OUR EVER PRESENT HELP

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; He lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations He has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields with fire.

Psalm 46:1-9

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

There are quite a few things that are certain in life. One of them is that there will come a time when we need help. And maybe there will be many times like this.

Indeed, life has a way of bringing circumstances before us that we can’t handle on our own. Sometimes we don’t know what to do in the midst of our circumstances and so we ask for wisdom and guidance. Sometimes we need resources to aid us and so we look for assistance in the areas of need. Still other times we might find ourselves in danger and look for rescue or refuge from harm.

And so we seek help in times of need, hoping - sometimes desperately - that we will find it.  

Wouldn’t it be great if we had a source of help that was always right there when we needed it? Wouldn’t that bring an incredible comfort and peace to us?

Well, the good news is that we have just that – a source of help that isn’t just around some of the time but all of the time, a source of help that is not hard to find because it is ever present.

That source is God.

Look at this truth as it is conveyed to us through the first nine verses of the 46th Psalm:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; He lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations He has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; He burns the shields with fire.

Friends, God’s word is truth. He is with us and brings us more than we could ever hope for in life. Simply consider the first verse and the following things it says about God:

1. He is our refuge.

In God, we find divine shelter, a safe haven against anything in life that would come against us. And in the refuge of God, we can find one of the things we long for most when we need help: peace. After all, the Lord is our Prince of Peace.

2. He is our strength.

We aren’t strong enough to deal with life on our own. Sometimes we don’t realize just how weak we are until we find ourselves in the midst of some hardship feeling helpless and sometimes hopeless. It’s in these times we realize we need a power far greater than ourselves and in God, we find just that. It’s little wonder that Paul wrote the following words in Philippians, Chapter 4, verse 13: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me (HCSB).” Paul could do all things through the power of the Lord and so can we.

3. He is ever present.

There is nowhere we can be that God isn’t present with us. Consider these words from the 139th Psalm (verses 7-10):

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast.

God is omnipotent and gives us all the strength we need. He is also omnipresent, abiding everywhere we do.

4. He is our help.

We’re not living life alone. God didn’t plant us here in His creation to fend for ourselves. No, He promised us He would never leave us nor forsake us. This is why we find Him ever present because He never breaks His promises. And because He is ever present, so too do we find the help we need, a help that is ever present.

Friends, God is always there to answer our call. He’s never too busy for us. He knows our circumstances before we experience them and He knows the best way to help us get through. We just need trust Him and know that He is always working things for our good, even when we can’t fully understand it. We only need to have faith that God will deliver. He always has for those who place their hope in Him. He will always continue to.

Yes, God is our ever present help in times of trouble and so we need never fear life and anything it brings. For God is in control and He will always give us what we need to make it through each and every day, no matter our circumstances.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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