God is our refuge and strength
Psalm 46:1-3 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.”
The testimony of the Lord’s people is wonderful. In the chaos of our day, we can be lights to the stability and help of our God.
It is not that we are not troubled….we are often. It is not that the world does not seem to fall in around us….it does.
But it is that we have an Anchor…..a Captain of our Salvation….a King, who still rules….and over rules for us.
Peter, when he was writing the dispersed Jewish church….spoke plainly of “manifold temptations…and trials of faith”….
…yet he spoke also of….”wherein we greatly rejoice”!
2 Peter 1:6-7 “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried in fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:”
How can this be…in the midst of change and troubles….we can rejoice?
Because, like the psalmist…..Peter looked to the Lord….our refuge and strength.
In this epistle he speaks of the three-fold work of the Godhead.
1 Peter 1:2-3 “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
God the Father saw us in Christ Jesus….before times eternal. (2 Timothy 1:9)…and prepared a purpose for us.
God the Son, by HIs precious blood and resurrection gives us forgiveness and life….a life of hope and obedience.
God the Spirit leads us into sanctification….being set aside in spirit, soul, and body to God.
This is why….
….even though the “heaviness” of many kinds of temptations are thrown at us….to trip us up….
….(the devil would use them to get us to distrust God’s wisdom or love….to get us to fix our eyes on ourselves…)
….yet through the sanctification of the Spirit….He leads us to look to Jesus, and obey from the heart the Will of God…and receive that joy….which should be the end of our trials…
1 Peter 1:8-9 “Whom having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”
Our faith is tried again and again….to strengthen it. For our faith must be constantly active in this world.
“Yet believing”….is a present-tense word…..for again….it anchors our hearts and minds and wills to Christ….
….and He is our salvation….here and now….and for eternity.
God is our refuge and strength…..a very present help in time of trouble.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 