Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Is God able to handle the cares and concerns of your life?

Here's Stephen Davey with these thoughts. The psalmist is effectively quoting God here and God is effectively saying, stop playing God and know that I am God. That's what he's saying. Stop playing God and know that I am God. If I'm going to take care of the nations, can I not take care of you?

That's the implication. If I can handle the challenges facing this world, can I not handle yours? When we find ourselves in really tough situations, we're tempted to go into crisis mode and try to maneuver and solve the problems ourselves. We might pray about it, but mostly we work to get ourselves out of the situation. Have you ever tried to solve a problem and your solution made things worse? We need to learn to trust God with our problems, and that's our theme today here on Wisdom for the Heart. God hasn't promised to rescue you out of your trials, but he has promised to carry you through them.

Stephen Davey is taking us to Psalm 46 today, so grab your Bible and a pen as we get started. This lesson is called, Between a Rock and a Hard Place. More than a hundred years ago, I read just this week, a financial crisis occurred in the United States that became known as the Banker's Panic of 1907. The financial crisis impacted and in fact crippled a number of industries as you can imagine, and the ripple effect was felt all the way out to a place called Bisbee, Arizona.

Anybody here from Bisbee, Arizona? That's what I thought, okay? Nobody. Well this lack of funding caused quite a problem between the copper mining companies and the mine workers there in Arizona. They were underpaid, the conditions were really, really challenging as you can imagine in 1908, 1909. They eventually organized labor unions and approached the management with a list of demands for better pay and working conditions, and the company refused and then retaliated by threatening any mining worker to approach them in the future would be immediately fired. So the mine workers were faced with this dilemma.

They were either to choose working at the rock face of their quarry or lose their jobs which would make matters only worse. And one of the workers coined the phrase, between a rock and a hard place, and it wasn't long before newspapers picked up that and used it to describe any number of impossible situations. Of course for us today we use it, between a rock and a hard place means you're stuck.

You've got two options, neither one are desirable in your life. There are times when you are confronted right between a rock and a hard place with your utter helplessness. In fact you're confronted with your weakness, aren't you? During times like that.

Your inability to hurdle whatever those obstacles might be that keep you pinned in. We might deny it, we might attempt to talk rather spiritually to mask it, we might try to fake our way through it. One author wrote, we might even try to ignore it, but the truth persists with some stubbornness.

We are weak creatures. Being sinful we fail, being prone to sickness we hurt, being mortal we wear out, pressures weigh us down, anxiety gives us indigestion, people intimidate us, criticism offends us, difficulties hound us. Let me recommend that you open your Hebrew hymnal to the center of your Bible and begin to get what one author called, he said we need it regularly, what he called a big dose of Psalm 46. Martin Luther would often say to Philip Melanchthon when they were besieged by pressure and threats to their own lives, he would say, come Philip, let's sing the 46th Psalm.

Let's sing it. Now we don't know what their melody line was, if they were converted from being monks it was probably one note repeated often. We'd have to make up a melody line. You might notice before verse one begins here that we're told it's set to Alomot, it's from Alma, that's a Hebrew term for a young maiden, a young woman.

No one's exactly sure what that means here. Some Old Testament scholars think that this was to be sung by a soprano or alto, a female voice or maybe a choir composed or made up of women. Some others think that this is a reference to this being accompanied by some sweetly pitched instrument like a flute or a harp.

Evidently what we can surmise from this is that the Psalm was intended to be pleasant and soothing and encouraging and reassuring to the ear and certainly to the heart. Now you'll notice at a quick glance that this song is divided into three stanzas. Each stanza ends with a notation to pause and you can see that notation in a word. It appears at the end of verse three, verse seven and verse eleven it's the word selah.

It's designed by the composer to serve as an interlude. It's a time to stop, to pause, a time to reflect on what you just sung. If we expanded selah and sort of paraphrased it, the composer is saying something to us like this, now stop and think about what you just sang. Stop, pause, don't race through these lyrics, reflect on them, selah.

When you see that it means slow down, not my favorite phrase in the English language, think it through. You know it hit me what the average Christian needs is less panicking and more pausing. I don't know about you but I need more selah in my life and heart.

So I'm giving you that ahead of time. We're going to see that as each stanza comes to a close. Now the first stanza opens with verse one. Notice, God is our refuge and strength, very present help in trouble. The word trouble comes from a verb that means to be restricted, to be cramped, to be stuck in a narrow place. And when I saw that Hebrew translation, I immediately thought, oh I know what he's talking about.

He's talking about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. And when you are, the song emphasizes that God is a very present help. I don't know how your translation renders it but it means he is an immediate help.

He is immediately on call, so to speak. Notice verse two. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change, though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar in foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. A few weeks ago our oldest daughter and her husband experienced the effects of one of the strongest earthquakes to hit the country of Chile where they live. It took place a hundred miles from Santiago where they live. We were finally able to reach her and she said to me on the phone, she said, Daddy, there's nothing quite like running down thirteen flights of stairs surrounded by screaming, panicking, crying people, feeling the buildings swaying underneath you. Your apartment's on the thirteenth floor. She said, but don't worry, they built the buildings here in Santiago to sway during earthquakes.

