Special Event – Summer Series; Psalm 46:10: Dr. David Capes, 07/05/26

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[00:00:00] Good morning, everybody. Still morning on July 4th weekend. Great country, isn't it? Yeah. It's an amazing country. I'm wearing, you can't tell, red, white, and blue, but I got a little red here, a little white. I was wearing it more yesterday, I suppose. But I am so glad to be here. Mark and Becky are over in Europe having a great time.

Mark said he would especially be watching today. So I, I want you to make me look good, all right? As much as possible. I need, I need all of your help. Don't make me stop this car, all right? Don't make me... Yeah. Did you ever say that? Did you ever say that to your grandkids, to your kids? Yeah, I, I'm sure I said that.

I'll s- turn this car around just like that. So yeah, I'm gonna do a little song today that you're the first people to hear. Uh, but I am grateful. Thank you to [00:01:00] Mark, uh, uh, over there in England watching. Great to be with you today. The, the challenge is to talk about a passage of the scriptures that we've come to see differently.

That's how I understood the brief. And so I know Todd Still did a fabulous job last week, and, and, and Mark sort of has us in a competition now. So, uh, we're gonna be voting later, uh, on who- ... who had the better talk. Uh, but, but hopefully, hopefully you'll choose me, right? No, I'm just, just kidding. Mark, uh, uh, Todd is a wonderful friend and so grateful for him.

I hope my... I got caught up in the traffic this morning. I don't know about you, all the traffic around church. So I'm, I had Brent go move my car 'cause I was double parked out here. But I am delighted to see you. I, I have some things to share with you today that I, I think might be life-giving, might be helpful to you.

I know it is to me. I know it's help- been helpful to me, and it is proving to be helpful to me all along. Now here's my first image created by an AI [00:02:00] called Bootleg or something like that. I don't know what it's called. Well, Boodlebox, that's what it is. So this is our new official. I said, "Create for me an image."

So I said, "Okay." Well, I've gotta use it, so there, there it is. I don't know what, what it means. Uh, and it has nothing to do with what I'm talking about, but, uh, that's okay. What does have something to do with what I'm talking about is this passage here: Be still and know that I am God. Has, has anybody ever heard that before?

Yeah. All right. Has anybody ever memorized that before? Yeah. All right. Has anybody ever quoted it before? Yeah. Probably you have. Do you know what it means? A lot of times we quote passages, and I, I don't think we often know, and w- I dis- I think I've discovered, I, I don't think, I, I know I have, uh, and it, it's come to me through other people.

So this is not a discovery that I made. In fact, my wife was the first one to sort of alert me to this a few months back, and I began thinking about this passage, and thinking about this passage, and thinking about this passage. It's a [00:03:00] famous verse. People know it. "Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10, that's where it comes from.

And we see it in all kinds of ways. Here, uh, here's a tattoo that somebody had b- I... When I first saw this, I thought somebody had a surgery that had gone wrong. I saw that, I said, "Oh my God. I hope she sued." Uh, no, I'm just kidding. I, I, I wasn't sure what to do with it, but, but you can see maybe the, the clouds there, and the hand coming down from heaven, the, the large hand and the small hand reaching up and grabbing hold of that, which is a wonderful image.

And it says, "Be still and know that I am God," Psalm 46:10. Looks like she could use some time at the gym, but other than that- ... that is a, a, a great, great, wonderful tattoo, I think. Now, um- This is, I just wanted to look at some of the merch that you can get with this. Now I love this. This is great, right? A very feminine color, don't you [00:04:00] think?

Young woman wearing it. Feminine color. It says, uh, "Be still and know that I'm God." What I, I want you to notice on here though is this: notice the wave that is on top. You see the wave right up here? Right above the word be and the letter S, there's the, uh, looks like a wave. Now that's brilliant actually because of what the Psalm is talking about.

We'll talk, we'll see that in just a moment. Here's a guy's version of that. Notice how bold it is. Bold colors. I mean it's got testosterone all over it. You know, it's a guy's shirt, right? It's got red color. Be still and know that I am God, right? You can just see a guy wearing that. And here's, uh, some other wall art.

Just beautiful. I like that. This is garden art that you can get with that same passage of scripture. Wear a hat if you would like to. That would be terrific if you want to. You can get a little rock and have it on a, you know, have it on like a paperweight [00:05:00] on your desk as a reminder. Be still and know that I am God.

And then there's devotional books like this, devotions for every day of the year inspired by this ta- passage. Be still and know that I'm God. And, and you can get, uh, on eBay you can get beginner-friendly, uh, embroidery. Is that what that's called? Embroidery? Knitting. I wouldn't... It's not knitting, right? No, it's not.

