Gtcotr/ss100514
Isaiah 37:3 And they said to
him, "Thus says Hezekiah: ’This day is a day of trouble and rebuke
and blasphemy; for the children have come to birth, but there is no
strength to bring them forth.”
Psalms
46
Martin Luther’s (1483 – 1546) favorite
“go to” Psalm in times of trouble and attack. It is from the inspiration of
this Psalm, many believe, that he wrote the hymn, “Ein
heste Burg ist unser Gott”, translated into English in the mid 1800’s to
“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” – in 1529.
Martin
Luther, the father of protestant reformation, was 34 when he posted his 95
Theses against the Power and Abuses of Indulgences to the door of the Castle
Church in Wittenberg, Germany. Later in life, as do many maturing saints and
sinners alike, he adjusted his earlier thoughts somewhat to reflect a better
and more well defined understanding.
Luther
changed and refined some of his earlier thoughts somewhat on the ideas of faith
and works, revolution, reformation and rebellion, anti-Semitism, life after
death, Gnosticism, polygamy and Church structure. However, one thing Luther
never seemed to change his mind about or felt need to redefine was his staunch
and early belief that Christians do not have to tear
down one thing in order to establish another. He believed and strongly
taught that Christians should use prayer
and the adherence to the Word of God to bring about needed change in
themselves and others, including Churches, Governments, enemies and friends.
Perhaps
this is one reason he often turned to this Psalm and read or lead others to
recite it in prose or in song. Martin Luther, founder of the Lutheran
Denomination of Churches, was excommunicated from the Catholic Church, was
sentenced by the courts as one who could be killed in the streets by anyone who
wished without fear of reprisal; his books were banned and he lived for a
period in hiding expecting at any point to be murdered by Christians, Jews,
Turks or pagans whom he had insulted. Luther is not the model we look to when we
want to be like Jesus however, he did know where to go when things in life got
tough.
Psalms 46
1 God is our refuge and
strength, A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed, And though the mountains be carried into the
midst of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and
be troubled, Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose
streams shall make glad the city of God, The holy place of the
5 God is in the midst
of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
6 ¶ The nations raged, the
kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
7 The LORD of hosts is
with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
8 Come, behold the works of
the LORD, Who has made desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the
end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the
chariot in the fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am
God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
11 The LORD of hosts is
with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Let
go and let God be God.
Your victory is not in your enemy’s defeat.
Sometimes it’s time to just be still and know that He is God!
What
are you struggling with today? Are there pressures surrounding you or problems
from your past hunting you and haunting you? What fears do you face for your
future?
Can
I simply encourage you to take the advice of this Psalmist and of many others
who have gone on before you and turn your life over to:
1.
Prayer
2.
Obedience
to the Word of God
In
other words, Pray
and Obey …
Additional Notes:
It
is believed that Psalms 46 may have been written as a result of the accounts
recorded in Isaiah 36 and 37. Perhaps this is true, we cannot know, but we can
nonetheless see that the principles do compare.
Isaiah
36
7 "But if you say to me, ’We trust in the
LORD our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has
taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ’You shall worship before this
altar’?"’
High Places and Altars – a complete
misunderstanding of Hezekiah’s intent and acts of tearing down and destroying
those places of worship erected and allowed by his forefathers to which worship
of false gods and false worship of the True God had been offered. Perhaps as
well the lack of spiritual insight to know how God had approved of Hezekiah’s
destruction of the brass serpent which had been lifted up by Moses in the
wilderness to heal because it had in recent times become a false god in itself
and was worshipped.
(And said to Judah and Jerusalem He had
commanded them to worship only in Jerusalem, at the temple. This was in strict
accordance with the law of Moses; but this seems to have been understood by
Sennacherib as in fact almost or quite banishing the worship of Yahweh from the
land. Probably this was said to alienate the minds of the people from Hezekiah,
by showing them that he had taken away their rights and privileges of worshipping
God where they chose.) (Barnes)
Isaiah 36:10 "Have I now
come up without the LORD against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me,
’Go up against this land, and destroy it.’"
Isaiah 36:21 But they held
their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was,
"Do not answer him."
We
cannot get caught up in a war of words with those enemies of the will of our
King.
Rather
– go to the house of God and pray …
Isaiah
37
4 ’It may be that the LORD your God will hear
the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent
to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the LORD your God
has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’"
6 And Isaiah said to them, "Thus shall you
say to your master, ’Thus says the LORD: "Do not be afraid of the words
which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have
blasphemed Me.
14 And Hezekiah received the letter from the
hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the
LORD, and spread it before the LORD.
21
¶ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to
Hezekiah, saying, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ’Because you have
prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria,
30 "This shall be a sign to you: You shall
eat this year such as grows of itself, And the second year what springs from
the same; Also in the third year sow and reap, Plant vineyards and eat the
fruit of them.
31 And the remnant who have escaped of the house
of Judah Shall again take root downward, And bear fruit upward.
32 For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, And
those who escape from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
33 "Therefore thus says the LORD concerning
the king of Assyria: ’He shall not come into this city, Nor shoot an arrow
there, Nor come before it with shield, Nor build a siege mound against it.
