that i am be still and know that i be still and know be still and then finally just be be still and know that i am god there's power in that you run to the lord for your refuge refuge and your strength you have no reason to fear his presence is there

a very present help in time of trouble and you know you know what you can be still and know that the lord is there the lord is there hezekiah did what he could he tried he prepared but eventually he just had to be still he had to be still to know in the midst of trouble remember your faith church in the midst of trials remember the truth found in the protection under god's wings if you don't have to depend on yourself you can depend on god at those at times those with the most faith will they'll fall into moments of doubt and almost give way to despair but in those moments let the psalmist bring a calming and faith-inspiring voice when he says be still

and know that i am god right be still and know god is for you and he's ready to enter the battle for you he will protect you he will cover you we face all kinds of troubles and enemies in our lives but we are glad that we're not alone right we know that there is always going to be more for us than there are with our enemy because the lord is in the midst of our battles and he fights on our behalf in our in our day we're not likely to see um sennacherib's army coming marching into the city of st louis and surrounding we're likely not going to see that but what if someone on the job maybe attacks you or criticizes your work

or maybe sows seeds of doubt about your integrity maybe undermines you in the opinion that the boss may have for you or maybe destroys your chance of promotion or what if you're trying to start and get involved with a ministry here at the church or volunteering somewhere and someone doesn't think you have what it takes to do it and they try to sow doubt about you and just and discourages others about you know helping or get involved or supporting or what if what if maybe it's a bully at school that is making your child's life miserable what if what if you you feel under constant spiritual attack and assault from the devil and the feelings of fear and temptation just are constantly there what if

fill in the blank what if fill in the blank it doesn't matter what if you know what do you do what do you do well regardless of the enemy let me encourage you be still and know that he is god he is our refuge and our strength be like hezekiah claim it cry out that god is our refuge and our strength a very present help in a time of trouble do what you can do reasonably right clarify things with your boss assure the pastors that everything you know my heart and intentions are true maybe speak to the teacher equip your child to deal with bullies and and just put the devil in his place you know submit yourselves to god and resist the devil and

he'll flee from you by all means take action don't you don't have to just let it let it happen i understand that but as you do what you can do there will come a point where you have to fix your eyes on him you have to confess god's promises to be that ever-present warrior who will fight your battles and then stand still and see the salvation of the lord as moses encouraged them there on the shore of the red sea you know growing up we used to sing a song by the larry sago family and i'm not going gonna sing it brother gary i'm sorry you're not gonna get to hear me sing it today but i will read those lyrics to you it says

when when clouds of doubt hover over me storms of life life toss me to and fro there is a place i can go he's a shield from every tempest he's an anchor that is sure in times like these it's good to know and the course says god is my refuge a strong and mighty tower that i can run into god is my refuge without him what would i do the verse says once i wandered from his shelter just ahead i could not see those dark clouds so heavy with rain when the winds blew hard against me he called out and i ran to him and i'll never wonder again why because god is my refuge a strong and mighty tower that i can run into

god is my refuge what without him what would i do so church allow me to remind you of this god is a strong and mighty tower that we can run to when we need refuge and strength god is our very present help in times of trouble church because of this we don't have to fear we don't have to fear we can find comfort in his arms and under his wings and if you'll stand with me once we find refuge we can still be still and know that god is going to take care of us amen

god is our refuge and our strength join me in prayer in jesus name hallelujah thank you lord for being the shelter from all things thank you jesus for being our refuge and our strength lord being our help we love you lord jesus and we're so thankful for your kingdom for what you are to us the peace and comfort we find in you lord let us lean into you to find the strength we need lord in the mighty name of jesus we pray amen and amen