Sovereign Grace Church Toronto

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Psalm 46:1,7

Notice how God is presented to us in these verses. When we need protection he is “very present” to help. The word “very” emphasizes the intensity of God’s availability. It means “wholly, fully, with completeness”. No distraction in God when we are in trouble. He is the place of safety—He is our “refuge” and “fortress”. In other words, it is not information we need, or even a change in our situation, as much as we need HIM! Closeness and communion with him is the greatest protection against the enemy! (see this in James 4:7-8, Ps 27:4-5)

But there are two other encouragements found here. When threatened, we feel weak & vulnerable. We can lose courage if the battle looks like it will not go well. So God is our strength. It does not say he gives us strength (though that may be implied). Rather it says he IS our strength.

He empowers us from within by the power of the Holy Spirit! (1 Jn 4:4)

Finally, he actually fights for us. He is the “LORD of Hosts” (Lord of the armies of heaven). He not only protects FROM attack, but LEADS to the attack with forces of immense power and strength (Ps 110!)

If this is true, why do we fear?

Pastor Tim Kerr

For not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them. Psalm 44:3

In the Bible I have a group of about 20 verses that are my favourite. These are the verses I return to again and again for help—for realignment—for “grace” from God. This is one of those special verses.

It is a remarkable verse because we know that we are rebels. Sinners. Spiritually unattractive. Yet God from the depths of his being reaches out toward us in love. He actually looks on his children with delight because he is our Father.

The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Zeph 3:17

Pastor Tim Kerr

As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God! Psalm 40:17

Being unimpressive and totally dependent may repel others around us but, amazingly, Almighty is not repelled but drawn to those in such a condition. The New Living translation renders it “let the Lord keep me in His thoughts” and the King James Version says “yet the Lord thinketh upon me”. Part of the greatness of God is that he is able to not only oversee the universe in its colossal grandeur, but he oversees the minutia of microscopic cell life with equal care and control. He simultaneously hears not only the prayers of millions of people in different languages, but he hears with perfect attentiveness one person’s prayers and concerns. He takes thought for me. Have you ever considered that God cares about you as an individual—everything that makes you unique from all others—he thinks about the “unique you” with attentive thought and consideration?

Pastor Tim Kerr

You have multiplied, O LORD my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you! I will proclaim and tell of them, yet they are more than can be told. Psalm 40:5

Try to imagine a super genius Phd. scientist, trying to explain Quantum Physics to a 5 year old. Try to imagine them “wanting” to do this. God is a million times more intelligent and the gap between us and him is infinitely greater. How could it possibly benefit him to have anything to do with us?! He has multiplied thoughts toward us! What?! As the apostles in Acts, we can only respond to such love by saying—“we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20)

Pastor Tim Kerr

He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD. Psalm 40:2-3

A song in the heart is one of the surest evidences of a heart set free. Note the sequence of events here. Hopelessness and destruction. Sudden miraculous deliverance! Joy at being delivered!! Others noticing the joy and becoming aware of God’s greatness and trusting in God. The best hope of seeing someone converted is another person who has been converted. Why do you think joy is so critical in drawing others to Christ?

Pastor Tim Kerr

O Lord, all my longing is before you; my sighing is not hidden from you. Psalm 38:9

“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him; on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold. Job 23:8-10

Here we find a revelation about hiddenness. First, in Ps 38:9 we discover that the deep desires and disappointments of our life do not go unnoticed by God. He sees it all and takes it in hand. We are fully known and understood by God!

But our knowledge of God does not work the same way (Job 23:8-10). He is not an open book to us. We cannot trace his movements, and often his presence is mysterious. Yet he knows the way we take. Do you notice how God’s hiddenness is working for our benefit? Perhaps his “perceived absence” is part of the trial he is putting us through, but the trial is certainly not purposeless. The gold at the end tells us that. This requires faith. We do not see all but we know One who sees all…and works everything for his good purposes.

Pastor Tim Kerr

The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand. Psalm 37:23-24

Ps 37:14 uses the same word translated “fall” here. There it is translated “bring down” and the cause is an enemy aiming his deadly arrows at the Psalmist (Eph 6:16). It appears this “fall” is an evil interruption into the life of a devoted follower of the Lord. Sometimes devout believers can fall badly. The great king David is a prime example of this. Yet the delight of God is seen in this—they get up again and continue following, even if with a limp. Falls are not the end of the story. Never the end when God is involved!

“The righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.” Prov 24:16

Pastor Tim Kerr

“Great is the LORD, who delights in the welfare of his servant!” Psalm 35:27

Here we find a heart delighting to help, and with the strength to do what the heart delights in! Goodness and Greatness! What delights the heart of God? Amazingly…our welfare! How else can we explain the cross?! This is the God we worship and serve! Why are we so slow to believe this?

Pastor Tim Kerr

“O LORD, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who is too strong for him?” Psalm 35:10

The poor lack basic resources. Feeling your lack these days? Feeling the strength of enemies like the deceitful sin of your own heart? Being out-classed and out-muscled is no cause for surrender or despair. There is one who specializes in delivering those in hopeless situations. There is no one like him! Why would we go anywhere else?

Pastor Tim Kerr

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. Psalm 34:18-19

There are many things that can break our hearts. When we suffer loss of those things we love and consider precious, our hearts break. This is especially true when these losses are not recoverable. It is interesting that John chooses this section and applies it to Christ’s sufferings (John 19:36 from Ps 34:20). The Lord is near the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit by being broken and crushed on the cross that He might draw near. The nearness of our God to us came at a terrible cost.

He was crushed that he might comfort. He was broken that he might bless. And that blessing does not guarantee the absence of afflictions, for we are promised MANY afflictions. Rather the blessing is that the afflictions are not the last word. God’s action on our behalf is always the last word! (Isa 43:2)

Pastor Tim Kerr