That's not knitting. That's embroidery. You know, embroidery thing. I remember seeing that growing up. You don't see it as much anymore, but you can get that. You can get songs. Be still and know that I'm God. You can, on your window, the back window of your car, you can have this big, big sticker. Be still and know that I'm God.

It's legal in every state except California. Every state. And then there's, there's this notebook over here. It's just a journaling book. Some of you journal. Hope you do. It's a good thing, good practice. And then there's a ring, "Be still and know that..." So there's lots and lots and lots of [00:06:00] merch out there with "Be still and know that I am God."

And I wonder, have people really investigated Psalm 46 to see what it's all about? Here's Charlie Brown having some me time. You know, just being still. A little quiet time. And know that I am God. It's a good thing. It's a good thing to have some me time. You may need some me time sometime coming up. Other things, might think of a spa.

Be still. Just gonna lay still. Be still and know that I'm... Anybody go to the spa? Think about be still and know that I am God. This is woman, I don't know, she's getting her face painted, you know. Maybe this is a fair. I don't know. Face paint at a fair. Here's a guy fishing. Old fella fishing out there. Look like he's having a good time.

Maybe that's s- [00:07:00] some good me time. I see some heads shaking. I see that's good. Now, I don't wanna be... Wait a minute, I don't wanna be considered, uh, sexist. So I want you to see the guys go to spas, too. And, and also, if I can make this thing go backwards. Can it go backwards? It can, yep. I see this woman here.

She's caught her a big old m- big mouth bass. Large mouth bass. Now she, uh, now I think she's had her teeth done, don't you? Now look at that. I mean, they're straight as an arrow, white as they can be. Anyway, women can go fishing and have some me time. We all need me time. We all need downtime. Sometimes you need it.

Sometimes you need it on a Sunday, sometimes you need it o- maybe on a Saturday, other days of the week. That's... These are great, great things. None of this is, none of this is bad. And guys can go and get a little facial [00:08:00] done, too. Uh, that's a nice thing. Now, I don't wanna re- rain fire and brimstone on, um, on the idea that be still and know that I am God is anti any of this.

I think it's all very good, very good. You need it. But I don't think that's what the Psalm is about. I don't think that's what be still and know that I am God is all about. Now, in order to demonstrate this, what I'd like to do is something that we... I don't think we've done. We're gonna do a couple of things today that we have not done before.

And one of the thing that I, we have not done before that I've been here is we're gonna read scripture together. We're gonna read all of Psalm 46 verse 10. Now, I'm gonna ask you to read the dark print, and I'm gonna read the light print. Okay? So we're just... We're gonna read the whole Psalm except for the superscription, which I'll talk about in just a minute, which is not really part of the Psalm, it's part of the preface to the Psalm.

So here's, here is it. Here, here it [00:09:00] is. Excuse me. Could I get some water from somebody? I don't know. I don't see any up here. If there is somebody that can get it, I wanna read it with you. Oh, thank you, my friend Oh

Oh, she was here first I'll take both of them This is how the multiplication of the fish and, and bread took place. Anybody have any bread? Okay, here we go. No, that's not. I, I don't... It was a miracle, for sure. All right, so here's our passage that I want us to look at, and I want you to, you to read the dark print together, and w- I'm gonna help.

I'm gonna remind you to get started by lifting my hands, okay? Lifting one or both of my hands. Got them. Thank you, my friend. There was another coming.

That's gonna tell me- All right. Here's, here's our passage. "God is our [00:10:00] refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."

Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah There is a river whose streams makes glad the city of God the holy habitation of the Most High

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter. He utters his voice, the earth melts

Come behold the works of the Lord, how he has brought desolations on the earth[00:11:00]

Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth Lord

That's our passage today. It's a great passage. There's a lot happening here. A lot happening here that is familiar. Not necessarily familiar to you and me in our everyday life, but familiar to a number of people. So let's get started kind of parsing this a little bit more carefully. Psalm 46. Here's the superscription.

That's the part under the psalm that somehow from the history of it may have given some instructions about who's to sing [00:12:00] this and when they're to sing this or who it's dedicated to or who it's written by. There's a lot of sort of question marks around this because there's some strange things going on or different things happening in the language.

So it says, to the choirmaster of, or it could be for, the sons of Korah, according to Alamot, a psalm. Again, it comes to us through the Hebrew, comes to us through ancient, you know, 2,500 at least year old, maybe longer than that. So the sons of Korah, Korah was a priest, a Levitical priest, who was known for music, much like King David was known for his music.

