PENTECOST

June 30, July 1-2, 2012

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Psalm 46

“THE LORD ALMIGHTY IS WITH US!”

1.     A comforting truth in times of trouble.

2.     A timely truth as we celebrate the birth of our nation.

3.     A trustworthy truth for better or for worse.

Psalm 46 (NIV 1984) “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. ² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, ³ though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. ⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. ⁵ God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. ⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. ⁷ The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.⁸ Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth. ⁹ He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with 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 Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

          A few weeks ago my family went to Noah’s Ark in the Wisconsin Dells for the first time. It was a hot day so it was great. The rides were a lot of fun. Two of them stood out from the others. One is called The Scorpion’s tale. The other is the Point of  No Return. What both of these rides have in common is a steep drop for starters. You can’t see what’s coming. And you have to go it alone. There is this momentary fear when you have never done the ride before and unlike the other rides. It’s the facing it alone. You know that’s a lot like life, isn’t it? There are many things that are fun and exciting. There are some things that are down right scary. There are lot of times when you can’t see what’s coming next. And it all seems worse when you feel like you are all alone. That’s why the word of God before us today is so wonderful. We hear the repeated promise/pledge. The Lord almighty is with us.

          That’s a comforting truth in times of trouble and times of trouble will come. Hear the word of the Lord. “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. ² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, ³ though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” Have you ever been around a volcano exploding with lava flowing to the water causing it to roar and foam? Have you been in a high rise when a major earthquake hit? Certainly those would be times of trouble. If you ever do have to live through one of those events the Lord Almighty will be with you. More likely than that though you will experience a person, perhaps a parent or spouse, exploding in anger and watch the lava of wrath flow downhill to burn everyone it touches. You feel like you are walking on eggshells. Scared. Alone. You will more likely experience the trouble of the shaky ground that happens when you or your bread winner loses a job or your marriage is on the rocks. Times of trouble can come with the cancer diagnosis or some other serious illness, an unexpected death. For the first hearers of this psalm it could have been an enemy advancing on Jerusalem, plague, droughts. Some of you have made the connection that this Psalm was the inspiration for Martin Luther’s hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” He faced the trouble of his church leader, the pope, threatening him with death if he kept teaching we are saved through faith alone in Christ Jesus. Sin has ruined this world and there will be times of trouble.

          Whatever the trouble, the LORD Almighty is with us. The LORD. That’s His Saving name. When God uses that in the Bible He wants you to remember His mercy and love. He wants you to think about how He loves you so much He punishes His Son Jesus for sins instead of you. Almighty. When God uses that word He wants you to think of His great power that creates with a single word. Power that He reminded Job about when Job questioned the troubles God allowed to come into his life. He wants you to think of His power that commands the winds and the waves as we heard about in the Gospel lesson. What’s your trouble right now? The Lord Almighty is with you. He is still treating you with love and if He hasn’t used that almighty power to stop your storm be assured there is a reason and it is a reason normed by God’s great love for you. The Lord Almighty is with us, a comforting truth in times of trouble.

          A timely truth as we celebrate the birth of our nation. “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. ⁵ God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. ⁶ Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. ⁷ The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” With these words God draws our attention to what we normally call the Church. You can call it the city of God. It is God dwelling with His people. He dwells with His people on earth and there is a final dwelling with God body soul and spirit that we normally call heaven. The Church will not fall. It’s good to remember that as we celebrate the birth of our nation. I love our country. I hope you do too. That’s not to say I am happy with everything going on in our country or that I’m not concerned about it. Because I am concerned and am not happy with where we appear to be going. I’ll give you two examples. Please don’t make this political. Keep it in the realm of God’s holy will for all people. Recently one of our members wrote a letter to our president expressing concern over his promotion of same sex marriage that is contrary to God’s holy will. He actually received a letter in return thanking him for his concern but expressing on behalf of the president the desire to have same sex marriage in America, my country. Secondly we received an e-mail from our Synod president, Mark Schroeder, explaining why he was signing a letter of concern that is signed by a number of different leaders from different church bodies. It’s over a recent ruling to force churches like our own who have a self-funded health care program to cover as medical procedures things that are against their religious beliefs. Why would my country do that to me? To you? “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.” Nations are in uproar. Kingdoms will fall. But the Lord Almighty is with us. I am concerned over the fate of our country. How long will God put up with it? I am not concerned over the fate of the Church. The Lord Almighty is with us and the God of Jacob is our fortress. We will be fine! For the Lord Almighty is with us.

          That’s a trustworthy truth for better or for worse.  Let me explain. No, let God explain. “Come and see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth. ⁹ He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with 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 Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” These words of God remind us of His absolute power over everything on this earth, the forces of nature and the forces of nations. That absolute power will be shown in its full glory on the last day. In anticipation of that the Lord says to all people. “Be still and know that I am God!” Now you can take that in two ways—for better or for worse. For us who know and believe in the Savior God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it’s for better. God says to us with whatever worries us, “Sh!” Like a loving father or loving mother soothes and comforts frightened children God soothes and comforts us. “Sh! I am God. I am in control. It will be OK.” That’s for better.

          For some it’s for worse. I realize I’m going to get in trouble with a lot of parents who don’t want their children saying these words and kids just because I do right now does not mean you should, OK? What God says to those who mock Him, who reject Him, who think they are in control and they have the right to overturn His holy will and make the lives of believers miserable is “Shut up! Shut up and know that I am God almighty and it is an awful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. Shut up because I will be exalted not you.” The Lord Almighty is with us. A trustworthy truth for better or for worse. May God work humility and constant trust and submission in our hearts to we always hear it for better!

          I don’t know if my family will make it back to Noah’s Ark or if I’ll ride the Scorpion’s Tail or Point of No Return again. I do know that as long as God gives me breath to live in this sin messed world there will be scary things to face, unknown outcomes, times I will feel like I’m facing them alone. It’s the same for you! At each one of those points may the Holy Spirit grant peace and testify to our hearts our reason to go ahead with comfort and confidence. The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Amen.