So much going on in the world recently ... natural disasters ... war in the Middle East (again!) with the usual furor over whether the Israeli or Palestinian cause is more righteous ... or Ebola, a growing viral epidemic that nobody can stop.
So much in people’s individual lives, as well. A husband out of work and his wife is expecting a baby. A child suffering with a life-threatening but unexplainable medical condition. Decades of marriage tossed away by one spouse’s careless, selfish choice. A house fire that destroys a lifetime of possessions and memories.
What earth-shattering thing are you facing right this minute? What do you fear most?
Psalm 46 (NKJV)
God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
I’ve heard it said that “Selah” is a musical notation indicating an interlude, a “pause here and meditate,” forming a natural break in the piece. So, let’s stop and reflect.
Think about your answers to the questions above. Regardless of any of that, if the landscape of our lives as we know it is destroyed, and even the mountains—the great, the permanent, the markers of who we are and what we know—are washed away, God is ours. He’s our hiding place. Our strength. (No other word for that!) And He is, as I’ve discussed before, WITH US, in the now.
4 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
God only has to speak, and the plans of the peoples—of whole nations—come to nothing. Even war itself will come to an end, someday:
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.
Who has made desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
This—the crowning verse of this Psalm, in my opinion—holds everything we need to know when our worlds are threatening to fall apart, or more than threatening.
Be still ...
Know ...
I am God ...
I will be exalted ...
Like Moses at the Red Sea, we only have to stand and be confident that God knows, and sees, and will be revealed as Sovereign, no matter what rips our lives apart.
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
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