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Today's reading is Psalm 46.

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God is within her, she will not fall. God will help her at break of day.

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Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall. He lifts his voice, the earth melts.

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The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress.

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Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth.

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He makes what sees to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear.

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He burns the shields with fire. He says, be still and know that I am God.

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I'll be exalted among the nations. I'll be exalted in the earth.

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The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress.

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The word of the Lord.

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The last time I was up here, I was a student.

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And fast forward to today, I am so happy to have the pleasure to speak to you this morning on the topic, songs of comfort.

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And I appreciate the opportunity to share these words of scripture with you.

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But before we begin, let us share a word of prayer.

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Heavenly Father, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, through Christ. Amen.

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Songs have the ability to comfort us. They go a long way towards resetting our mood when we go through challenging times.

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Songs and music are a universal language of empathy and solace.

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And you probably have a song that is kind of like your go-to song when you're feeling sad, you're down, you're distressed.

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You have the blues. We all do, actually.

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And the familiarity of those songs remind you that you are not alone in that situation.

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It's so interesting that songs that were written long ago by people we don't even know have the way of meeting us and lifting us up when we feel low.

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So today, we're going to look at one of such songs, which is also a song, as we continue our summer playlist series.

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And the track that we're going to look at today is Psalm 46.

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It's a song that was composed by the Sons of Korah, a musical group who used to minister in the temple in the old days.

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It's believed that this song was written at a time when Jerusalem was under siege.

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And Judah was being invaded by another country.

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And I know that we are not under siege here today, but in our personal lives and our personal circumstances,

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we sometimes face challenges that make us feel like we're under siege.

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There are life issues we face sometimes, and those issues threaten to consume us.

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They're so overwhelming.

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And maybe you're dealing with one of those issues here today.

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It could be a financial issue. It could be a health issue.

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Something has happened to somebody that you care about dearly, and you're just grappling with that.

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It could be that you're alone. You're far from home. It could be anything.

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Because I can tell you this. If you have lived long enough on earth, you would have come through something.

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You would have known that life does happen to each and every one of us.

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So when life happens to us, the question is, where do we go for comfort?

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Sometimes we're tempted to do the wrong thing that even worsens the problem.

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But the psalmist is going to give us some tips on how to derive comfort from the Word of God when we're facing difficulties.

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And this psalm actually offers us comfort by reminding us of who God is to us during times of trouble, what God is doing.

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Where God is during those difficult times.

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And it tells us what we should be doing so that we fully benefit from the comfort that the Word of God offers us.

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So the first question that the psalm answers, which should give us comfort, is the question of who.

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And it goes right off the bat. It says that God is our refuge and our strength and ever-present help in trouble.

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See, the psalm begins with a very categorical and powerful statement that answers a couple of questions right off the bat.

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God is our refuge. He is our strength.

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He is present. He is our help.

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So let's try to break this down.

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If you lived in a place, in a country, in a region that experiences hurricanes and tornadoes,

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you would ensure that you know where all the shelters are way before the storm hits.

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And once there was the storm, there was a prediction that a storm is coming, you would go way ahead.

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I would go way ahead of time into the shelter and I would stay there until the storm goes past.

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To be sure of our safety, we do not seek refuge when the storm is already there.

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It would be very risky to be running around when the storm has arrived.

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And in a similar manner, it is something we need to do as followers of Christ to seek God and develop a relationship,

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a very vibrant relationship with Him way before the storm of life comes and hits us.

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That way, we will not panic when the storm hits because it would be settled already in the place of refuge.

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See, Proverbs chapter 18 verse 10 says that the name of the Lord is a strong tower and the righteous,

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they run into it and they are saved. So it's not even, we're not even strolling into it.

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We're running there because that's where our refuge is.

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And we can also take a hint from Psalm 9 to 1 that says that He that dwells in the secret place of the Most High

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shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty and He shall say of the Lord,

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He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust.

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See, what I like about that is says He that dwells.

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That means God should already be a dwelling place for us as we develop a relationship with Him.

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And so that's the encouragement. If we have to benefit from the comfort of having God as our refuge,

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we have to continue being a part of what God is doing in our midst.

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We have to continue as we all are doing to come into the place where God is

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because that's where the refuge is. So allow God to be the one who guides and leads our life

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because that's where we derive comfort.

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To study the Word of God, to pray, to build up our faith.

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Another thing to note in this verse is that God is helping us.

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Again, let's go back to the storm shelter situation. If we go to a storm shelter,

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you don't just get the covering and the shelter. There is help while you're there.

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There's food, there's water, there's sustenance, there is interaction.

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And that's kind of what it is like being in God and with God. All of that is taking place.

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God is comforting us through His Word, through the things He's encouraging us,

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through our community, our fellow believers. He's reaching out to us.

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And verses 2-3 say, do not fear, do not fear, though the earth give way

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and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam

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and the mountains quake with their surging.

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Well, what this means to me is if I'm in a storm shelter, chances are that

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it doesn't matter how bad the storm is out there, I am not going to come out of that shelter

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because I'm right where I should be. It's kind of the same thing with God.

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If you're working with God, if God is giving you refuge, it doesn't matter what is going on around us.

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It doesn't matter how fierce that shaking is. It doesn't matter how bad that situation is

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because guess what? You're not going to run out of God. Where are we going to go?

