Have We Had Enough Yet?
Notes
Transcript
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
Brothers and sisters in Christ, if you’re on social media or spend a bit of time online, you may have seen a meme or a picture at some point this year that looks like this. It’s a calendar that goes month by month showing different bad things that have been happening around the world in 2020. In January, you may remember, we prayed about the wildfires, or bushfires, in Australia—during our winter is their summer. That continent is a bit smaller than the United States, but the total land that was burned was greater than the area of Wisconsin. In February, a locust infestation spread across parts of Africa and caused destruction there, especially on fields and food production. Then in March, of course, COVID-19 took centerstage around the world and we continue to see the effects of it. One that didn’t make it on here was the news in April of murder hornets coming to America. These large hornets are murderous not primarily towards humans but bees. The killing of George Floyd and other subsequent deaths at the hands of police officers sparked days and weeks of riots and protests at the end of May and into June. The rest of this calendar, filled with solar flare, Yellowstone eruption, alien invasion, the return of the pandemic, and an asteroid, are all just hypothetical cataclysmic events
6 months in, it has been a rough year. That really hit home for many of us at the beginning of and throughout this week. The amount of water that came down into Monday morning, producing terrible flooding, was unexpected. I don’t know any official numbers, but the damage, clean-up, and rebuilding easily figure into at least the hundreds of thousands of dollars, especially if it weren’t for volunteers. It impacted many in our area, but we have neighbors around our intersection at 63 and 90th, members of this church, who’ve lost a lot in their homes and on their property. BCS is in the process of gutting their basement and figuring things out on the main level. Here at church, we’re drying out, but we’re still watching closely to make sure there’s no additional damage in our main level walls that would need to be dealt with. It’s a bitter process.
These are all big things that have gone on, that have made the news and captured the eyes of the nation and world. But to go back to the word I used a few months back, there are plenty of other crises that individuals and communities have been dealing with on a less noticed level. People have lost loved ones due to age or disease, by accidents or suicide. People have been diagnosed or continue to live with things like depression and joint pain or cancer or breathing issues inhibiting daily life or prohibiting them from helping in ways they’d like to help. Others deal with unemployment and not finding work, struggles with children, loneliness, and other hardships.
I don’t like repeatedly painting the picture of doom and gloom because I know there are also things to be celebrated. For me, it was wonderful to officiate the wedding of friends in South Dakota a couple weeks ago. My best friend in Holland, Michigan, he and his wife had their first baby, a healthy, beautiful boy this week. Each of us can probably think of good things, good times in the year 2020. Yet a lot of us feel stuck wondering, have we had enough yet? Taking our faith seriously, I’ve heard, “What is God trying to teach us?” or “God, why are you doing this?”
As I’ve thought about this, the story of Jonah came to mind again. When he tried to sail away from God’s call, God sent “a great wind…and…a violent storm that threatened to break up [the ship he was on]…[The sailors] cast lots [‘to find out what was responsible for the calamity’] and the lot fell on Jonah.” After they threw him overboard, because Jonah acknowledged, “‘it [was his] fault that this great storm [had] come upon [them]’…the raging sea grew calm.” Maybe we’re wondering, who’s to blame? If we “toss them overboard,” so to speak, will all crises stop?
There’s a lot of anxiety and fear and questioning and also tiredness right now. However we feel about any of these things, whatever we think is the right or best response or approach, whether we’ve been impacted directly or been part of making decisions or we’ve been on the outside and at the will of others’ decisions, all of us have been troubled in some way, at some point. None of us can change that. We can’t turn back to 2019 or jump ahead to 2021—we don’t know the future.
So, I want to remind and encourage us this morning, first, to heed the two commands we hear in Psalm 46. The first was in verse 8, “Come and seek the works of the Lord…” and the second in verse 10, “‘Be still, and know that I am God...’” First, “Come and seek the works of the Lord…” Consider two events in the span of history: the creation of the universe and the earthly birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, and one in the future: the second coming.
Whatever you might believe about the length of time that creation took or how old the earth or universe are, orthodox, Bible-believing Christianity says there is a Creator behind it. There is One who out of nothing somehow created this massive planet that hangs, no strings attached, in space. There are other massive planets in this solar system, that orbit around this star that he also created called the sun. There are many stars, so there can be more solar systems, more galaxies in the immeasurable span of the universe. Yet on this planet, God created human life. He created the perfect conditions for life to be sustained. He created all the different landforms, all the rivers and lakes and oceans, the weather patterns and how those things function often in ways that can be studied and forecasted. At the very least, God has been keeping all this going for over 6,000 years.
“Come and seek the works of the Lord…” A baby was born of a young girl who was a virgin, because the Holy Spirit performed a miracle. That boy was God in the flesh. He came back to life after he was killed. His death and resurrection accomplish, according to God’s plan and will, the atonement of sins, the satisfaction of God’s wrath necessary for all sinners who believe in him. He has gone back to heaven now, and is preparing a place for us. Even though, we can’t visibly see those things around us, we seek them in faith through the Spirit aided revelation of God’s word.
“Come and seek the works of the Lord…” Our faith also looks forward to the day when Christ will come again. When all will be gathered and judged, and believers will be mercifully welcomed to eternal life with their Savior. Eternal life, eternity—unending—without any sin or pain. Amidst all that we’re going through, keep those things in mind. Whether we view what’s been happening this week or this year as being sent by God or being allowed by God, there are far greater things that his word tells us he has done—greater in terms of number of people affected, in terms of space, in terms of mass, in terms of the lasting consequences of. Yes, we’re going through difficult times, we can struggle, but do not forget God continued providential works.
