From His Heart

Speaker 1

What do you do when trouble comes calling? Here's Pastor Jeff Shreve.

Speaker 2

There are some people who have a much harder time with worry than others. Now you might have a problem with worry and say, that's the way I'm wired. But God doesn't let you off the hook because worry is a sin.

So if you're one of those who tends to worry a lot, cast your burden on the Lord and leave it with Him. Cast your burden on the Lord and He will sustain you every scar with real truth, real love, real from his heart.

Speaker 1

A person who tends to dwell excessively on difficulty or troubles is sometimes referred to as a worrywart. It means that when trouble comes calling, their life is consumed with worry. Some worrywarts dismiss their worry as just pre-thinking in a dramatic fashion, but it's still worry.

If that is you, God tells us in His Word what to do with worry. This is from His heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. Thank you for joining us today for a message called "When Trouble Comes Calling Part Two." It's one of nine messages in the series "Life is Hard, but God is Good."

Today you'll learn that no matter the circumstances, God is our very purpose. If you missed part one from the lesson last time, you can listen and even download an MP3 of the broadcast when you go to fromisheart.org and click the Listen link.

But we'll catch you up today and then continue with the lesson from Psalm 46, verses 1 through 11. Here again is Pastor Jeff.

Speaker 2

Led by a man named Sennacherib, they were coming against Judah, and their capital city was Jerusalem. Sennacherib wanted to destroy them. Now, God's people were in trouble—big time trouble. Trouble with a capital T because trouble had come calling to them. Many Bible commentators believe that Psalm 46 speaks directly to the situation occurring in Jerusalem and Judah in 701 BC. It is such a great psalm.

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, verse 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 uses trouble 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? So that's the first thing we need to do: run to the Lord.

The second action is that 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: "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." That would be a scary deal—the mountains falling into the sea. "Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride." When the floodwaters are coming in and the mountains are falling, and everything is shaking, still we will not fear. Why? Because God is our refuge, our strength, and a very present help in trouble.

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. 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. It's the panic room, the place you go. It's external to you. God will protect you as a refuge, as a shield. Strength, on the other hand, is an internal thing. Strength comes from within. The Lord says, "I'll be your refuge externally, and I'll be your strength internally."

Now we see that pictured in 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." Here, he's talking about Jerusalem, the Holy City, the place God loves. However, there is no river in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a city that doesn't have a water supply cutting through it, unlike some cities. Back then, cities were built based on a water supply because you had to have water. Jerusalem doesn't have that.

Sennacherib was coming to besiege this city, throwing a blanket around it with soldiers so they couldn't get out. If you're walled up in the city without a water supply, you're going to run out of water pretty fast. This is a serious situation. Sennacherib claimed in his own writings that he had Hezekiah caged up like a bird. Hezekiah knew this was a problem. Right outside the city gate was a fresh spring called the Gihon spring. Hezekiah had an idea: let's divert the water from the Gihon spring into the city, hiding it from the enemy so we can always have fresh water.

He had workers digging a tunnel from the south to the north and another group from the north to the south. This tunnel is 1,749 feet long and 130 feet below the ground. For both groups to meet up 130 feet underground is a miracle of God. You can walk through Hezekiah's tunnel today. There is an inscription in the tunnel confirming this event. Sennacherib talks about this in his writings. This isn't just a fairy tale; it really happened.

So, there was a river underneath the ground flowing through Jerusalem, providing strength and refreshment for the people. How does that relate to us today? God is our refuge, and He is also our strength. He gives us strength through His Holy Spirit. Remember when Jesus talked to the woman at the well in John chapter 4? He said, "If you knew the one who is speaking to you, you would ask of him, and he would give you living water." The living water is Himself. In John chapter 7, He said, "If any man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. For out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water."

When trouble comes, God is our refuge and our strength. He is the one who can give you peace that passes understanding when everything is falling apart. He is the one who can give you joy when all circumstances say you should have no joy. He is the one who is there. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." He wants to be your strength, your refuge, and your help. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. He is abundantly available to help when you're in trouble.

Verse 5 states, "God is in the midst of her; she will not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns." God helps those who obey Him. Hezekiah trusted God for help. He said in Second Chronicles, "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 is the one with us? The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold.

What do you do when trouble comes? It comes in like a flood, touches down like a tornado. You run to Him and let Him know the situation. Number two, you rely on Him. You trust in Him. Action number three: you rest in Him. God wants you to rest in Him. Verse 8 says, "Come, behold the works of the Lord who has wrought desolations in the earth." Look and see what God has done. Check out His track record. "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. Let go. Relax. Calm down. 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. When you come before the Lord, you bring your issue to Him, and then you trust God: "You're my refuge, You're my strength, You're my help. I'm trusting You with this." Then what do you do? You rest in Him. You cease striving, relax, quit fearing, quit fretting, quit worrying, and just trust Him, knowing that He has the situation under control.