And his descendants became temple singers. So the sons of Korah and daughters of Korah were individuals who were known [00:13:00] as great singers in the family of faith of the Jewish people, singing in the temple, not singing in the provinces somewhere, but singing in the temple in Jerusalem at the time. And there are 11 psalms that are written that are said to be either by or inspired by the sons of Korah.

So this Korah was a very significant individual. Songs of David are more frequent. Songs of David, songs for David are more frequent, but songs of Korah comes in second place. And so when we come to the other, according to Alamot, this Alamot could be, and I'm suggesting it, I think it's possible, that it may refer to a song that was sung by young women.

There's a couple of things there that [00:14:00] suggest it's the ending on the Hebrew word, it's the meaning of the Hebrew word. Alma means a, a, a young woman who is eligible to be married, that age, somewhere in her teens usually. So it could be t- a teenage group, teenage choir kind of thing at that point. Now, that's possible, but there's also another possibility.

It may not. I may be wrong about that. But I'm not wrong about much, so I think it's probably cha- a good chance that that's, that's, uh, that's what happens. Uh, it's be- it's, it's a song that is to be sung by the youth, the youth choir, particularly the young women. So here's our first line, which is the governing passage, the governing line, "God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in trouble."

It's a wonderful passage to think about. It's a wonderful passage to memorize. If you're gonna memorize Psalm 46:10, [00:15:00] "Be still and know that I am God," memorize this one as well, "God is our refuge. He is our strength. He is a very present help in times of trouble." Maybe you've quoted that, maybe you've alluded to that, maybe you've remembered that.

I love what my friend Federico, uh, Villanueva says about this, our, that idea of our refuge. It doesn't say, "God is my refuge," my individual refuge. This is the big picture thing, our refuge. This is us, because us are the ones being threatened. Us are the ones that, that are in, in dire circumstances w- as the psalm goes on.

It's not just me and my problem. It's just not me as a victim of crime. It's not just me as, or you in a health crisis. There are psalms like that, but that's not one of them. This is not one of them. It says, "God is our refuge and strength. [00:16:00] God is a very present help in times of trouble." This time of trouble.

Federico said, Rico says, "We're strong not only because God is with us, but we're strong because we are together in this." We've experienced that. You've experienced that. Ecclesiastes talks about, talks about a, a rope of, of, of many, uh, p- parts, you know, three parts coming together and the strength that, that it, that entails.

That's a part of the wisdom literature, wisdom thinking of very... So that's how it begins. God is, is that. And then it goes, then it moves to the threat itself. Here is the threat, "God is our refuge. Therefore, we will not fear." Would you say that with me? We will not fear. When?

Though the earth gives way. Think about that. [00:17:00] The earth moving, sliding. Though the earth gives way, though mountains are falling into the sea, those, the waters... This is why I thought the, that's why I thought the, the wave on that young lady's shirt was so brilliant. Though the waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling We will not be afraid.

We will not be afraid. Why? Because God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in times of trouble, even trouble that big. This is, uh, catastrophic. This is cosmic catastrophe, world-shattering catastrophe. This is extreme trouble. This is titanic violence. [00:18:00] That's what these people are experiencing.

Not just a misfortune, not just having too many things on their schedule, or having missed a meeting 'cause they were overbooked

And yet, despite that, we will not be afraid. Why? Because God is our refuge and our strength. I've been reminded about that recently in Venezuela, what has happened. I have friends there. My daughter-in-law is from there. Uh, she lives, of course, now here, but she has lots of friends. She has family, extended family there in Venezuela, and this is the city she used to live in.

Um, and you see what rubble. You see the human being that's there, gives you a sense of scale, wearing a blue shirt. You see all the twisted metal. You [00:19:00] see what they're f- they're up against in terms of rescue. Some of you have been following that. But imagine in the middle of that being able to pause and say, "God is my refuge and strength, therefore I will not be afraid."

This is Indonesia, 2018. This is something that I, you know, I-- if, if it ever hit the Western news, I don't remember it. 2018, just a few years ago, a big tsunami came through, waters rushing. You see the mosque that is toppled. Indonesian-- Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country. 280 million Muslims, something like that.

Mosque there, the tower for prayer, where the muezzin would climb the t- and do the, the call to prayer every day, five times a day. And you see all the sheet metal. You see what those people were living in. Houses of [00:20:00] wood, cardboard, and sheet metal. Just all wreckage now. I-- this is the one I remember.