I thought, great, that makes me feel so much better. Well, the psalmist, we just read it, he's describing earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions that are literally blowing mountains into the sea, all of which is a poetic description. He's communicating that everything about life has just come unhinged. Everything is unsteady.

The foundations are swaying. In fact, go back to verse two and I want to point out this phrase, though the earth should change, I think that ought to be rendered, though the earth should change hands. And if we go into the historical setting, and let me do that for just a couple of minutes, that this song came out of by these sons of Korah that wrote it. The historical setting is when Jerusalem was threatened by a king by the name of Sennacherib. He was Assyrian. His capital was a place, you know, it was Nineveh, wicked king. He covered his throne with the skin of defeated kings.

He came to conquer Egypt in 710 B.C. and he's plundering and he's killing and he's conquering all the cities along the way. And here is little Jerusalem standing in his way.

Doesn't have a chance. Sennacherib sends a message in the form of a letter to the king, whose name is Hezekiah, and he basically says, I'm going to defeat you and slaughter all of you, and I'm going to conquer Jerusalem. The people of Jerusalem panic. They're crying, they're screaming, they're demanding that their king form an alliance with Egypt.

Their only chance, do something, surrender. And Hezekiah, even though he knows he doesn't stand a chance, I love that text and you can read all about it in 2 Kings, not now. 2 Kings 18 and 19, and he takes that letter from Sennacherib and he goes into the temple precinct and he spreads it out before the Lord.

I love that. It's as if he's saying, Lord, you've got to read this. Look at what he's saying. And Isaiah the prophet comes to Hezekiah and he commends him for wanting to trust God, for not wanting to sign an alliance with Egypt or surrender. Isaiah basically says, stay the course. From all external evidences, it seems pretty obvious that the earth is about to change hands. The power is about to shift and everything's going to change.

God keeps his word. Just around midnight, 185,000 Assyrian soldiers die from some strange disease that overtakes them. Sennacherib limps home to Nineveh where he is soon assassinated. Out of that context comes this song. There is absolutely no way out. There's nowhere to go. There's no way through.

There's nothing to do but go to God. By the way, don't miss the repetition. Whenever you see things repeated, underline them. You'll see the word in just this opening stanza repeated four times, though, or although. Although. Although the earth should change. Although the mountains slip into the sea. Although its waters roar in fun.

Although the mountains quake. Find your refuge in God. There is something occurring perhaps that right now has you between a rock and a hard place.

And you can find your place in that word, although. I'm finding refuge in God, although my bankruptcy has just finalized. Although my marriage has just ended. Although my company was just bought and I've lost my job. Although a close friend just betrayed me. Although our home was just destroyed. Although our retirement savings were just stolen or lost.

Although the doctors have no answer at this time. Although that close relationship ended. Although that funeral just took place. Although that accident just occurred. Although I never saw that coming. Just keep going. Although.

Although. The psalmist is teaching us to sing in spite of any although God is my refuge and my strength. He is immediately available. He is immediately aware, even when I'm stuck. Now, at this point, the composer puts in the word sealer sealer. Now, what do you think about that?

Pause before you move on. Stanza number two begins in verse four. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. Now, this has prophetic implications. Not only is God our present refuge, the city of God will one day be our permanent refuge. The future coming kingdom. And then, of course, the eternal state.

And that river flows from his throne, we're told, cascading down twelve levels of the Father's house, I believe. This coming kingdom where is the holy dwelling places of the most high. Verse four. Verse five. God is in the midst of her. She will not be moved.

God will help her when morning dawns. The psalmist here is encouraging the believer, not only reminding them and us of our present refuge, he's reminding us of a permanent refuge where now we trust God invisibly, so there we will see God physically through Christ. So one day there's going to be peace on earth. In the meantime, there could be peace in the heart. Even though, verse six, notice the nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered, he raised his voice and the earth melted.

Don't miss the contrast. The nations are making a lot of noise, they're making an uproar. God will one day raise his voice and it will settle it once and for all. Right now, the nations of the earth are fairly loud.

The nations of the earth are fairly noisy. They seem to be drowning out the voice of God. The psalmist says, well, one day God's voice will be heard above all of the voices of earth and he will settle it once and for all. The psalmist says, let's sing about this sovereign Lord. Verse seven.

The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold. The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.

Think about that. He's the God of Jacob. That doubting, deceiving, manipulating patriarch. That conniving man who hoped to buy his way out of trouble. This man who made a covenant of faith with God, which was really bribery or an attempt. He never really depended on God as he should have.

The man who had come to the conclusion that God had really never been good enough to his family and he comes to his later years and the circumstances of life confront him, he's stuck between a rock and a hard place and he says, well, everything is against me. God says, I am willing to be known as the God of Abraham. We get that. The God of Isaac. We get that. And the God of Jacob.

And I'm really glad about that. Because if God is willing to embrace Jacob, to be the God of Jacob, he is willing to be your God and mine as well. And so the psalmist writes his second Selah.

