God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.  (Psalm 46:1-3)

1)  God is our refuge—that means He is our shelter; He is a place of protection and a place where we can let down our defenses because He will protect us.  Just as a child runs to his parents for comfort and protection when scared or hurt, so may we run to God in the same way.  There’s never a reason to stay in a defenseless place.

2)  God is our strength—because He is our strength, He makes us strong to endure whatever comes against us.  But, we have to go to Him to tap into that strength.  He literally breathes new life into us everyday and gives us hope to go on and strength for our journey.  He does that through His Word.  As we read scriptures we are filled with strength and courage to keep going.  There have been many times I thought all I could do was just give in to the storm and let it take me wherever it would.  But God has always been faithful to strengthen me and give hope and instruction for the next step.

3)  God is a very present help in trouble—this phrase literally translated means, “God is abundantly available for help when I’m in tight places.”  Notice He is “abundantly available.”  Abundant means overflowing—more than enough.  He is always available to help.  In fact, He is overflowing with ability to help.  And He wants to help when we find ourselves in “tight places.”  And notice there’s no qualification that He only helps when the tight place isn’t one of our own making.  It doesn’t matter—He wants to have mercy on us and help us anytime we find ourselves in a tight place and we’re willing to call on Him for help.

4) The Psalmist’s conclusion?  Therefore I will not fear—What a statement!  No qualifications there either, but a strong confession.  In fact, He goes on to say in essence NO MATTER WHAT, I WILL NOT FEAR.  Look at all the circumstances in which he will not fear:

• Though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea
• Though the waters of the sea roar and foam
• Though the mountains quake at swelling pride of the sea

Wow!  No matter what catastrophic event happens, I WILL NOT FEAR.  Why?  Because “God is my refuge and strength, abundantly available for help in tight places.”

Consider with me another passage in which God offers help in time of trouble:

 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High, and call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me. (Psalm 50:14-15)

1)  Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving.  The starting point of our quest to secure the help of God is a heart with an attitude of thanksgiving.  First of all it says, Offer to God.  We are to offer something to God.  There is no coercion on His part and no regret on our part.  We are to OFFER to God.  What are we to offer?  A sacrifice of thanksgiving.  First notice that the sacrifice IS thanksgiving.  It doesn’t say, a sacrifice WITH thanksgiving—it says, a sacrifice OF thanksgiving.  Is thanksgiving what He really wants from me?  Even in the New Testament Paul instructs us, In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  (I Thessalonians 5:18)  Notice it doesn’t say, FOR everything give thanks, but rather, IN everything give thanks.  Think about the difference.  It doesn’t mean be thankful for bad and wrong things that happen, but in every circumstance keep an attitude of thankfulness to God for all He has done, is doing, and will do in the future.  You cannot be a thankful individual without having a humble heart.  Did you notice the fact that He calls thanksgiving a sacrifice?  A sacrifice would imply that you have to give up something precious to you.  What could that be?  How about your personal pride?  The hardest thing in the world to turn loose of is pride.  And Scripture says, God resists the proud.  A proud person cannot humble themselves to thank anyone for anything.  But a humble person is thankful to everyone, most of all God.  When something good happens to you do you thank God?—because ultimately, Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.  (James 1:17)  Do you thank the people that have helped you or done something for you?  Do you look for opportunities to thank others, rather than criticize them?  Determine to be a person with a thankful attitude.  According to Psalm 50 it’s the first step to receiving the help of God.

2)  Pay your vows to the Most High.  Is there anything you have vowed to God that you have not fulfilled?  I’m not talking about a commandment in the Bible you’ve not obeyed.  I’m talking about something that only you and God know about.  Is there anything in your heart, just between you and God that you’ve promised Him?  If so, don’t delay in fulfilling that vow.  Proverbs says its better to not make a vow at all than to make one and not fulfill it.  We can all think of ways we’ve fallen short before God, so don’t let Satan give you a false sense of guilt.  Remember, we’re talking about what YOU have vowed before God.

3)  Call upon Me in the day of trouble.  Simple instruction—not hard—one phrase—Call upon Me in the day of trouble.  Once again, calling upon God requires humility.  Maybe that’s why thankfulness is the first step.  When God revealed Himself to Moses, this is what He declared His name to be:

The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth, who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin.