Indonesia, 2004, when this great earthquake, 9.5 or something like that, took place off of the coast, created a tsunami, killed 227,000 people in 14 different countries. But the, the hardest hit was Indonesia. I don't know if you can see this photo or not. You can see how far inland the water is, but the, the, the s- the ocean itself is many, many miles back, and you see what happened in this valley, what happened to these people.

We saw how violent it was. We saw how extreme it was. Though the earth give way, though mountains quake, though seas roar, we will not be afraid [00:21:00] That's gotta take some mammoth faith Big time faith Just one, one aspect of it. Now contrast that to the very next scene. I don't know if you noticed it, just two verses.

Right in the middle of it, but contrast that. This is a I- AI-generated image. You're gonna get tired of seeing that. But AI, this is the holy city and a stream down the holy city. This is, uh, not the real thing, but it is a... meant to be an image or a idea, an imagination. A beautiful stream. I would love to walk along that stream, wouldn't you?

Look how peaceful it is. Look how together it is. Contrast that scene of disaster with these words that we read next in the psalm. "There's a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. [00:22:00] God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved. God will help her city when morning dawns."

That is the aspiration. That is the long picture. That's the long hope. A new creation where the city of God, uh, Book of Revelation, has come down out of heaven and the world has been remade. A world that will not, cannot ever again have a tornado, a hurricane, an earthquake. A world that has been remade.

That's the world that God is promising. And that's a beautiful vision. Right here in the middle of, of the fact that the, these people's world is fall- falling apart, and yet they're holding onto a promise. God is our refuge. God is our strength. I might be sleeping under the stars, but [00:23:00] God is my refuge. God is my strength.

It's a beautiful passage, beautiful image. And yet next, notice what happens. He goes directly into something el- Well, wait, wait, hold that, uh, uh, sorry, sorry, I forgot that. Um, I'm gonna go right through here. We have another catastrophe. Verse six, one verse later. I got ahead of myself. One verse later, we have a cat- a- another catastrophe, but it's a, it's not a natural disaster, it is a man-made disaster.

We make many of our own disasters, right? Human beings. There are a few that are so cosmic we can't do anything about them, right? But there are some that are otherwise. This is an international catastrophe. The nations are raging. The kingdoms are tottering. He utters his voice, God does, and the earth, as it were, melts before [00:24:00] it.

I began thinking about the devastation we've just seen wrought by natural disasters, and I thought about what kind of devastation comes in times of war. Some of you have seen this up close and personal. Some of you know exactly what it looks like. Here's an image after World War II of a man standing in the wreckage of a city.

I don't know what city. I didn't ask that. I didn't pursue that. To some degree, it doesn't matter because this scene happened over and over and over. This is not a one-off. Many cities in Britain, many cities in Germany and other places were just destroyed. And I, I'm, I-- and I look at that [00:25:00] man standing there.

Don't know who he is. I don't know what nationality he is. I don't know what language he speaks. But I'm wondering, what is he thinking? What is on his mind as he comes to that moment? I'm hoping he had been meditating on Psalm 46. God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in times of trouble

That is the mantra that I wanna invest in you this morning, regardless of the kind of trouble that is coming. I got news this yesterday morning. It's very pers- this is a personal thing, hope it's okay. Got news yesterday morning that a person that I know and admire died. His name was Robert Sloan. He's president of Houston Christian University, where I served for n- 45 years.

Wasn't my president the whole [00:26:00] time, but he was my teacher back in seminary, he was my teacher at Baylor University, he was my teacher, uh, and friend long beyond that, and my president. And yet he had apparently what seems to be a massive stroke, 77, on Friday, and then they tried to save him but were unsuccessful, and they said goodbye to him on the morning of July the 4th, 2026 these kind of catastrophes come to us.

And what I want to do and what I want you to do and I want what us, us to do because God is our refuge and strength. If you're, if you think you're strong enough, if you think you're able enough, if you think you have the ability enough

That's another conversation. But the recognition from the very beginning that God is our [00:27:00] refuge. Regardless of what's happening in our lives, regardless what's happening to our friends' lives, regardless what happens in our terms of our own grief, God is our refuge and strength. Here's another more modern.

This is 2026 devastation. Looks different. Different kinds of weapons, smart weapons, and yet you see all these businesses and you see all these homes that have been destroyed, right? We could see this in Gaza, we could see this in Kyiv, we could see this in places maybe even in Russia, I don't know. And here's another spot where we grieve.