"Cast your burden on the Lord," Psalm 55, verse 22 says, "and He will sustain you. He will never allow the righteous to be shaken." So cast your burden on the Lord and leave it with Him. Many in the church struggle with this. We know we are supposed to pray, "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known to God" (Philippians 4:6). We know we are supposed to do that, but we still struggle with worry and fear.

We say, "Lord, I cast that burden on You," and then we take it back. We worry and fret, and we say, "I prayed about it," but we didn't truly cast our burden on the Lord. If you tend to worry a lot, cast your burden on the Lord and leave it with Him. God is a Father. When you come to faith in Christ, He is your Father who loves you. He is the King of the universe, sitting on the throne with all power and authority. He loves you and says, "Come boldly before my throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

"Cease striving and know that I am God." The name Elohim speaks of His might, power, and authority. God is large and in charge. You think Sennacherib is a big, tough king? He is nothing compared to God, who is the God of might and miracle. "Cease striving and know." Don't question, don't deliberate, don't hesitate between two opinions. Just know that He is God. "I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted on the earth."

So you can rest in Him. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. I love how it puts those two things together. The Lord of hosts, Yahweh Sabaoth, is the God above it all. He is transcendent, sitting above the circle of the earth. He is not controlled by time or physical things. He is the God above everything, from everlasting to everlasting.

But He is also immanent—He is right there with you. The Bible says, "Am I a God far off and not a God who is near?" He is both transcendent and immanent. He is the Lord of hosts and the God of Jacob. Jacob was just a guy with a lot of problems, fears, and issues. God is his God, the God who is over it all, who loves him, who will never leave him or forsake him. Even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we need not fear any evil because He is with us.

We can cease striving, let go, relax, stop worrying, stop fearing, and just rest in the arms of God. "Cease striving and know that I am God; there is no other, and I will take care of you." What do you do when trouble comes calling? You run to Him, you rely on Him, you rest in Him, and you wait for God to bring about the victory.

So what happened to Sennacherib? The Lord sent a message to Isaiah, the prophet, saying, "Thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there. He will not come before it with a shield or throw up a siege ramp against it. By the way that he came, by the same he will return. He shall not come to this city, declares the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it for my own sake and for my servant David's sake."

That night, the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. When men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead. So Sennacherib, king of Assyria, departed and returned home, living in Nineveh. It came about that as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch, his god, that Adrammelech and Sharizar, his sons, killed him with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. Esarhaddon, his son, became king in his place.

You don't mess with God. "I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted on the earth. The Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold."

Speaker 1

A stronghold is defined as a place that has been fortified so as to protect it against attack. If you are a believer in Christ, you can trust that God's Word is always true. And if God says He'll protect you, he'll protect you and he'll protect me. The lesson today was called "When Trouble Comes Calling," and it's intended to embolden us, to enrich us with our insights about what God will do when trouble comes to our lives.

When trouble does come, do you run from God or do you run to Him? Do you rest in His sovereignty and refuge? Or do you settle into a state of worry and fear? The message is from Pastor Jeff's nine-lesson series "Life is Hard but God is Good," and also this series is our thank you gift for your support this month of any amount to From His Heart. It is only through the gifts of our listeners that we're able to be here each and every day on well over 800 stations around the nation.

Pastor Jeff is a volunteer for this ministry, and all you give goes to help us distribute these programs around the world. This month is also our fiscal year end. It's a time once a year where we can catch up financially and prepare for the next 12 months of outreach, growing the ministry to reach more people for Christ. You can help this month with your generous gift, for that gift will send you the series in the format of your choice, "Life is Hard But God is Good," and the booklet "Strong Faith for Tough Times," both for your fiscal year end gift today.

Would you please pray and ask God what He would have you to do to help us this month? We would so much appreciate it. To get your copy, call 866-40-BIBLE (866-402-4253) or go online to fromhisheart.org. Thank you so much for joining with us to share truth, love, and hope around the world each day.

I'm Larry Nobles, and a big thank you for being with us today. We trust that you'll join us next time for another lesson from Pastor Jeff's series "Life is Hard, but God is Good." That's when we'll be sure to open God's Word and share real truth with love and hope from His heart.

Speaker 2

From his heart.

Speaker 1

From His Heart is the listener-supported broadcast ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve, speaking the truth in love to a lost and hurting world.

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

Find out more about that when you go to promisheart.org.