No problem is too big for our God

Last night, I was using the app on my phone to see what stars and planets I could find, from the darkened pasture.  It's a favorite pastime of mine, and I often allow myself the luxury of thinking that I will learn which ones are which, and where they are. Even their names.

I probably don't have enough gray matter to get all that done, though, which is why that app is so helpful.

But I digress.

Looking above me at the expanse of God's creation makes me think each time of "how great is our God." But today, many people think His power is pretty limited.

As an example, a great number of people argue about the Bible and all of the resources it points us to: a personal relationship with God, forgiveness of our sins, riches in Christ and eternal life in heaven. Their argument is that those blessings are not sufficient to deal with the complicated problems we face in our modern world. They contend that these must be supplemented with the "insights" of modern psychology.

Piffle.

Sorry, that just slipped out.

Psychology, after all, is only a hundred or so years old. People have been believing on Christ, and receiving His salvation and maturing in Him for a lot longer than that! The psychologists would have us believe that people can't get into a state where they can be saved and sanctified until they have therapy. The therapy helps them deal with some of their problems. . . . you mean that God can't do His work in our lives until a therapist gets it started? That's scary.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the Bible alone actually does contain sufficient help to meet people's deepest needs. Personal needs. Emotional needs. Spiritual needs. I don't believe that there is any problem beyond the scope of scripture. I believe that all of our needs can be met by the spiritual riches we find in Jesus. Now, that doesn't mean that Christians won't be helped by counseling. I agree they can be helped by the counsel of godly people, and by the counsel of God's Word. 

I think this is what the author of Psalm 46 is saying! I checked several commentaries, but the scholars are divided on the authorship. Some believe that this psalm relates to the time when King Hezekiah of Judah was surrounded by the armies of Sennacherib (the king of Assyria). 

You can check out the story in a couple of places in scripture; you'll find it in II Kings 18-19 and in II Chronicles 32. It wasn't looking good for Hezekiah. Forty-six (count 'em, forty-six!) different towns and villages in Judah had been sacked. What does that mean? Well, over 200,000 people had been taken captive, along with animals, properties, and belongings. And there were more than185,000 troops surrounding the city of Jerusalem.

A lost cause?

Nope. Sennacherib hadn't paid attention to the fact that Hezekiah's God is the living God. The Almighty. The great I AM. The God Who will not be mocked. 

Hezekiah prayed.

God spoke.

In one night, the angel of the Lord defeated Sennacherib by killing 185,000 of his soldiers.

Like I said, the scholars are not unanimous about whether it was that situation or some other, but Psalm 46 was definitely written after God had provided deliverance out of some enormously difficult and adverse situation. It relates so well to us - we have all been in a time of trouble. Or we will face trouble in the future. And Psalm 46 tells us that when trouble comes, God is sufficient to get us through.

There is NO problem that is too big for our God. If we will learn to take refuge in Him and to lean on Him for strength, then we can say with the psalmist that God is with us. And He is sufficient. We can face the most extreme crises with quiet confidence.

Let's re-read Psalm 46 again today . . . .