My son and I were talking yesterday about the Civil War. We've been watching a series on Abraham Lincoln. We talked about the war a bit. [00:28:00] 600,000 people died. The chances are good that if you, if your family has been here for a couple of hundred years, that there's a relative of yours that died in that war.

Maybe you know their name, maybe you don't, 'cause that's several, lots of generations back. But, but all those lives lost, war. And that's... The, a, a building can be rebuilt, but these boys, these girls, I imagine this was mainly boys back in the Civil War days, right? They, they can't get back. They're not coming back.

Not until the Lord himself returns and brings, brings them all back. That's what war does, though. Imagine that. Though nations rage, kingdoms totter, he speaks and utters and, and the earth like before him melts. We will not be [00:29:00] afraid. We will not be afraid. Here's a, a bulwark, a castle, beautiful castle here.

Uh, this kind of reminds me of what we're talking about here. This is why we shall not be afraid. 'Cause this is, this is this is God. He... The Lord of Hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Say that with me: The God of Jacob is my fortress. The God of Jacob is my fortress. Do we believe that? Is he our refuge and our help?

Or are we pretty much just kind of flailing around on our own, doing what we can to hold life together, to control things, to make things work? Uh-oh. The Lord of Hosts is with us. And now notice how the Psalm breaks out. I love this, 'cause we're gonna be s- singing about this in just a [00:30:00] minute if we have time.

Mm. Yeah. Come behold the works of the Lord How he has brought desolations to the earth. He makes, but he makes wars to cease. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots and all the instruments of, of warfare And he destroys them, and he brings wars to an end. And then it says... Listen, this, this is when it says, "Be still and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth." Notice that being still is not the last thing. Just be still. No. Be still, and I will be exalted. You quit your trying, you quit trying to fix it, you let me be part of that, [00:31:00] and I will be exalted in the earth. And we see examples after examples of that in Scripture.

That phrase, "Be still," it's, it's a very interesting phrase. It may not even be the best translation. What it means is to relax your grip, set it down, put it down

We try to maintain order in life, right? We try to keep things together. We try to be organized. We try to do this and that. God said, "Just set it down In the midst of war, natural disaster, just set it down. It doesn't mean we don't work. It doesn't mean that we, we don't rebuild those buildings. It just means where is our trust ultimately?

What's gonna keep us moving forward? Setting it down and letting God take it What is it? It's like what, what we need to say is, [00:32:00] "God, let, I'm gonna let go and let you have it. God, this is yours. Take care of it. This is your world. I am yours. I have, have declared a, I have declared and, and ha- written my own declaration of dependence upon you, totally.

Therefore, this is yours." The world, the Earth is the Lord's and everything in it. God, I'm giving back to you what you've given to us. So I'm gonna shepherd it. I'm gonna do my part, which means rebuilding buildings, which means burying the dead, which means doing all those things, but I am holding onto you as my shield and my fortress.

I love this image of a soldier in the middle of battle, just taking his, his, his weary hand, his strong hand, and laying down his [00:33:00] sword saying, "God, you must fight for us. You must win the battle. We will not win it without you. We will not win it alone." When I was... I'm gonna use my little stool here, if that's all right.

I'm gonna move this up here. When I was a... How can I, where can I sit? Is there a place to sit? Can y'all see me over here? When I was... Boy, I'm telling, telling you a story about when I was 12 years old. I was tw- there was a time I was 12 years old. Yeah. And I, I re- I went to a camp. It was called an RA camp.

Those were Royal Ambassadors. Some people might remember those. Uh, Royal Ambassador Camp. And I went, and we were, we were there. We, we had a great camp, a bunch of other guys. There was a lot of 12-year-old boys like that. And so one day we went down to the lake unsupervised, and there was a island in the middle of the lake Now Uh, some of the boys said, "Let's [00:34:00] swim over to the island."

And everybody said, "Yeah, let's do." And they all jumped in the water and started swimming. Now I was... I could swim, but I was not a good swimmer. Can you figure out where this is going? I started swimming. It was probably 150 yards out there. I mean, it actually was further than it looked . I don't... If you know about lakes, right?

The distances are bigger than they seem. So I started swimming, I started swimming, and, and I got about two-thirds of the way there, and my arms gave out. You ever, you ever have that happen to you? You're swimming and you're tired, and you, you're stroking. I mean, but you're not going anywhere. And I began thinking, "I'm not gonna make it."

I started to panic Well, I was a 12-year-old boy. I didn't want to be embarrassed in front of all these other 12-year-old boys. So, um, somehow I figured out, okay, settle down now just for a second. [00:35:00] I wish I had said, "Lord, you're my refuge and my strength. Give me a boat. Send me a boat now with oars." But I didn't do it.

