Did you know that if you’re thirsty, you’re already partially dehydrated?The body needs about three liters of water a day to operate efficiently.It helps break up and soften food.The blood, which is 90 % water, needs it to carry nutrients to the cells.As a cooling agent, water regulates our temperature through perspiration.And without its lubricating properties, our joints and muscles would grind and creak like unused parts of some old rusty machinery.Being well hydrated is important to your physical and mental health.

Dehydration makes a person tired, cranky, and stiff-jointed.It can bring on headaches, aches, and cramps – and other more serious physical ailments.Dehydration can make it more difficult for parents to be patient with children and with each other.Severe dehydration can cause seizures, coma, or even death.Children are especially susceptible to dehydration.When they get cranky in the middle of the afternoon, they might be dehydrated.If your child says they are thirsty, don’t make them wait for liquid.Dehydration has already begun.Remember, if you are thirsty, you are already partially dehydrated.And that’s trouble!

Lack of water is trouble for our bodies.Lack of “spiritual water” is trouble for our souls.You can sense how awful it would be to get dehydrated.You’re probably thirsty for a drink of water right now.Dehydration is so damaging to the body!So imagine being spiritually dehydrated.Imagine being cut off from any life-giving help from the God who created you.Imagine not having his comforting promises.Imagine not having God’s Word.

There was a time when this lack of God’s Word was a literal problem.500 years ago, there was a spiritual drought already centuries old.People like us didn’t have God’s Word.We didn’t have Bibles.They were extremely expensive.And extremely rare.We probably couldn’t have afforded one.But even if we knew where a library was that did have one, it wouldn’t have helped.We wouldn’t have been able to read the Bible, because we wouldn’t have been able to read Latin.The authorities in the church at that time would not allow the Bible to be translated into any other language.They didn’t want it in people’s hands.They wanted control of it.

God’s Word, which once was read and studied by families getting together in homes, had been taken out of the homes and away from the people.People no longer knew what it said or what it meant for their lives.There was some major spiritual dehydration going on! This left countless people in a world of trouble.A world of guilt and fear.People were terrified of God.

One of these people in trouble was Martin Luther.He grew up in a strict home, always fearing the punishment of an angry God.He became a monk out of fear of God.Luther entered a life of poverty, chastity, and obedience to hopefully please God with all this work.And he worked hard.But the harder he worked, the worse he felt.Luther was thirsting for the good news of forgiveness, but there was none to be had.He was taught that he had to become righteous before God on his own.But he could never get there.He never felt things were good between him and God, no matter how much he did for God.The Devil had his way with Luther!He plagued him 24-7 with guilt.“Your sins have messed things up with God, Martin!Give it up!You are worthless!”The Devil tormented him, winning every battle.Luther grew to hate God – a God who was impossible to please.Because he felt God hated him.

And the church was no help.They kept the good news of God’s Word away from everyone.They wanted to build a big cathedral.So they began selling indulgences.You had to pay your way into heaven!There is no good news there!No gospel!No hope!The truth of the Word was being covered up and kept away!The well seemed empty. People were spiritually dehydrated!

But God is an ever present help in trouble!Psalm 46 says, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.” That river is God’s Word!The water of life!The life-giving power of God that will sustain us through all eternity!And the city of God is the Church!Children of God through faith in Jesus Christ!This “River” makes the city of God glad!It fills us with joy!It lets water flow to our aching, dried up souls!It brings relief!

How?Well, in his spiritual journey, Martin Luther finally found the answer to his question.He found it in Romans 3:“But now, a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known…this righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”So there is a way to be righteous before God!But it doesn’t come by keeping the law, thank goodness!It comes from God!It’s a gift from Him through what Jesus did for us!It’s ours – believe it!That’s the gospel!That’s the river that makes glad the city of God! “He lifts his voice, the earth melts.”It melts away all the guilt and fear! That’s how God is our Help in Trouble!

The psalm says: “God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.”Once Martin Luther was made glad by that river of God, the first thing he wanted to do was share that water of life with people who were thirsting to death!He finally translated the Bible, into the language of the people of his day.Now they could read it themselves, for the first time!That was just the beginning!Today, the Bible has been translated into hundreds of languages!It is available to people of every language.It is readily available to bring joy and gladness into our world!Into our city!God preserved his Word as He promised!

