Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
December 11, 2022
Preached by David McHale
Scripture Reading
Psalm 46:1-11
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots 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 of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
I wonder if any of you have been in a tornado. Not in the safety of your home. Out in the open – even if it was just in your car. We had a tornado tear through the town I grew up in and my mom was caught out on the road. I remember when she recounted her drive, seeing trees thrown to the ground next to her car. Can you guess what she was feeling? Obviously, she was terrified.
In her fear, she thought something like: “I need to find a safe place.” As she was driving, she saw a garage door open. She sought refuge there, along with a few other strangers. The basement window was blown in with the computer thrown across the room. Though the storm raged outside, she was safe.
We live in a world of uncertainty, one that, like a tornado, can be chaotic and out of control. You may not have been caught in a literal tornado, but many of us have had chaos rush through our lives in the past and many of us feel turbulence presently.
Maybe you look out into the world, or we look at the communities of which we are a part or we investigate the depths of our own hearts, and you are tempted to fear. Maybe it is another mass shooting on the news, war and threats of war, your child’s public-school curriculum, the loss of a loved one, the rumble in your heart of pride, or the crippling anxiety you bear of all the “what-ifs” in your life. There is much in our lives that can cause us to tremble.
Now, you might be thinking, “Isn’t that a bit too doom and gloom for the start the Advent series?” Well, no. The Christmas story, the story that we anticipate and celebrate during Advent, is not one that denies the brokenness, chaos, and injustice in the world. Rather, it is a story in which God invades the trouble of the world in Jesus Christ. Some of you may not be living in chaos right now or you may not feel connected to the chaos in the world right now. That is fine. But many of you have – and all of us will. And Jesus is the answer.
In our trouble, we need a place of stability, security – a place we can retreat to in our fear. Psalm 46 sings to us with the classic hymn, “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.” Hark. Listen. Pay attention. Lift up your head.
Psalm 46 says that God is a safe place for us, a refuge for us to run to in trouble. He is the only place where we can possibly be liberated from fear in the face of chaos. We find courage in him because (1) he reigns over our chaos and (2) he dwells with us in it. He reigns over the chaos, and he lives with us in it.
1. He reigns over our chaos.
In psalm 46, the psalmist uses extravagant and vivid imagery to describe the world that God’s people are living in.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
The psalmist is drawing on the volatility of nature to describe the state of the world in which God’s people live.
Nature can be violent and unpredictable. In an earthquake, literally the earth is giving way. An earthquake can cause a ten-story building crumble like a gingerbread house and create cracks in the earth up to 90 feet deep and 2 miles long. [1] An avalanche can travel at speeds of 200mphs, that can crack massive hundred-year-old trees like toothpicks. Consider a category 4 hurricane, 300 miles wide, with winds sometimes reaching 150 mph that can level cities in just a day.
In March of 2011, a tsunami hit the island of Japan, wreaking havoc on everything in its path. Some have said that waves reached as high as 130 feet traveling about the speed of a car. One professor described the power of such a wave. He said that such a wave would have carried a similar force to that of a fleet of tanks each weighing 60-65 tons (100k lbs) – the wave rushes through the city, carrying with it homes, schools, children’s toys, and human lives.[2]
This is apocalyptic language. It is as if the world is ending. Everything that was stable is now brittle and chaotic. The mountains, symbols of permanence, safety, and power, are shaking and dissolving into the ocean. The waters are roaring. We often have a pleasant view of water – we drink it, we wash with it, we might swim in it. But when it is out of control, it can be deadly.
Throughout the Bible and in the psalmist’s culture, water was a symbol of chaos, uncertainty, danger. The sun doesn’t shine in the depths of the sea, where the mountains are being thrown. In this imagery, the creation itself is being undone. In Genesis 1, the water that covered the face of the deep gave way to land and life. In Psalm 46, the sea, that place of darkness and chaos is overtaking the earth. It is a horrifying picture.
The Chaos of Our World
This is the picture the psalmist paints of the state of the present world. The severity of this imagery points to the severity of the sin and suffering, the injustice and pain that plagues our world.