Uh, somehow I sort of just laid on my back. By the way, I didn't drown that day, I'll just let you know. It has a happy ending. But, uh, I got to, I got to the, the, you know, about two-thirds of the way out and, and I started, I, I sort of refreshed myself a little bit by floating on my back and doing a different kind of stroke.

And, and finally I was able to get to the other side. Now I got to the other side. I was the last one to get there just about the time that they were ready to come back Yeah, yeah. And so, I just, you know, I th- I did, I wasn't sure I could make it back. Um, I, I told them, "I'm just gonna sit here a while, enjoy the view."

And they just jumped in the water and they started swimming and went back. They were better [00:36:00] swimmers than me. I'm a better swimmer today than I was then. So I f- I, I... On that other side, looking back, I said, "I don't think I'm gonna go back to camp. I, I, I just don't like this camp after all." Uh, you know, these 12-year-old boys, they can be kind of mean.

You know, 12-year-olds. No, I, I, I didn't think that exactly, but I, I, I thought, you know, uh, w- well, how am I gonna do this? I just barely made this. Barely made this. I don't know if you've ever, you ever thought about... Some of you may have been, uh, a life, a, a lifeguard before, right? Some of you may have been a lifeguard.

And I, I have this, this picture here of a, of a young lady, uh, running to rescue somebody. But it's a little awkward because everybody is in a pool having a good time, right? I mean, they're there with their friends, they're there with their girlfriends, they [00:37:00] got balls, they're playing. She's, she's going...

Imagine you have a group of people having a great time in a pool and the lifeguard runs up to you and says, "I'm here to rescue you." What would they do? They would laugh at you. "What? We're having a great time. I don't need to be rescued. What are you talking about? 'Cause I'm doing great." But change the scenario just a little bit What about if you're out in the middle of a lake and you're a 12-year-old boy or you're a man and you're out there in the middle of the lake and somehow y- your s- your strokes are not getting purchase anymore in the water, and you're not going anywhere, and you know that pretty soon your strength is gonna be given out?

Tell you what, this guy coming is, uh, is when he comes to say, "I'm here to rescue you"- That's great news, the best news you've [00:38:00] heard. Best news you will ever have is you're floating in the middle of the lake and you're, and you, you don't think you can go any further, and somebody pulls up alongside you and says, "I'm here to save you."

And what happens? You say, "That's the best news I've heard." Now, I don't know, I've never been a, a lifeguard, uh, but what I do know about lifeguarding is that if you get to somebody who's drowning and they're still flailing like this trying to stay afloat, guess what? He can't save you. She can't save you.

What do you have to do? Give way. Give way. And when you give up, and you stop flailing, and you stop agonizing, and you let the lifeguard take you, that's sweet stuff. [00:39:00] That's sweet stuff. Some of you may have been a lifeguard. Maybe you saved somebody exactly like in that, in that circumstance, and you had to somehow get them to settle down just for a minute.

And I tell you, that settling down stuff, that ain't easy It's hard in the middle of disaster, personal, cosmic, war, to settle down and let God... That's exactly what we're called to do. Now, by, by the way, this guy, I don't know about this guy right here, but in order to get up out of the water like that, he's gotta be s- at least be swimming 40 miles an hour.

I mean, he is just, he, he's just, he's just h- hi- he's hydroplaning on the top. He, he's a good lifeguard. He's a good lifeguard I'm gonna ask you to do something. We're going to do something different now, right now. Golly. What time we get... 12:30? Is that right? 12:30? Uh, no. Uh, [00:40:00] let, let's, uh, I'm, I'm gonna ask you to do something a little different.

I'm gonna... Th- this is terrible PowerPointing. Don't tell Mark I did this. This is terrible. This is not the way you're supposed to do it. I'm going to actually read something to you, but what I'd like you to do is I'd like you to close your eyes just for a few minutes. You can pray if you want to, but, uh, just, just listen.

Don't, don't... PowerPoint's a lot about what you see. This is not about what you see, but it's about what you're gonna hear. And I borrowed this off of Instagram, believe it or not, a place called Unfolding the Scripture. It came from there on April the 10th, 2026, which is when I began thinking about this.

But I'm gonna read it to you, and I want you to just kind of think about it in terms, but think about this be still and know that I'm God in terms of what the Psalm is really about. Would you, could you do that? Now, if you don't wanna do that, that's okay. Just please sit there quietly or I'll have [00:41:00] to turn this car around.

