From His Heart

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Today on From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, let's discover where to go when trouble comes calling.

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When the trouble comes and it's your report that says you have cancer, that's big time trouble. When it's your marriage that is falling apart, when it's your family that is being destroyed by drugs, by alcohol, by gambling, by sexual immorality, that's trouble that comes home.

What do you do when trouble comes to your life that way? Well, God tells us in His Word what to do. He can heal every scar with real truth, real love, real hope from his heart.

Speaker 1

What do you do when trouble comes rushing into your life like a flood? Do you run from God or do you run to God? Do you rest in the sovereignty and refuge of the Lord or do you settle into a state of worry and fear?

This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve, with an eye-opening message that'll teach us how to cease striving and instead rely wholly on God, our very present help in trouble. The message today is from Pastor Jeff's nine-lesson series and our thank you gift for your support this month called Life is Hard But God is Good.

You can get this series in the format of your choice when you go to fromhisheart.org; you'll see it right there on the homepage. Right now, open your Bible to Psalm 46. Here's Pastor Jeff to begin teaching us who is the best to turn to when trouble comes calling.

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The year was 701 BC in Assyria, the nation of Syria with their capital city in Nineveh. They were the bad boys on the block. They were the world power. They had been the world power for about 300 years in the ancient Near East. If Assyria went up against another nation, Assyria would win. And Assyria was a cruel nation, a fierce nation, and they were vicious in the way they dealt with defeated foes. You remember that Jonah was called to go to Nineveh, and he didn't want to go there. Why? Because he hated the Assyrians and he wanted God to judge the Assyrians for their sins and transgressions.

Well, in 701 BC, Assyria was led by a man named Sennacherib. His dad was named Sargon the Second. Sounds like somebody out of Star Trek—Sargon and Sargon II. Sennacherib's dad was king of Assyria in 722 BC when they destroyed and wiped out the northern kingdom, the 10 tribes of Israel. We call those the lost 10 tribes because we don't know where they are anymore. They were wiped out because of idolatry. God gave them over to the Assyrians in 722 BC. Well, now it's 701 BC, and Assyria is on the move again, and they're coming against Judah. Judah is the two tribes made up of Judah and Benjamin, and their capital city is there in Jerusalem. Sennacherib wants to destroy them.

Now, to understand how things worked back then, when you had the bad boys, the big guys on the block, the bullies on the block, like the Assyrians were, you had to pay them tribute. If you didn't pay them for allowing you to exist, then they would come and wipe you out. It was kind of like the mob, you know, how the mob acts toward businesses. If you don't pay us, then we'll burn down your business. It was kind of like that. Hezekiah was king in Judah. He didn't want to keep paying Sennacherib in Assyria. So Sennacherib gets upset and mad, and he comes close to Jerusalem. He had invaded into Judah and started wiping out some of the smaller villages and towns. He was coming with his sights set on Jerusalem.

Hezekiah sees that, hey, I'm in trouble. He says to Sennacherib, "Sorry, didn't mean to. The check was in the mail, and it must have gotten stuck. Here's a big bunch of money. Go away." But Sennacherib didn't go away. He was in a place called Lachish, which was about 30 miles away from Jerusalem. He sent his armies and an entourage, including one of his chief spokesmen, a man with a great name—Rabshakeh. Rabshakeh starts to talk to the people of Judah, to Hezekiah, and he tells them that they're getting ready to be wiped out. "My master Sennacherib is coming in here, and he's going to wipe you out. You have one chance and one chance only: surrender. If you surrender, then it will go well with you. If you don't surrender, it's going to go poorly with you."

They mocked God, mocked Hezekiah, and mocked the people. They said to the people, "Listen, if you don't come out and surrender to us, you're going to be, straight from Scripture, in 2 Kings, men who eat your own dung and drink your own urine." That's pretty gross, isn't it? That's what they said. It looked like war was unavoidable, and it looked like defeat was inescapable for the people of God. God's people were in trouble—big time trouble. Trouble with a capital T, because trouble had come calling to them.

Now, can you relate to trouble? When trouble comes calling on you, I'm not talking about trouble that comes to your neighbor, your friend, or some acquaintance at work. I'm talking about when trouble comes to you. When it hits your life like a tornado. Trouble—not just little trouble. This is big-time trouble. That's what they were facing. I think all of us can relate to that. You know, when the trouble comes and it's your report that says you have cancer, that's big-time trouble. When it's your marriage that is falling apart, when it's your family that is being destroyed by drugs, alcohol, gambling, or sexual immorality, that's trouble that comes home. What do you do when trouble comes to your life that way?