Consider the corrupt leaders in the world who oppress their people by limiting freedom, forcing labor, and punishing disloyalty. Consider the mother and father in Ukraine who have been forced to flee their home with their family because shells have poured into their town and reduced their house to rubble. There are threats of more war as Japan braces for the potential of an invasion from China, which would have massive implications for global stability.
Consider chaos that is much more hidden. There is an unseen global universe in which men and women, boys and girls, are trafficked for sex. In this hidden labyrinth of evil, God’s good image is being ravaged behind closed doors – and in ways that we couldn’t possibly comprehend, this evil is changing our world and our culture.
Consider the chaos within our nation in which people have entrenched themselves in their own political, ideological, or racial tribe to the extent that all those that disagree with them warrant hatred and verbal violence.
Consider the chaos within our own economy in which inflation has drained some people dry and has caused people’s future financial security, maybe yours, that which they’ve worked for their whole career, more volatile and vulnerable than it has ever been.
Consider the chaos within your own heart and head where the sin of pride, lust, or maybe worry threaten to take you down, where the pain of loss, failure, or maybe depression threaten to drown you. Maybe you resonate with the psalmist who says in Psalm 69…
1 Save me, O God!
For the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in deep mire,
where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
and the flood sweeps over me.
The chaos in the world and in our own hearts can so often lead us to fear. We feel powerless – and in many cases, we are – to change what is happening, or to see good amid it. Are we doomed? Is this ever going to change? Is it going to get worse? What is this going to mean for me, for my family? Can good come out of the chaos in my life?
We need a refuge, a place of safety in the storms we see and the floods that threaten us. In Psalm 46, we are called by the psalmist to see that God has shown himself to be a stable refuge for us amid our sin and suffering. We are called to run into the safety of his presence. Throughout the story of God, God shows that he reigns over the raging waters that bring chaos into the world. He shows that he is in control over the instability we face in our lives. Hear David in Psalm 29:3-4, 10:
3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD, over many waters.
4 The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is full of majesty….
10 The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
God is king over the waters that roar and foam in Psalm 46. He is king over the war in Ukraine, the sexual brokenness in the world, the division and hostility in our nation, the economy, your family, your future, and even your heart.
With a word, God can alter the course of history. As we’ll see in verse 6 of Psalm 46, He can make wars cease. He can snuff out the hurricanes of wrong in the world and in your life. He can still the tsunami of your marital strife. He can calm the tornado of your crippling anxiety about the myriad of what-ifs you can’t shake. He can still the storm of sickness and melt hearts of stone.
But sometimes he doesn’t change the chaos. Instead, he changes us in it. As our refuge, He may not protect us from the chaos of our world. But he will always use it. As the one who reigns as a refuge for his people, he holds the winds and waves that crash into our lives. As he allows them to rage and hides us in Himself as our refuge, he is working in us something good. He is showing us the fragility of the world, all the things we have looked to for stability.
He is exposing the folly of our idols, the little tents we prop up in the storm, the things that never last. He is eroding the places in our hearts that are hard. He protects us from all that would keep us from him. When we reside in him, he becomes our peace, calm, and ultimately our salvation. With him as our refuge, we can join the psalmist and God’s people and say, “We will not fear.”
But sometimes knowing that God can use the chaos to change us isn’t enough. Sometimes we are led into more fear when we consider that, as King, God lets the seas roar, allowing us and those we love to suffer, allowing tyrants to reign and oppress their people. We can be hard pressed not to ask, “If he reigns over our trouble, but doesn’t take it away, isn’t he just a crueler version of the injustice that we fear?” Or we might venture to ask the question that resides underneath that question, “Are we alone in this mess? Am I alone in the chaos of my life? Does God see me? Does He care about me?”
2. He dwells with us in our chaos.
Imagine what it would be like to be lost in a storm at night. Maybe some of you don’t have to – I sure don’t. It is deeply troubling – terrifying. Now imagine the relief that would come if you found a friend – even if you remained lost in the woods. Having someone with you in a storm changes everything. Suffering has a unique way of making us feel alone. To be alone in pain only multiplies our anguish.