But that doesn’t mean the Devil is done with us.Even though we have God’s Word, Satan will come after us in other ways…There’s a story about Satan calling a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said, “We can’t keep Christians from having God’s Word available to them anymore. But we can do something else. We can keep them from real spiritual growth in Jesus and assurance of his love and forgiveness. If they have that, our power over them is broken, so let’s steal their time! Here’s how we can do this: Distract them from spending time with Jesus throughout their day.” “But how shall we do this?” shouted one evil angel. “Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent numerous schemes to occupy their minds,” he answered. “Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the wives to go to work and the husbands to work 6-7 days a week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their life-styles.

Keep them from spending time with their children. As their families fragment, soon their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work. Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still small voice. Entice them to play the radio or CD player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, the VCR, their DVDs going constantly in their homes. Fill their coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day and invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, sweepstakes, mail order catalogs, and every offer of free products, services and false hopes. Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from it exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week. Don’t let them go out in nature. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead. And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences.” Well, the evil angels went eagerly to their assignments, causing Christians to get busy, busy, and rush here and there.Has the devil been successful in his scheme?You be the judge.

The #1 way the Devil plagued Martin Luther is still the #1 way he plagues us today:To doubt you are forgiven by God.“Do you really think Jesus took away your sins?How could God ever forgive you?God’s love is big, but not that big!God is angry with you!He doesn’t love you!”Friends, has the Devil been bothering you?Making you stumble in the way you live your life?Making you jealous, selfish, greedy, lazy, unloving?Is he trying to make you doubt God can forgive you?Is he tormenting you with guilt in the way you are parenting?Guilty in how you treated one of your friends?Guilty because of those sinful desires you have been having? Is the Devil doing that to you?Well, as Luther once said, SO WHAT?Let him have a go!None of it matters!God has spoken differently!God is your refuge!God has declared you forgiven!God has defeated the devil!Who cares if the Devil is getting on your case?Tell him to go to hell!He can’t touch you!You are God’s child!You have been forgiven because of what Christ did for you!God helps you in your trouble!

Imagine the human race aboard a hijacked airplane flying through time. God directed its takeoff from the divine control-tower. The Devil managed to get a boarding pass. When the plane reached its cruising altitude, the Devil produced his weapons, threatened the pilot, and took control of the aircraft and all its passengers. Then the plane hopped fearfully through history from airport to airport until it was caught on the tarmac at Jerusalem, an outpost of the Roman Empire, in the reign of Tiberius Caesar, where the Son of God offered Himself as sole hostage in exchange for the passengers and crew.

The Devil’s little reign of terror ended when He met up with Jesus Christ.The Devil had had a grand old time filling our lives with guilt, fear, and everything else that distracts us from God.But finally, the One who is really in control of the universe says: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations.I will be exalted in the earth.”Martin Luther found a lot of comfort in Psalm 46.Even though the Devil was after him because he was bringing out this truth that would stomp the devil once again, and even though half the world was against him, because they would lose control over God’s Word and have to share it with regular folks, and even though so many people wanted to kill him because of all the trouble he was causing, Psalm 46 reminded Luther that God was his refuge and strength.God was his help in trouble.God’s Word would endure and triumph over the devil.And this psalm also inspired him to write a hymn: “A Mighty Fortress is our God.”

While a man was watching a wildcat in a zoo, an attendant entered the cage with nothing in his hands but a broom. Carefully closing the door, he began to sweep the floor of the cage. The worker had no weapon to ward off an attack by the beast. In fact, when he got to the corner of the cage where the wildcat was lying, he poked the animal with the broom! The wildcat hissed at him and then lay down in another corner of the cage. The man remarked to the attendant, “You certainly are a brave man.” “No, I ain’t brave,” he replied as he continued to sweep. “Well, then that cat must be tame.” “No,” came the reply, “he ain’t tame.” “If you aren’t brave and the wildcat isn’t tame, then I can’t understand why he doesn’t attack you.” The man chuckled, then replied with an air of confidence, “Mister, he’s old—and he ain’t got no teeth.”

Friends, the Devil was snarling at Martin Luther, and he is snarling at you and me, too.But let him snarl!It doesn’t matter.The Devil’s got no teeth!Jesus defeated the devil!Jesus is our Help in Trouble!He is our Mighty Fortress! As Luther wrote in his hymn inspired by Psalm 46: “Though devils all the world should fill, All eager to devour us, We tremble not, we fear no ill; They shall not overpower us.This world’s prince may still Scowl fierce as he will, He can harm us none.He’s judged; the deed is done!One little word can fell him.”And that Word, my friends, is “Jesus.”JESUS!That word is no longer being kept away from us.Let that Word fill you with the refreshing water of life!Let that Word always be your Help in Trouble!Amen.

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