Tornadoes, Tyrants, and Getting Tore up from the Floor Up: Jesus is Your Refuge in Your Time of Trouble

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Tornadoes, Tyrants, and Getting Tore Up from the Floor Up in Litchfield

When I first told a friend of mine that I was moving to Litchfield, Il to sere in a church, he only knew of the community because an F2 tornado hit near by on April 19, 2011. He told me that I was moving to the northern part of tornado alley.
It is estimated that 1,000 tornadoes hit tornado alley a year. That is the most of any country in the world. Illinois suffers on average 54 tornadoes a year occuring 135 million dollars of damage. I had to take this into account when I was buying a home in Litchfield. I needed it to have a shelter in case a tornado came raging through my backyard. Buy a house, though, mad eme realize that tornadoes are the least of my worries regarding my home.
Taxes are a real threat to your to your house. We live in a state, and a county mind you, that finds creative ways to take your money. Almost a year after Stacy and I bought our house, we received a call from the bank saying our escrow was short and that it would increase $150.00 a month. We knew it would go up some, but not $150.0 a month. Come to find out, the county assessed our property value. Evidently Montgomery County taxes the yardage of cement you have on your property, and somehow that was never taxed with the previous owners. On top of that, the political powers that be decided to push through the state legislature something like a 32% property tax increase. With those kind of increases, Stacy and I wondered if we would have to sell our house. Over 2/3 of our mortgage payment goes to taxes and insurance, never touching the principle.
We tried to speak with our representative about the taxes only to find that her hands are tied. The state is run by a majority political party that does not hear our voice or care about tax increases that threaten to take our home from us. It’s not just the taxes that concern us. It’s the progressive liberal mindset that pushes a socialist agenda that cares nothing for godliness, biblical morality, or even anything close to conservative values. Furthermore, the pandemic has shown the just how far the state is wanting to reach into your life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The states overreach can feel tyrannical, especially the further away from Chicago you live. It’s been this way for so long it feels as if there is no escape from it, maybe even getting worse.
Both tornados and tyrants threaten your livelihood or your way of life. They provoke fear in your heart because they have the power to take everything away from you. Both have the power to put your family in poverty or even prison. Both have the ability to take your life and turn it upside down.
What do you do when tornados and tyrants threaten your life? Where do you go when the solid ground you were once standing on gives way to quick sand? What do you do when all that you felt was secure is now insecure, or all that you thought was stable is now unstable, or all that you thought was safe is now unsafe? What is your refuge and strength?
Tending the Vine has reveled to me that Litchfield has people, my neighbors, your neighbors, who are looking for refuge in some wrong places. Right now, too many of them are trying to find refuge and strength in methamphetamines. They are trying to escape the wind shear of poverty, the projectiles of dysfunction, the weight of addiction by getting tore up from the floor up.
Do you want to know how close these people are to us? I had two teenage boys in my office this week, who come to our youth group, who are turning to drugs as a refuge from the insanity they face because of drug addiction in their family. I personally know ten year old children who believe that drugs and alcohol are a refuge and strength for their times of trouble. Again, I ask you, what is your answer to these children? Where will you lead them for true refuge?
The Psalmist says in Psalm 46, that

God is your refuge and strength in all of your times of trouble.

What is God’s refuge?

A refuge is a shelter. Its a stronghold or impenetrable fortress (Ps 61:3; 91:2). The imagery emphasizes God’s protection. The psalmist uses the same sense of the word in
Psalm 61:3 ESV
for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.
or in
Psalm 91:2 ESV
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
Psalm 46:1 says that God is your refuge, that is, God being with you or for you (Psalm 46:11) is like being in an impenetrable fortress, or strong tower, or an embedded storm shelter. The elements cannot harm you. Your enemies cannot reach you or destroy you. You are safe from the chaos of creation or the raging of the nations. That is what he alludes to when he says times of trouble.

Times of Trouble: Chaos & Rage

Times of trouble refers to something that causes your heart to fear, to be anxious, to suffer distress, or to come under adversity. He describes two scenarios that could cause your heart to come undone.

Chaos of Creation

The first is the chaos of creation. Look at verses
Psalm 46:2–3 ESV
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
The Psalmist is speaking of natural catastrophes like earthquakes, floods, landslides, and tornado’s. Creation is relatively peaceful. You walk on solid ground that does not move. You climb mountains, even build houses on mountains because they are the most secure structures on earth. You are charmed by the wind picking up leaves off the ground, twirling them around from yard to yard. You cast a line into a river as you sit in your lawn chair absorbing the warmth of the sun glistening off the water… that is, until terror strikes.
The earth gives way as it shakes. Landslides rush into the sea. The winds swirl ripping up trees from their roots. Rivers washout your house taking every possession you have ever owned. The terror is that everything that you depended on to be steady, stable, and secure is now unsteady, unstable, and unprotected. and it can happen in a matter of minutes.

Rage of Nations

Times of trouble also refer to political instability or the rage of nations. The psalmist says
Psalm 46:6 ESV
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.
Verse 6 should remind you of
Psalm 2:1 ESV
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
The nations are unstable. They bounce back and forth like a teeter totter. At any given moment one government can topple for another. Presidents come and go. Economies fluctuate from expansion too recession. With every court preceeding it feels like the dam of social peace is about to burst into violence and vandalism. Freedom and oppression, Justice and Injustice, and Morality and Immorality seem to hang by a thread these days.
This is significant for us because we are living in the last days. Jesus told us that the nations would rage in the last days. Listen to how Jesus describes the last days.
Matthew 24:6–9 ESV
And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.
We just pulled out of Afghanistan ending a twenty year war, and still peace alludes the Middle East. Relations with Russia and China have not been this precarious since the Cold War. North Korea and Iran are both trying to develop rockets that can carry nuclear warheads to the United States. There is also threats from Foreign terrorists organizations like ISIS and domestic terrorists like White Supremacists.
We live in a world where creation can break into chaos at any time. We live in a time when the nations rage creating political and social instability. We are living in times of trouble. Trouble means your joy is threatened, your hope is threatened, your peace is threatened. You are tempted to let fear rule your heart. Take heart friend, God says he will be your refuge and strength.