In Psalm 46, the psalmist declares that not only is God our refuge and strength, he is also “a very present help in trouble” (v. 1b). God is more than a king who reigns from on high. He is one who wades into the storm. He descends into the waves with his people in love to carry them in their pain, their weariness, and in the oppression, they face – to live with us in our chaos. We are not alone in the storm. Rather the One who rules it is near to help. The prophet Isaiah prophesied about God’s promise to his people in Isaiah 43:1-3:
1 But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
The One who is king, is also friend. He promises to be with us when the waves of brokenness, injustice, and strife that crash into our lives. Though he may not stop the waves, He promises to swim with us through them. We can know this because he has shown us.
Look with me at Psalm 46. Now, if you are using the ESV bible in the pews or if you use your own ESV bible, you will notice that there is a footnote joined with the phrase “very present” in verse 1. It says that that phrase may indicate something like “well-proved” – meaning not only is God present to help, but he has also proven his capacity and will to help his people in the past. This is true for us as well. How do we know God is with us? He has proven it to us in the past. He has done so in Jesus Christ. This is what we celebrate in the season of Advent. The God who reigns over heaven and earth has come down to live with us in Jesus Christ.
We read in Luke 2:8-12
8 And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”
In Matthew 1:23, an angel speaks to Joseph in a dream, saying,
23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”
(which means, God with us) (Matthew 1:23).
In Advent, we remember that Jesus Christ is the refuge of God come to reside with us. He left the safety of heaven to come into a volatile and chaotic world. He opened himself up to the danger of the world that he might be a safe place for all those who run to him. He showed us the love of God that chases us down in our fear and helps us take courage in the chaos.
Hear these words foretelling the coming of Christ in Isaiah 9:2-7:
2 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone….
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
The Mighty God who has come to be with us. The man, Jesus Christ, bears the governing authority over the universe. He is the God of Psalm 46, the stable refuge for his people in the storm. As King over everything, Jesus governs the storm.
Consider Matthew 8. After rebuking the fear of his disciples when they were caught in a storm, with a word he calmed the wind and waves. Jesus, the One who can calm the waves of that storm, can quiet the chaos that we see in the world and the trouble that touches our own lives.
Jesus doesn’t just come to be with us. He has come to rescue us. He has come to do what we could have never done for ourselves. As we journey toward Christmas in Advent, we remember what Christ has done in his first appearance on earth.
Jesus, our refuge king, chose to walk into the greatest tsunami of injustice in history. He endured an apocalyptic level hurricane of shame and wrath on the cross – a hurricane that consumed him to the point of death. Yet, even as he was overtaken by the waves, he stilled the storm of death, thereby proving to us that he indeed is King and Friend in the flood of sin and suffering in the world.
Therefore, we can trust him when he promises that, in the end, he will finally calm the storm of history. Christ will come again – we will see his second appearance, his second Advent. He will make all things new. In Revelation 21:1, we read John declare, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” There will come a day when all the injustice that rages in our world will be quieted and calmed. There will be no more chaos, no more violence. There will be no more oppression, no more war, no more sickness, no more worst-case scenarios, no more dysfunctional families at Christmas.
Because Christ has drawn near to us in love, we can run to him as our refuge and find safety, security and courage in the midst of the trouble of life. We can have courage this Christmas knowing that we are known and loved by the God-Man, the Savior-King.
In the safety of our refuge, we are not led to be a holy enclave detached from the injustice of the world, but we are empowered to boldly enter the fray of the brokenness of the world just as Jesus did knowing that God is king over the flood and will use his church to show the glory of God’s self-giving love to a world in chaos.
[1] https://azgs.arizona.edu/center-natural-hazards/earth-fissures-subsidence-karst-arizona
[2] Philip N. Froelich, a professor of oceanography at Florida State University in https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/weekinreview/13water.html
Sermon Discussion Questions
What is the worst storm that you have ever been in? What did you feel?
What bad things in the world make you afraid?
What does Psalm 46 say to us when we are afraid?
What does it mean that God is our refuge when life is scary?
How does courage change the way we live?