Never mind. All right, here we go Be still and know that I am God. You've probably said that to yourself at a quiet moment, candle lit, coffee in hand, a deep breath. But read what's happening in Psalm 46 before you get to verse 10. It's not a quiet room. Psalm 46 opens like this: The earth gives way, mountains fall into the heart of the sea, waters roar and foam, mountains quake Then nations are in our uproar, kingdoms fall, the earth melts.

This is not a poem about slowing down. This is a war psalm written for people whose entire world was coming apart. And right in the middle of collapsing mountains and roaring nations, [00:42:00] God speaks, not to someone sitting in silence, to someone gripping a weapon, standing in the rubble, watching everything they trusted give way beneath them.

That's who receives verse 10. So when God says, "Be still," he's not telling a calm person to stay calm. He's not describing an atmosphere. He's issuing a command to someone in the middle of chaos. The word he uses is not what we think it means. The word is-- the Hebrew word is raphah. It doesn't mean to sit quietly.

It means to drop. It means to release. It means to let your hands fall open. It's the word you'd use for a soldier gripping a sword so tightly that his knuckles are white, and God is saying, "Let it go. [00:43:00] Stop fighting the way you're fighting it. Open your hands." This changes everything about the verse. God wasn't inviting a quiet person into more quiet.

He was interrupting a terrified person mid-grip. The stillness he was asking for wasn't atmospheric. It was surrender. But not surrender of the passive kind, the hardest kind, in the middle of chaos with the mountains still falling around you. Choosing to release what you've been white-knuckling because you've decided that God is bigger than what you're holding onto.

We've turned this into a self-care verse, put it on mugs, printed it above beds, quoted it in sermons about margin and rest. And there's nothing wrong with rest, but that's not what this is. The people who first heard Psalm 46 weren't overscheduled. They were [00:44:00] terrified, and God didn't tell them to find a quieter environment.

He told them to stop trusting their own grip in the middle of a war. Think about what you're currently holding with both hands, the outcome you're trying to manage, the relationship you're trying to control, the plan you keep adjusting because if you don't, if you stop adjusting it, something might go wrong.

raphah doesn't mean just to walk away from it. It means stop gripping it like your survival depends upon it because it doesn't That's the whole point. The Psalm doesn't end with stillness. It ends with God being exalted. "I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth," he says. The release is not the destination.

It's the prerequisite. You can't watch God fight for you while you're still [00:45:00] fighting with both hands. Rapha is what makes room for the second half of the verse, "I, God, will be exalted." "Be still and know that I am God" wasn't spoken into collapsing mountains and roaring nations "Be still and know that I am God" was spoken into collapsing mountains and roaring nations, not in a quiet room.

It was never about atmosphere. It was His command to open your hands in the middle of your worst moment

Because the God who says he'll be exalted in the earth doesn't need your grip to do it. Drop what you're holding. He was never waiting for the chaos to stop before he moved Thank you[00:46:00]

Do you know better what this Psalm is about? What be still and know that I am God is all about We're gonna sing a song. Sing it together. I need a, I need a volunteer. Preferably who's not afraid of technology. Is there anybody willing? It, it's a volunteer. You don't have to sing or do nothing, just press a button when I say press it, or when you...

Does anybody wanna do it? Nobody?

All right, come on up, Dieter. Give Dieter a hand, would you? All right, Dieter All right. I'm gonna take... All right, see the, the big green one. It's the big green one. You can't miss it. All right. But you're gonna sing, too. You don't have to sing on the microphone. I've gotta sing on the microphone. Um, [00:47:00] we're not gonna let you sing on the microphone.

All right, um, as a result of this song, I wrote, I wrote this, so you're the first people to hear it. Except for my wife in the kitchen the other night, and s- and she was okay with it. Sh- she thought it was all right. Um, I'm gonna... Can I take this off, this microphone? Is that okay? Thumbs up. 'Cause that way I'll have And, uh, it's inspired...

See if we can get, get these things playing together

Can y'all hear that? All right

That's why my sleeves are rolled up, by the way. Can't play the guitar with long sleeves. Not very easily. All right, here's my words. I'm still trying to remember the words. So I'm not a very good songwriter, can't remember my words. All right, Dieter, we're gonna sing the song that's on the screen. [00:48:00] When we get to the end down there, I need you to press that button, 'cause it goes to the second verse.

All right? Whoa. Here we go. I may have to change this. This is the chorus. I'll play it

Come behold the works of the Lord. Come and see how He will be our rescue and our peace. Come behold the works of the Lord. Come and see how He will be our refuge and our strength. Come and see. You think you can sing that? Yes. All right, it's pretty easy, pretty easy tune. Uh, I'll sing it again, and you, you join me with it, okay?