While you keep those past and future works in your mind, in your faith, in your hope, remember that God has also commanded, “‘Be still, and know that I am God.’” This is not just the biblical version of “Keep calm and carry on.” It’s not a call to be ignorant or dismissive of things going on around us. What does it mean, particularly, to “be still” and know God? The Hebrew word used in verse 10 is “raphah” meaning “to grow slack, release, let go.” The relaxing, or being still, that’s called for is a relaxing from “fear.” If we go back to verse 2, that’s the primary implication of all we’re hearing about knowing God, “Therefore we will not fear.” Not only do you know what God does, but we believe, “[He] is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble…God is within [his city and he] will help her…he lifts his voice…The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob our fortress.”
You and I, while able to serve and repair and rebuild when things like floods happen, some people able to study and experiment and prescribe medical advice when there’s a pandemic or other disease, we’re not sovereign. We’re not almighty, all-powerful, or ever-present. Without the intervention of God, we don’t speak or put a staff in waters and have them separate or cause mountains to move or heal the lame or blind. We must trust God, who is God, and not ourselves. Amid any and every tragedy, it’s so easy for us to jump right into action, into fix-it mode, and that willingness to work or serve is good, but there must also be a God-focused stillness in our lives.
With that focus, we turn to look at. what did God mean when he said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you”? If you know your Old Testament or if you look at the footnote on Hebrews 13:6, you know this isn’t the first time that phrase or similar ones show up in the Bible. Back in Deuteronomy 4:31, we find a similar message, “For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.” That’s a consistent message—the covenant relationship that existed between God and Israel. Shortly before that, in Deuteronomy 4:24, is the message that “the Lord your God is…a jealous God,” which goes back to the second commandment, “You shall have no idols.” The covenant was founded on faithfulness, and God desired his people.
But the phrasing most similar to Hebrews 13 is what we find in Deuteronomy 31, Joshua 1:5 and 1 Chronicles 28:20. In Deuteronomy 31, Moses was giving his final commands. He’s telling them the Lord would lead and be with them as they entered the Promised Land. He said. verse 6, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of [the nations and kings before you], for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” He then called up Joshua, who would succeed him, and told him, in verse 8, “The Lord…will never leave you nor forsake you…” In Joshua 1:5, the Lord spoke the promise directly to Joshua. In 1 Chronicles 28:20, David passed this promise to his son Solomon as he was turning the throne over.
This isn’t something that can just be said willy-nilly. In the context of his relationship with Israel, and the leaders and kings who God ordained, this was all under their special covenant. Yet as we come into the New Testament, in Hebrews 13, it’s in relation to the command, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have.” God continues to be in a covenant relationship with all his people. We are to understand, that his presence is so wholly faithful. There is nothing bound up in wealth, materials, possessions, or property, against what our culture says, against what many people seek after to satisfy them. There is nothing that can remain for us the way that God and his true love remains. We must not forget that.
Before we move to our final point, another interesting piece of this phrasing that’s in the Old Testament verses, but also carries into the Greek word in Hebrews 13 is that word raphah again. When God says, “I will not leave you…,” he’s saying that he will not “go slack, release, or let go,” he will not “be still,” about us. He will hold on to all who are his. We have that assurance.
Sometimes as believers we can know all the right Scriptural proofs and an accurate assessment of God’s truth, but we still don’t feel like they take away the bitterness, the pain, maybe even the anger you’re feeling towards God. The crises, short-term and long-term, that we’ve been affected by or are being impacted by are still here. Our final point today, where is the comfort when we say, “I know, but it still feels like God is forsaking me?”
On one hand, we have to consider perspective. The 8+” of rain and flooding took everyone by surprise—that they stalled over our area wasn’t forecasted. Yet there are plenty of people, even in our area, who had no connection to any of the flooding and maybe haven’t thought much about it. As I think about the other storylines of 2020—wild or brushfires, the locust invasion, COVID-19, the protests and riots—while there might be single events that sparked a response, many of these tragic events had months of development. Maybe we heard them reported on out of nowhere or drastic change happened suddenly, but many had been around just out of view. The wildfires grew over months, the locusts affected and came from other places, the rioting and protesting has a long history in Minneapolis and joins the culture of protests over the last decade.
Along with this, we might also ask, are things worse now than they ever have been? Whether we look at events like the black plague or countless nations being invaded throughout history or 40 years in the wilderness for the Israelites, I think we’d say big picture, 2020 hasn’t reached those levels yet. I don’t want to minimize any of these things or say they weren’t or aren’t significant or painful. But it is important to remember this isn’t the first time people have felt like we do. The prophet Isaiah actually captures that in Isaiah 49 verse 14, “But Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me.’” Yet the following verses give God’s response, “‘Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?’” As unthinkable as that seems, God grants the possibility, “‘Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands…’”
Again, those words were written about Israel—they were feeling forsaken and forgotten. Yet their being troubled, doesn’t seem too far from what some of us are feeling. While it may not feel soothing enough, God offers his word—he will not forget us, he will have compassion, even when it feels like he isn’t. While we might need to or choose to make decisions about how we live in the tumultuous times around us, those who believe are engraved on God’s palms forever.
As we look at this calendar and think about the other things I mentioned before, we know that possessions or land is not a guarantee for us just because we call it our home. We know that crops and harvest are not a guarantee. We know health is fragile and at any point the economy can fall apart. We know there is division among people for various reasons; we know there are abusers of power in a variety of relationships. This week we were reminded how quick things can happen as waters rise and recede. We cannot love money or wealth or property or anything that we designate as being ours too much. We must be content with what we have, and yet know that it can be taken away and we might be called to be content with less.
Brothers and sisters, our truest contentment must be found in the Lord. If you have put your faith in him, if he has invited you, by his grace, to experience his salvation, he will not remove himself from you and you cannot be removed from him. Even if you lose home or a church building or a school or your mortal life, take comfort and persevere, for he has written you on his hands. Amen.