Well, God tells us in His Word what to do. The situation with Hezekiah, Judah, Sennacherib, and the Assyrians is a key story found in Kings, Chronicles, and Isaiah. The same story is repeated three times in the Old Testament. God is saying, "I want you to really zero in on this story." Many Bible commentators believe that Psalm 46 speaks directly to that situation occurring in Jerusalem and Judah in 701 BC. So let's read Psalm 46.

Psalm 46 is a favorite for many people. It says this: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride." Selah. That means pause. This was a song, so you pause there.

Verse 4: "There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling places of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she will not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns. The nations made an uproar; the kingdoms tottered; He raised His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold." Selah. "Come behold the works of the Lord, who has wrought desolations in the earth. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots with fire. Cease striving, 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 stronghold." Selah. Such a great, great psalm.

Now, from this psalm, I want you to notice three actions that the Lord wants us to take when trouble comes knocking at our door. When trouble touches down in your life and my life like a tornado.

**Action number one:** God wants us to run to Him when trouble comes. God says that trouble has come into your life to draw you to Him so that you would come to Him, so that you would run to Him. Proverbs 18:10 says, "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe." God wants us to come to Him. He wants us to run to Him. Trouble is used in our lives to cause us to look to Him and to run to Him. None of us like trouble, but trouble is the way that God gets our attention.

Have you noticed that? The little poem I like says this: "I walked a mile with pleasure; she chatted all the way, but left me none the wiser for all she had to say. I walked a mile with sorrow, and not a word said she; but oh, the things I learned that day when sorrow walked with me." Why do we learn in the tough times? Because it's in the tough times where we seek God, where we're in trouble and we cry out to God. You know, you have a tendency, I have a tendency, we have a tendency to forget God. We tend to forget God when everything is going well. When it's going well, you're just like, "Thank you, Lord," but then you go about your business. When the bottom drops out, when you get the notice that you or your loved one has cancer, then you start to pray.

I heard a story about three preachers who were talking about the best position for prayer—how you really connect with God. They were out at lunch one day and discussing this at their table. The first preacher said, "Well, you know, the best position I found for prayer, where you really connect with God, is on your knees. You get on your knees and you pray, and your prayer has power." The other guy said, "No, no, no, I'm going to tell you. The best position for prayer is you stand up and raise your hands and call upon God. That's the best body position for prayer." The third guy said, "No, both of you are wrong. It's when you're on your face before the Lord. When you're on your face before the Lord, that's the best position for prayer."

While they were talking about this back and forth, the guy at the table next to them was a telephone repairman. He said to those guys, "Hey, I don't mean to eavesdrop or interrupt your conversation, but you're talking about the best position for prayer. Let me tell you, the best position that I have found for prayer is when I was 40 feet up on a telephone pole hanging by my feet. That's when I prayed." You know, when you're in trouble, that's when you start to pray and call upon God. God uses trouble for that purpose. Psalm 78:34-35 says, "When He killed them, then they sought Him and returned and searched diligently for God. And they remembered that God was their rock and the Most High God their Redeemer." When God brought trouble, then they started to look to Him.

You read the Book of Judges. The Book of Judges is about people forgetting God. When they would forget God, then God brought devastation into their lives. The devastation caused them to call upon the Lord again. Hezekiah is in terrible trouble. The Scripture says this in 2 Kings 19: "Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it." Rabshakeh had letters from Sennacherib, detailing what he was going to do to them. It was a very mocking letter. They said, "Hey, speak to us in Aramaic. Don't speak in Judean, because we don't want all the people to hear." They said, "No, all the people need to hear what's going to happen." It was a terrible thing.

It says, "Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. He went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, 'O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, O Lord, and see the words of Sennacherib which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire.' I mean, it's true they were the bad boys and they were destroying everybody. He said, 'They cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. Now, O Lord, our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God.'" Hezekiah ran to the Lord with his trouble.

So that's the first thing that we need to do: run to the Lord.

**Second action:** God wants us to rely on Him. So we run to Him, and then we rely on Him. We trust Him with our situation. Look at verses 1 through 3 again: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride." When the waters are coming in and the floodwaters are rising, and the mountains are falling, and everything is shaking, still we will not fear. Why? Because God is our refuge, and God is our strength.