What makes God’s presences a perfect refuge for you?

There are two truths that make God the perfect refuge for you in your times of trouble. God commands the chaos of creation and the raging of the nations to be still and know that he is God.
The one commandment in the psalm is verse 10.
Psalm 46:10 ESV
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
The commandment is for the reader to “be still.” “Be still” is the same phrase used by Moses in Exodus 14:13
Exodus 14:13 CSB
But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.
Some translations will render “Don’t be afraid” as “Be quiet” or “be silent.” To creation God says, “Be still, that is stop all your chaos. Obey my voice and be still.

God commands the chaos of creation to be still and know He is God (Psalms 46:2-5)

God has the authority and power to command creation to stop its chaos. God has demonstrated his power over creation from the very beginning. It was God who brought the chaos of the waters of creation into order, commanding that dry land appear and boundaries be set for the oceans. It was God who commanded the Red Sea to divide so that Israel could walk on dry ground to safety while the Egyptians drowned, and the sea obeyed. What makes God the perfect refuge for you is his sovereign rule over all creation. All creation obeys his voice. He tells the earth you can shake for this long and no longer. He tells the seas you can swell this much and no more. He tells the tornado you can go this far and no further. Abraham Kuyper once said,
“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” Abraham Kuyper
Th great refuge and strength of this truth for you is that there is nothing in your life that you cannot say God did not create or does not uphold in the sovereignty of Jesus who holds all things together (Revelations 4:11). Everything in your life serves a purpose, even when it looks as chaotic as a tornado.
In 2018, a tornado touched down north of Litchfield. Stacy and the kids and I were at Zion Lutheran School at Ethan’s Basketball tournament. One minute I am coaching the championship game, the next minute all of us are on our knees in the hall way. The kids were scared. Some were crying. Mrs. Brakenhoff sought God as a refuge in our time of trouble. She prayed to God out loud. Then we sang songs to Him to try to calm the children as the wind and the hail pounded the church. What a picture of God’s refuge and strength. While the chaos was raging outside, God provided refuge and strength in his church who sought refuge and strength in Christ.
What strikes me about God’s sovereignty over creation and he allowing ordered chaos in my life, is that while that is happening he also provides life and renewal.
By contrast, in verse 4, God provides a picture of blessing and renewal.
Psalm 46:4 ESV
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
The streams are not raging, but are blessing. Verse 4 speaks uses temple imagery when it says, “the holiest dwellings.” It harkens to Ezekiel’s vision of the temple in Ezekiel 47. The water that flowed east beneath the temple brought life and renewal to a dry lifeless land. It is likened to a river flowing to a desert causing all the wilderness to blossom into a lush orchard. That is the idea here in verse 4. The temple houses the Most High, the Supreme God over all the earth. To be in God’s presence, His city, is to have access to his river that brings life and blessing, renewal and restoration. It is a stream that gladdens the heart, relieving it of fear.
Do not worry about his city giving way like a landslide off a mountain. Verse 5 says that she will not be made to totter. God’s refuge is secure.
God’s presence is your perfect refuge because he not only controls the chaos of creation, but he provides blessing and renewal even while you are in the midst of crazy town.
God not only commands the chaos of creation to be quiet, but he commands the nations to stop their fighting.

God commands the raging of nations to be still and know He is God (Psalms 46:6-9)

God utters his voice and the earth melts. God’s voice is enough to turn the rage of the nations away. God knows the nations and kingdom of the world will fight back and forth, threaten to destory God’s people. The psalmist says in verse 7
Psalm 46:7 ESV
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
and verse Psalm 46:8
Psalm 46:8 ESV
Come, behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth.
Psalm 46:9 ESV
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire.
Verse 7 is a picture of the Lord’s armies waiting to fight on his command. God is a warrior King who will one day lead his army to victory. We looked at this in Psalm 24, the King of Glory. He has thousands upon ten thousands of warriors ready to fight and overcome. But we know that he does not need soldiers. With a might word from his mouth, he can defeat his enemies.
Psalm 46:10 ESV
“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Stop your fighting. Stop your hostility toward me and my people. You will obey my voice. Just as I conquered Egypt, so I will conquer you. Just as I was victorious n the conquest of Canaan, so I will be victorious over you. Jesus will be King and will reign forever!
Revelation 11:15 (ESV)
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
Jesus your refuge and strength in your times of trouble.
God’s presence is the defining mark of his refuge and strength. We are about to celebrate advent, the time of year we remember Immanuel, God will us. Jesus is the refuge and strength for all whop put their faith in him.
Jesus promised he would never leave or forsake his people (Matthew 28:20.) When he died and rose from the grave, he ensured that we would have eternal refuge and salvation for our times of trouble. He also ascended into heaven and gave us his spirit as a means of grace which causes streams of living water to flow from your heart (John 7:37-39). And one day, the rumors of wars and our times of trouble will cease. Because one day Jesus promises to return and conquer all his enemies and reign on earth as king forever.
Martin Luther in his hymn A Mighty Fortress is Our God sings
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God's own choosing. You ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is he; Lord Sabaoth his name, from age to age the same; and he must win the battle.
Jesus is the answer for those children who are trying to find refuge in drugs. Jesus says the the tornados, Be still, and the the nations be quiet, and to your restless soul, be still and know that I am God.
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