Empowered

Psalm 46 says, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” A particular scene from Fury, a movie set mostly inside a World War Two-era tank of the same name, brings this beautiful promise home.

In the waning days of the war as American soldiers flood into Germany, we’re transported to a field where a group of GIs are exposed and pinned down by German fire, helpless to do anything but wait. They are definitely in trouble.

Suddenly, “Fury” and a pair of other tanks break through and advance, guns thundering away at the German positions. Do the GIs rise and charge ahead, side-by-side with the tanks? No! They simply roll to where the tanks are, slide in behind them and move ahead, letting the tanks do all the work, letting the tanks do what they were designed to do.

It is the same with God. Notice the psalmist says that God, and he alone, is our refuge, our strength. Not God plus our abilities or God plus our strength or wits or might. Just God. Sometimes, it’s best to simply slide in behind him in obedience and let him do what only he can do.

New York Times tech writer Shira Ovide tried to describe the size, power, and wealth of the Big Tech companies. She writes, “Every few months, I concoct new ways to say that tech giants make a lot of money. Today, I give up. I’ll just say that Big Tech companies are really, really, really, really big and really, really, really, really, REALLY rich.”

America’s five technology superpowers—Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Facebook—are titanic, and still growing. They have nearly infinite resources to help them stay on top. She showed the following numbers:

Apple’s profit for the past year ($101 billion) was more than the combined yearly profits of—take a deep breath—Walmart, General Motors, Exxon, Pfizer, Verizon, Disney, Coke, and McDonald’s.

People watch 15 billion YouTube Shorts (bite-sized videos like TikTok’s) each day.

Facebook generates, on average, $214 for each user in the U.S. and Canada last year. Facebook is one of the best money-making machines in internet history.

Microsoft owns the (not popular) Bing search engine. And yet the company’s annual advertising sales of more than $10 billion are about 20 times the 2021 ad sales of The New York Times.

Amazon is so mammoth that just the current decreased value ($267 billion) is about the total value of Disney. Jeff Bezos’ new yacht is so big that a bridge in the Netherlands will be dismantled to accommodate the boat’s height. THAT is rich.

Possible Preaching Angles:

With this level of successful money-making, we need to ask how these companies are influencing and shaping our minds, hearts, and lives.

Ashley Joss was shopping at her local Target, when a book caught her eye. The 27-year old had pledged to read more books, so she picked it up, got home, and began reading. Shortly after she sat down with the book her dog barked, causing her to throw the book aside and revealing a hidden surprise--a $5 bill and a note hidden at the end of the book.

The note read: To the person who buys this book, I am having a tough day. I thought maybe I could brighten someone else’s with this little surprise. Go buy a coffee or a donut. Practice some self-care today. Remember that you are loved, you are amazing, you are strong. – Lisa

Joss was so moved by the note that she posted it on Twitter. After several of her friends shared it, the local newspaper got ahold of the story, and the Tweet went viral. Not only were people enthusiastic about sharing the story; they were motivated to take part in spreading more acts of kindness.

Joss’ dad, for example, bought groceries for a customer in front of him at the supermarket. Another follower wrote to Joss that she had been inspired to do kind acts in honor of her 19-year old daughter who passed away in a car accident a few months earlier. When people see how easy it is to make a stranger’s day, they naturally gravitate to be part of the movement.

For Joss, the note was life-changing. Every week since she found it, she has committed herself to another act of kindness. She said, “This has shown me the value of checking in with people around me and making sure that I take these opportunities to [encourage them]. I don't think we can ever do that enough."

Possible Preaching Angle:

Many people are discouraged given the present situation. Imagine the domino effect in your church, or small group, or neighborhood if you were to follow this example and send an encouraging note, or an email, or a text to someone. “Let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb. 10:25; 1 Thess. 5:11).

All of the approximately 400 St. Paul firefighters train for ice rescues. The department’s firefighters usually respond to a couple of ice rescues each winter and practicing for them is important because, if someone is in the icy water, time is of the essence.

Less than two hours after St. Paul firefighters completed ice rescue training this month, they were called on to put their practice into action. A cross-country skier fell through the ice on McCarrons Lake in Roseville, and St. Paul firefighters got him to safety.

Tom McDonough, St. Paul deputy fire chief of training, said, “The new firefighter who actually went in the water to effect the rescue, said the training that day was the first time he had been in the water with the ice rescue suit doing those maneuvers.”

Possible Preaching Angle: Evangelism; Preparation; Witnessing; Soul Winning – Believers should also train in using the gospel and be prepared at any time to rescue the perishing since time is also of the essence.

Spurgeon often worked 18 hours a day. Famous explorer and missionary David Livingstone once asked him, "How do you manage to do two men's work in a single day?" Spurgeon replied, "You have forgotten that there are two of us."

Arthur Gossip, a hard-bitten pastor in a slum church in Glasgow, tells of how, at the end of a long day of visiting his parishioners, he arrived late in the afternoon at a five-story tenement where the last family on his list for that day lived at the very top. He was done in and said to himself, "It's too far up. I'll come tomorrow." He was about to turn away when a pair of stooped shoulders seemed to brush past him and start up the stairs with the word, "Then I'll have to go alone." Arthur Gossip added, "We went together."

Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. Faith begins where man's power ends.

He seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures. He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what He could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye.

Creation seems to be delegation through and through. I suppose this is because He is a giver.

To have God do his own work through us, even once, is better than a lifetime of human striving.