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That's our refuge. That's our shelter. So we stay put.

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And we have the confidence that it doesn't matter how long it lasts,

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when it's all said and done, God will see us through it.

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So we remain there. And we know, just like 1 Corinthians chapter 10 says,

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it says that no temptation we face is uncommon to man.

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It may look to you, it may be very challenging, it may be difficult,

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but that's to you. It's not uncommon to man. It's not the first time it's happened.

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It's not going to be the last time. God has seen other people through similar things.

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And He's going to see you through it. He's going to see me through it.

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He's going to see all of us through it.

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Another important question that this psalm answers is,

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where is God while I'm going through this trouble?

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We tend to say that a lot. If God is with me, why am I going through all of this?

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Why is this happening to me? Why me? Well, I'd rather it's not me,

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but that's what we tend to say.

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Verses 4 to 5 say that there is a river whose streams make light the city of God,

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the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her.

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And guess what? God is within you. The Holy Spirit is in you.

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God is within you. God is in our midst. God is in the city.

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Look at it this way. God is in the city.

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God is in our midst. God is in the city. Look at it this way.

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We run to God. God is our refuge. But God is already dwelling in his city.

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So actually we're running to the presence of God.

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And so in all our challenges, in all our tribulations, in all our situations,

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God is present.

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This reminds me of a parable in the Bible, or a narrative,

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when Jesus was going after a day of teaching, he told his disciples,

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let's go to the other side. And they all got into the boat and started going.

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Halfway on the sea, the storm arose, and the disciples started panicking.

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And they did what we would do. They felt they could fix it.

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So they started bailing out the water that was coming into the boat,

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until some smart person among them said, no, we actually have Jesus here.

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Let's wake him up. Jesus was in the boat, and yet they faced a storm.

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So the fact that you have a situation, a circumstance, a challenge in your life

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does not mean that God is not with you. Actually, he is present. He's there.

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And so we should take comfort when we know and we read that God is with us.

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And for those of us that are watching online or if you get to hear this message

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at a later time, feel free to join us here in Trinity.

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This is a place where we actively seek God.

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This is a place where we actively seek to follow him, to make sure that he's in our midst.

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He's present with us. We have a vibrant community that we support one another.

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We love one another through the challenges of time.

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And so we are comfortable and we are confident to say that God is always in our midst here at Trinity.

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Another thing we learned from this time is what God has done.

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It talks about desolations, yes. We live in a broken world.

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And sometimes we don't know how God acts, but our brokenness causes conflict and things like that.

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But beyond the conflicts and the desolation, God makes wars to cease to the ends of the earth.

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He breaks the bow and he shatters the spear and he burns the shield with fire.

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What that means to me and it should mean to all of us is that no matter what that situation is,

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God will break it. That situation that looks like it's going to break you, God will break it.

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The problem is always the timing. We want it now.

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But sometimes that's not how it works.

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We have to trust God and believe that he will come through in his time and make all things beautiful.

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See, if God can handle conflicts in nations and cause wars in nations to cease,

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then I am very confident that our individual lives, the problems we face in our personal lives,

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cannot be that much of a challenge to God.

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And so let's take comfort in that knowledge.

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And finally, we've been talking about what God has said he's going to do, he's doing, and will do.

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Let's talk about what scripture says that we should do.

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It says we should be still. We should be still and know that he is God.

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I don't know whether you know how difficult it is to keep still when you are facing challenges.

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The tendency is you want to fix it, you want to do this and do that and do the other one.

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There's a lot of activity going on. There is a lot of effort to get this done.

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And when we've gone through the first round and it hasn't worked, we start again and we're doing the same thing over and over again trying to fix it.

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Now, the Bible says be still and know that I am God.

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And being still does not mean abdicating our responsibilities.

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If it's a financial situation, we still have to make that call to the bank.

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We still have to take responsible steps to get it fixed.

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Being still means after you've done all the needful things, let's stop panicking.

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Let's stop behaving like we don't have a God that we are praying to and we are confident that he's going to help us resolve that issue.

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Let's stay still. Let's stay confident.

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Ephesians 6, chapter 6, verse 13 says this in a very nice way, a way that I enjoy.

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It says put on the full armor of God so that when the evil day comes, you may be able to stand your ground.

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And having done all to stand, stand.

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So do all you can do and then be confident that God will see you through that situation.

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Sit still in the shelter under the refuge of the most high God.

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So in closing, verse 11 tells us the Lord Almighty is with us.

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The God of Jacob is our fortress.

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Truth is that has been the running theme in the Psalm.

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We saw it in verse one when it says when he said that he's a very present help.

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We saw the same concept in verse five when it says God is within the city.

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God is with me. God is within me as in the form of the Holy Spirit.

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It is in a mist here as a Trinity community and will not let us fall.

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We saw it in verse seven that says the God of Jacob is with us.

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And now it's also a reminder that the Almighty is with us.

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So in summary, how do we navigate trying times and derive comfort from the word of God?

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We seek and remain in God.

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We recognize him as our refuge, as the source of our strength and our help.

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We recognize that God is present with us in that situation.

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We keep still and know that he's going to help us and that he continues to be God.

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My prayer is that the Psalm will make it to your personal playlists as a song of comfort

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that you can go to when you need it and walk through the words of comfort and encouragement that are buried in this.

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Thanks be to God. Amen.