Let's look at those three things. First of all, the Lord is to be your refuge. What is a refuge? It's a shelter, a stronghold, a place of safety. When you think of refuge, you might think of a panic room. There was a movie out some years ago with Jodie Foster called "The Panic Room." Some of you may have seen it. She had a room in her house that, if you got in trouble and someone was trying to get you, you ran into the panic room, hit the button, and it closed the door. Sometimes on a guy's arm, it closed the door, and they couldn't get you in there because that's your place of refuge. God is our refuge; He is our stronghold. Psalm 18:2 says, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." That is God. He wants to be your refuge.

Secondly, He is to be your strength. God is our refuge and strength. Don't think of those as the same thing. A refuge is an external thing—a mighty fortress, a castle, a strong tower, a panic room. It's the place you go; it's external to you. God will protect you as a refuge, as a shield. Strength is an internal thing. Strength comes from within. The Lord says, "I'll be your refuge externally, and I'll be your strength internally." When trouble comes, God is our refuge, and He's our strength. He’s the one who can give you peace that passes understanding when everything's falling apart. He's the one who can give you joy when all the circumstances say you should have no joy.

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." He wants to be your strength. He wants to be your refuge, and He wants to be your help. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. He's abundantly available to help when you're in trouble. That is God. He wants to be your help.

Verse 5: "God is in the midst of her; she will not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns." Now, it's easy for us to say, "Man, I'm in trouble." No doubt many in this room, many under the sound of my voice, in different venues, watching at home, you may be in trouble. You might say, "Well, why doesn't God help me?" Many of us believe the lie that was touted by Benjamin Franklin: "God helps those who help themselves." You've heard that before. There's a Hebrew word for that: baloney. God does not help those who help themselves. God helps those who trust in Him. God helps those who look to Him for help, who say, "Lord," with King Jehoshaphat, "we don't know what to do. We're powerless against these people coming against us. But our eyes are on you." That was King Jehoshaphat 150 years before this situation happened. Hezekiah is saying the same thing: "Lord, we're trusting you to be our help." God helps those who trust Him.

Now, when the Lord does a miracle, here's the thing: He'll often ask you to do something that you can do. God will not do what you can do, and you cannot do what He can do. God helps those who obey Him. What did Hezekiah do? He trusted God for help. He said this in 2 Chronicles: "Be strong," telling the people, "be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria, nor because of all the multitude which is with him." He had 185,000 soldiers with him. "For the one with us is greater than the one with him." Who's the one with us? "The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold." The one with us is greater than the one with him. "With him only is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, Yahweh Elohim, to help us and to fight our battles." And the people relied on the words of Hezekiah, King of Judah.

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Well, we've been living, listening to Pastor Jeff Shreve on from his heart today and the message when trouble comes calling. As we mentioned, there are all kinds of troubles we all face, and they can be overwhelming when we try to face them alone. We're reminded in Psalm 46:1-2 that 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. In verse 10, we're told to be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

Those words from Psalm 46 well, Pastor Jeff will conclude this important lesson in our next broadcast from his nine-message series, Life is Hard But God is Good. As we mentioned at the beginning of the broadcast, what do you do when trouble comes rushing into your life like a flood? Do you run to God or do you run from Him? Do you rest in the sovereignty and refuge of the Lord, and do you ask Him to be your almighty rock to remove the worry and the fear?

This message is part of the nine-lesson series, Life is Hard But God is Good, and it's our gift of thanks to you for your support to From His Heart this month of any amount. You can get it on CDs, DVDs, a USB flash drive, or an immediate MP3 download. You will also receive the booklet Strong Faith for Tough Times. When you make your gift today, call 866-40-BIBLE (866-40-BIBLE) or go online to fromhisheart.org. Thank you so very much for supporting this ministry from which Pastor Jeff receives no income.

Just so you know, on our website, you can download any of the radio broadcasts in MP3 format for free, as well as the sermon outlines from Pastor Jeff. There too, you can watch the weekly TV broadcast and so much more again at fromhisheart.org.

Well, I'm Larry Nobles, and we're so happy that you joined us today on From His Heart. We trust the message was a blessing to you and that you'll be right back with us here tomorrow for part two of the lesson When Trouble Comes Calling. Join us on Tuesday when we will again open up God's Word to share real truth, real love, and real hope. From His Heart.

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There is tremendous truth. There is hope that you always dream of. He can heal every scar.

Speaker 1

From his heart is the listener supported Broadcast Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world.

Remember, no matter what, God loves you and he has a wonderful plan for your life.

Find out about that. Go to promisheart.org.