Isn’t that the kind of God you want to call on?  One who is compassionate and gracious?  One who is slow to anger?  One who overflows with lovingkindness and truth?  One who keeps lovingkindness for thousands?  One who forgives iniquity, transgressions and sin?  WHAT A GOD!  There is none like Him!  That’s who we can call on in the day of trouble?  Why should we fear?  Yet, there’s more.

4)  I shall rescue you.  Simple instruction:  Call upon Me.  Simple answer:  I shall rescue you.  What a promise!  I SHALL rescue you.  Not, “Maybe I’ll rescue you.”  Not, “If I feel like it I’ll rescue you.”  Not, “Unless I change my mind I’ll rescue you.”  But, I SHALL rescue you.  And more than that He goes on to say, You will honor Me.  I always thought of that as something I was bringing to God that paid homage to Him, but consider it in the sense that the honor is His because He got to rescue you.  Have you ever been asked to do something that made you feel honored because you were asked to do it?  It’s that kind of honor.  We say, “Thank you,” and He says, “The pleasure was all mine.”  It honors Him when we call upon Him with a thankful heart that has fulfilled its vows.  Now you may think, “Why would it honor God for Him to have to rescue me when I’m in trouble?”  By humbling yourself before Him, by being thankful and showing your heart to be pure towards Him, by fulfilling your vows, you are acknowledging your total inability to rescue yourself and His unique ability to rescue you.  Isn’t that what we all did at the moment of our salvation?  We each had to come to the place that we realized our utter inability to save ourselves from an eternity of suffering.  Wouldn’t you agree that at that point, the pride that made us believe we could somehow save ourselves had to be cast aside?  That each of us had to humble ourselves to call upon his name for salvation—the only name under heaven whereby we must be saved?  The name that is compassionate and gracious?  The name that is slow to anger?  The name that overflows with lovingkindness and truth?  The name that keeps lovingkindness for thousands?  The name that forgives iniquity, transgression and sin?  You see, our walk continues every day just as we first believed.

The Psalmist closes the chapter with what on the one hand is a grave warning, and yet on the other is a beautiful promise:

 Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.  He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me.  And to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God.  Psalm 50:22-23

What does it mean to “order” you way “aright?”  What else can it mean except to follow the instruction set out in the previous verses?

• Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving
• Pay your vows to the Most High
• Call upon Me in the day of trouble

I SHALL RESCUE YOU!  An emphatic promise from a capable and Mighty God.

A few years ago I sat in a choir rehearsal and sang that very phrase, “There is hope in desperation.” As the words came out of my mouth, the truth in that statement was made clear to me by the Holy Spirit. He brought to my mind the times in my life when I was in desperate situations; situations that seemed hopeless; situations that were hopeless apart from the intervention of my Heavenly Father; situations that, in fact, brought me to my Heavenly Father. Sometimes desperation leads people to be reckless and dangerous as they furiously struggle against circumstances with utter disregard of consequences. But when desperation causes us to abandon all hope in self and others, and impels us toward the arms of a loving Father, there is hope! Hope is not just offered in the midst of desperation, hope lies in the very act of being desperate. Nothing seems to drive us or cause us to run towards Him like circumstances that are too much for us to cope with. What a paradox: hope springs from hopelessness. Perhaps this is the truth of Romans 4:18 “Against hope, with hope he believed…”

Often desperation is what God uses to teach us to depend on Him for every step. The third day of our choir tour this year, I managed to secure top honors for the “Klutz of the Year” award by tripping over a bag in the hotel parking lot amidst the chaos of unloading bags and handing out room keys all while trying to remain quiet so as not to disturb the other guests.  In the process of trying to free my foot from the bag while I was in the motion of falling, I managed to twist my knee. The bag won and I fell. Behind my knee it hurt…bad. Simple tasks like putting on socks and shoes, even sitting down and standing up were painful. As I laid in bed that night trying to sleep resting my leg on a Zip-lock bag filled with ice, I became desperate. I worried about what to do. “Am I going to be able to walk? Am I going to slow everyone down? Should I see a doctor?” After battling back and forth in my mind, “Do I need to go to the ER…do I not need to go?” the answer became clear. No, there was no time scheduled in the tourbook for that. I said, “OK, Lord, what are you telling me through this? Am I too old to go on these choir trips? (I mean, in 5 or 6 years I’ll have grandkids old enough to go.) Is it time for someone else to do this? Do I need to go home?” I knew we had a capable sponsor on the trip who could play, so I told Him I would go home and let someone else do it if that’s what He wanted. I just needed to know from Him what I should do. The answer was immediate. The Holy Spirit brought to my mind a phrase in a song we sang at church that evening: “Though there’s pain in the offering.” For the first time in my life I realized that phrase wasn’t just talking about the initial pain of surrender to God, but the pain that comes from taking every step. It takes a conscience decision to not abandon the offering just because it is painful. When I went to bed that night, I was desperate. But when I awakened in the morning I was determined; determined to trust Him once again in the face of difficulty; determined to offer myself to serve Him; determined to fulfill my calling even if…  Oh, by the way, God gave me strength to walk all over Washington D.C. and this “Grammy” didn’t slow anyone down. He even provided opportunities for rest along the way. Yes, there is hope in desperation.  My knee?  It’s still in the process of healing, but I’m content knowing I have a Father who answers when I call and brings hope out of despair.

