Finding Refuge in The One with Us and for Us :: Psalm 46
[Let Us Pray]
Almighty God, we give you thanks and praise for all Your goodness and tender care. Thank you for coming to us and standing for us through the gift of your Son who gives us refuge. Keep us in your steadfast love, bringing forth your good fruit in our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
[Introduction]
God is for us (v 1).
The LORD of Armies is with us (v 7).
The God of Jacob is refuge for us (v 11).
Is it any wonder why Luther loved this Psalm so much? At every turning point ... verses 1, 7, and 11 ... the Psalmist brings his listener back to the one thing he wants us to remember, spoken at the outset, specified in the hinge verses, repeated in the refrains.
God is for us (v 1).
The LORD of Armies is with us (v 7).
The God of Jacob is refuge for us (v 11).
This is a song for the ages ... one we need to hear and sing more often than on just Reformation Day. This is a psalm of comfort for times of strife. This is a psalm of trust, by which the Church of God is enabled to stand firm ... secure in the midst of all the attacks of Satan. This is a psalm of peace in the midst of war and rumors of war. This is a psalm for those days when the earth quakes and the tempests rage, evoking terror.
God is for us (v 1).
The LORD of Armies is with us (v 7).
The God of Jacob is refuge for us (v 11).
3.
We know who wrote Psalm 46 ... the Sons of Korah ... that’s the inscription at the beginning of the psalm ... but we don’t know when Psalm 46 was written. Most scholars suggest it was written in the Eighth Century BC, during the reign of King Hezekiah, when the Assyrian army surrounded Jerusalem (2 Kgs 18-19). But after studying 2 Chronicles 20[:1-30], I’ll agree with at least one of my brothers and say the Sons of Korah wrote Psalm 46 a couple centuries earlier, during the reign of King Jehoshaphat, when men from Moab, Ammon, and the people of Mount Seir conspired and gathered together to lay siege against the city of God. In verse 19, the Sons of Korah are specifically mentioned. They stood up rejoicing, the Chronicler wrote, because God was for them ... he stayed with them ... and he gave them refuge as the nations roared and the kingdoms shook.
To put it mildly, things looked pretty bleak for the Kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem was powerless, Jehoshaphat said (v 12). The people needed God to be for them, to stay with them, to be their refuge against Judah’s enemies to the northeast, southeast, and due east of the Dead Sea.
So what did God’s people do? They turned in faith to YHWH, which is repentance. They bowed their heads to YHWH, which is repentance. They called out to YHWH, which is repentance. The Levites, which included the sons of Korah, then stood up to praise YHWH, lifting their voices loud and high ... singing that God is for us and with us ... that He is our refuge (2 Chr 20:19) ... a help in troubles, readily found, the psalmist says. Therefore, we will not fear the change of the earth, when the mountains rock in the heart of the sea. Let the waters roam and foam. Let the mountain tremble in its pride (vv 1b-3).
As the author of Chronicles then tells us ... when the Israelites began to sing and to praise YHWH, God set ambushes against the men from Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah ... and they were defeated (2 Chr 20:22)! ... Their armies became confused ... and instead of fighting Jerusalem ... the Ammonites and Moabites first attacked the forces from Mount Seir, and then turned on each other, literally destroying each other. So when Judah came upon the watchtower of the wilderness, they turned toward the crowd; and they beheld the corpses, fallen on the earth. There were no survivors (2 Chr 20:24).
Thus, the Psalmist sings ...
Come, behold the works of YHWH, the devastation which he set on the earth. He makes battles cease to the ends of the earth. He shatters the bow, and cuts the spear [in two]. He burns the chariots with fire (vv 8-9).
So we sing ... God is for us ... he is with us ... he is our refuge.
[Catechism]
Let us pause here, and open our Lutheran Service Books to page 324, and remember this truth from the Seventh Petition of the Lord’s Prayer. As the head of the household should teach it in a simple way to his family ... What is the Seventh Petition? ... What does this mean?
2.
Brothers and sisters in Christ ... like both Jehoshaphat and Luther before us ... we know we are in constant need of repentance and reformation. All too often we know that ... because of our self-centeredness ... because of our reliance on our tradition ... we are in danger of being crushed by death and the power of the devil. So let us continue reforming our lives by continually returning to the God who is still for us, and with us, always giving us refuge.
[There is] a river [whose] streams make glad the city of God ... the Sons of Korah sing with us ... the holy dwelling of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She will not be shaken. God will help her at the break of day. The nations roar. The kingdoms totter. He gives his voice. The earth melts. YHWH Sah-Vay-Oat (... the LORD of Armies ...) is with us. The God of Jacob is refuge for us (vv 4-7).
1.
This truth is fully realized in the cross and his empty tomb in the garden of God (Jn 19:41). Jesus ... who is God With Us ... has crucified our sin, iniquity, and transgression on that tree. As Saint Paul wrote in Galatians 3: Christ redeemed us [from] the curse of the law by becoming a curse in our behalf, for it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged upon a tree (3:13). Our God With Us ... bled and died for us on a tree, the cross. Your sin was crucified on that cross. And because He just and the justifier of the one who has faith ... He is now risen! He is risen, indeed! Hallelujah! ... Behold, he is now with you always to the end of the age (Mt 28:20).
This is why he came yesterday. This is why he is always with us today, and will be our refuge still tomorrow. This font contains the fullness of God’s mercy. Through it, the Holy Spirit has cleansed you in his river that makes glad the city of God. Through it, you died and were raised with Christ in your baptism.
Now you can ... relax, and know that [YHWH] is God.
Now you can ... exalt [him] among the nations ... because he is your dwelling place.
Now you can ... exalt [him] on the earth ... because you are under the shelter of his wings.
[Conclusion]
So ... as we observe this Reformation Day ... as your pastor, I therefore come before you to challenge you ... and even me ... my brothers and sisters in Christ ... to make full use of the gifts of God who is with you. I am sure your life has not been free from the troubles and trials that frequently bring tears to our eyes and sorrow to our hearts. But you now know he is for you. So come with a renewed determination to spread as far and wide the knowledge of the Most High God. Come and know God is here to serve you in this place of refuge where heaven and earth meet. Abide with him.
Here, God With Us delivers to us the eternal Gospel through Word and sacrament.
Here, the river, that makes glad the city of God, continues to flow for us.
And now, when the altar is set for the Sacrament, we will always know that He will continue feeding those of us who hunger and thirst for his righteousness with the forgiveness of sins as we unite with all the company of heaven gathered before the throne of the Lamb singing ... Worthy is Christ the Lamb who was slain, whose blood set us free to be people of God (LSB 155) ... to the glory of his name.
THESE ARE WAYS GOD SHOWS HE’S FOR US, WITH US, AND OUR REFUGE.
In Jesus’ name. Amen.