Think about that. Stanza number three begins at verse eight. 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. He cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariots with fire. These are all the weapons of warfare.

He's going to do away with them. Now this happened in the days of Hezekiah and they're celebrating it. But this also is going to happen permanently as God brings all war to an end. By the way, if you notice how the world is quick to blame God for every war. Maybe you can remember in college that professor saying, you know, there's been more war in the name of religion and in the name of God than anything else ever. They're quick to remind you that all the wars fought in the name of God, all the blood shed over religious beliefs, that God is responsible and it's his fault. Never mind that in this immediate context, Sennacherib is coming to make war, not Jerusalem.

But I want to give you another side to that thought. God will be responsible one day to end all war. In fact, if he didn't end war, war would never end. He's going to end it. One day, the prophet Isaiah says, they're going to take their swords and they're going to beat them into plowshares.

They're going to transform their machinery of warfare into farming equipment. But I got to tell you, in the sweep of this psalm here, the psalmist really isn't so much concerned with the unrest and the troubled nations of the world, as much as he is the trouble and unrest in your heart and mine. So verse 10, cease striving 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 now.

Think about that. Cease striving. The word cease in the Hebrew language can be rendered in our contemporary vernacular, relax. I like that word, relax.

I'm going to try it sometime this week. How about you? Relax. Be quiet.

The stem of the verb is what Hebrew linguists call causative, which means this is what you do. Stop striving. Stop manipulating. Stop trying to orchestrate life. Quit trying to control everything.

Quit trying to control everyone. Be still. Be still. That's not easy, is it?

It wasn't easy for me in third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade. Be still. It wasn't easy now. The psalmist is effectively quoting God here and God is effectively saying, stop playing God and know that I am God. That's what he's saying. Stop playing God and know that I am God. If I'm going to take care of the nations, can I not take care of you? That's the implication. If I can handle the challenges facing this world, can I not handle yours?

If I'm in control of the noisy chaos and the corruption touching this world, am I not in control of whatever touches you? I think this psalm has been called Martin Luther's psalm for good reason, but I also believe that it is part of the biography of another individual. And I pulled it out again this week, having read through it, to find where I had made some notes. You know him as the father of modern missions. His name is William Carey. Began his missionary ministry in the late 1700s.

Served in India for 40 years without ever returning to his home in England. One night, a fire broke out in the warehouse, his compound, and it ripped through his printing plant. And in a matter of hours, years of work literally went up in smoke.

The following morning, Carey and his associates calculated their losses, and let me just breeze through a few of them. Manuscripts of nearly all of his Indian scripture versions were gone. All of the Kenneries New Testament, all of his Telugu grammar, all of the dictionary of Sanskrit, which he considered his most important life's work. Completely destroyed.

By the way, there are no computer backups. After 20 years of painstaking work, Carey and his associates had numerous translations in manuscript form, ready to be printed, burned up. Several languages where they had the lead cast, those little letters, if you've seen an old printing press where they would lay those letters out, and then lay the paper on top, pull the lever, and they'd press it. All of that lead from all these languages was destroyed. Let me just read some of the languages.

Hebrew, Greek, Persian, Arabic, Nagati, Telugu, Bengali, Burmese, Punjabi, Tamil, and Chinese. Mandarin. Burned. Melted. It also destroyed his buildings and his tools. A friend who came to see him at the mission would later write, the scene was indeed affecting.

The long printing office reduced to a shell, the yard littered all around with burnt paper. Carey walked with me over the smoking ruins and the tears stood in his eyes. In one night, he said, the labors of years are consumed. How unsearchable are the ways of God.

He has laid me low. We walked over the ground, strewn with half-consumed paper on which the words of life would soon have been printed. The metal under our feet amidst the ruins was melted into misshapen lumps. Rubbish and smoke. Carey would write to a friend later and say, oh, the providence of God is dark. Can you imagine working 20 years on a project and it is burned up in two hours?

There doesn't seem to be much light. It doesn't make sense. I can't figure it out. In his biography, I read how the following Sunday, Carey stood to preach in his church. And he had confided to a friend that this was the only text that he believed he could preach. He had the congregation turn to Psalm 46 and verse 10, and he read, Be still and know that I am God. After reading the text, he preached and he had two points to his outline. Number one, God's right to do with us as he pleases. Number two, mankind's duty to surrender to God's will. He then preached on the purpose and the promises and the principles of God. This isn't just Martin Luther's him.

This is William Carey's. But I have news for you. It is intended by God to be yours as well. We all have times of difficulty. In fact, the lesson you just heard is called between a rock and a hard place, because that's where we sometimes find ourselves. I hope this time in God's Word has helped and encouraged you. You're listening to Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. We have a resource that we send out each month called Heart to Heart magazine. It features practical advice from God's Word, as well as a daily devotional guide. And if you don't receive it, we'd like to send you the next three issues just for calling and asking. Call us today at 866-482-4253. Please join us tomorrow for more Wisdom for the Heart. .