“Yet the Lord was pleased to crush Him,…He will see light out of His anguish, and He will be satisfied with His knowledge. (Isaiah 53: 10, 11 HCSB)

I . . . recommend my Soul to that Almighty Being who gave it, and my body I commit to the dust, relying upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins.

Will of Samuel Adams

On the mercy of my Redeemer I rely for salvation and on His merits; not on the works I have done in obedience to His precepts.

From an autographed letter written by Charles Carroll to Charles W. Wharton, Esq., on September 27, 1825, from Doughoragen, Maryland.

I desire to bless and praise the name of God most high for appointing me my birth in a land of Gospel Light where the glorious tidings of a Savior and of pardon and salvation through Him have been continually sounding in mine ears.

Robert Treat Paine, The Papers of Robert Treat Paine, Stephen Riley and Edward Hanson, editors (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1992), Vol. I, p. 48, March/April, 1749.

[W]hen I consider that this instrument contemplates my departure from this life and all earthly enjoyments and my entrance on another state of existence, I am constrained to express my adoration of the Supreme Being, the Author of my existence, in full belief of his providential goodness and his forgiving mercy revealed to the world through Jesus Christ, through whom I hope for never ending happiness in a future state, acknowledging with grateful remembrance the happiness I have enjoyed in my passage through a long life. . .

Will of Robert Treat Paine

My only hope of salvation is in the infinite, transcendent love of God manifested to the world by the death of His Son upon the cross. Nothing but His blood will wash away my sins. I rely exclusively upon it. Come, Lord Jesus! Come quickly!

Benjamin Rush, The Autobiography of Benjamin Rush, George Corner, editor (Princeton: Princeton University Press for the American Philosophical Society, 1948), p. 166, Travels Through Life, An Account of Sundry Incidents & Events in the Life of Benjamin Rush.

I believe that there is one only living and true God, existing in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. . . . that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are a revelation from God. . . . that God did send His own Son to become man, die in the room and stead of sinners, and thus to lay a foundation for the offer of pardon and salvation to all mankind so as all may be saved who are willing to accept the Gospel offer.

Lewis Henry Boutell, The Life of Roger Sherman (Chicago: A. C. McClurg and Company, 1896), pp. 272-273.

I think it proper here not only to subscribe to the entire belief of the great and leading doctrines of the Christian religion, such as the Being of God, the universal defection and depravity of human nature, the divinity of the person and the completeness of the redemption purchased by the blessed Savior, the necessity of the operations of the Divine Spirit, of Divine Faith, accompanied with an habitual virtuous life, and the universality of the divine Providence, but also . . . that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom; that the way of life held up in the Christian system is calculated for the most complete happiness that can be enjoyed in this mortal state; that all occasions of vice and immorality is injurious either immediately or consequentially, even in this life; that as Almighty God hath not been pleased in the Holy Scriptures to prescribe any precise mode in which He is to be publicly worshiped, all contention about it generally arises from want of knowledge or want of virtue

Will of Richard Stockton

I entreat you in the most earnest manner to believe in Jesus Christ, for there is no salvation in any other [Acts 4:12]. . . . [I]f you are not reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, if you are not clothed with the spotless robe of His righteousness, you must forever perish.

John Witherspoon, The Works of John Witherspoon (Edinburgh: J. Ogle, 1815), Vol. V, pp. 276, 278, The Absolute Necessity of Salvation Through Christ, January 2, 1758.

Rendering thanks to my Creator for my existence and station among His works, for my birth in a country enlightened by the Gospel and enjoying freedom, and for all His other kindnesses, to Him I resign myself, humbly confiding in His goodness and in His mercy through Jesus Christ for the events of eternity.

Will of John Dickinson