And what, what we're doing, we're taking the psalm, not the whole psalm, but part of the psalm, and we're putting it, putting it to music [00:49:00] to help us to remember. Come behold the works of the Lord. Come and see how He will be our rescue and our peace. Come behold the works of the Lord. Come and see how He will be our refuge and our strength.

Come and see

Well, now here's how the verse goes. We're gonna put it all together

Though the earth gives way, and mountains quake, though seas roar

We will not be afraid. We will [00:50:00] not be afraid

God is with us

Try that with me. Though the earth gives way and mountains quake, though seas roar, we will not be afraid. We will not be afraid. God is with us. Now, come behold the works of the Lord. Come and see how He will be our refuge and our peace. Come behold the works of the Lord. Come and see how He [00:51:00] will be our refuge and our strength.

Come and see

This the last verse? Though the nations rage and kingdoms fall, though wars increase

We will not be afraid. We will not be afraid. God is with us. God is with us

Come behold the works of the Lord. Come and see how He will be our refuge and our strength. Come behold the works of the Lord. Come and [00:52:00] see how He will be our refuge and our strength. Uh, come and see Come and see

Wow, there you go Well done. Well done to our Wha-what did you, what did you call that job?

A helper. Yes. Yes

You know, it's always better when you remember the words to your own song. But, uh, anyway, uh, uh, it's, it's new. It's brand new. So anyway, it, it was fun kinda writing it, putting it together, but it, it helps me to remember, um, and I'm, I'm gonna keep coming back to that because I, I, I need to s- I need to come and, and just behold the works of God and see what [00:53:00] he has done, and realize that I'm...

Whatever, whenever I'm living, I'm stepping into a stream that has been going on a long, long time, and God is certainly with us through that. Well, here's just a few points from home very quickly, 'cause I know our time is about up. Uh, first of all, take care of yourself. Um, go have a spa day. That's totally fine.

Go fishing. Do some gardening. Take a nap. In fact, I have a friend, a long time ago, he's now passed away. He, he was a wonderful spiritual mentor of mine, and he'd say, "Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap." Sometimes that's what you need to do. Have a me day. That's all fine. It's all good.

Just, just don't think that that has anything to do with being still and knowing that I'm God, because it doesn't. It's a good thing to do despite that, you know? But here's, here's really what the Psalm is about: remembering that God is your [00:54:00] refuge and your strength, a very present help in times of trouble Remember that.

Hold onto that. We are followers of Jesus who recommended that to us, and we are, we are, we are still, still gonna continue to do so. Another, in times of trouble, don't be afraid. God is with you. R- r- you gotta repeat that. You gotta say that. You gotta think about that. Fear is just something that arises so naturally.

It... but it can dominate you, it can take you over, it can destroy you

It can stop you in your tracks. It can paralyze you. Come back to this refrain often, God is with us. The God of Jacob is [00:55:00] my fortress. This is a wonderful Psalm for you to meditate on and to think about. Beyond be still and know that I'm God. And then I think this is the last one, let go and let God. That sounds sort of trite, but letting go and letting God have it and saying, "God, I have made a mess of this.

My plan is not working out. Let's try your plan, 'cause you've probably got a better idea than I do." Your destiny, and this is what I keep coming back to ever since we hear To- uh, T- Tom, Tom Wright and, and other things as well, your destiny is a new creation where there is a city of peace and harmony without natural disasters, without war, without the tears of grief and sorrow.

That is our destiny, that new creation. And this is r- a reminder of what the Psalm [00:56:00] said. There is a city where God is present completely, totally. He walks with us. He's in the midst of her. He's on the sides of her. God is present, and God is there to provide sustenance and life forever. L'dor vador, forever and ever.

Forever and ever. That's our destiny. I wanna say thank you. Let's stand together, and let me dismiss you with prayer this morning. Thank you for your presence. Thank you for singing along to a new song you haven't heard before. Um- I'm very grateful Father in heaven, I pray that you will be with each of these people in a strong and powerful way, that they will sense your presence, that they will know that presence, that they will walk in that presence so that when fearful things [00:57:00] happen to them, when trouble comes, whether it's to an individual or to a group of us

That we will not be afraid. We will not lead with fear. We will not end with fear. But we will remember that you are with us and that we have a new destiny that we await. God, be with us, be present, be great, and we will exalt your name through Jesus our Lord. Amen.