Eternal refuge
This week is on Psalm 46:
Psalms are kind of cool. They're small enough to be manageable, in terms of sitting down to read something. They're also simple reports on people's experiences with God and his world. Who is God? What has he done? Where do we stand compared to him?
God is so strong that we won't fear even if the land slides into the sea. How many of us would be unafraid if that happened? You're sitting in San Francisco eating a burrito the size of a man's arm, and suddenly an earthquake so powerful hits that everything starts to slide into the ocean. Buildings are falling down, the waves are surging down the streets, sweeping away cars, smashing out doors and windows, collapsing walls, as everything slides out to sea. You wouldn't be afraid? I would be afraid! But eternally speaking, we have nothing to worry about. God can make a new world with new bodies for us to enjoy it with. It's nothing to him, but it looks like everything to us.
Nations are in uproar and kingdoms fall. We live in the greatest age of peace in history, though the news companies would probably like you to believe otherwise. But even given that peace, look at a map from fifty or a hundred or three hundred years ago. Borders are in different places. Countries have disappeared. Others have risen in their places. Think about the little German boy who grows up to discover that his part of Germany has become part of France. Or the African kid who grows with no country and no borders, constantly at war with people outside his region, who in his old age finds that he can't visit his grandkids because the French-speaking European lords of his village have decided that they should be enemies of the next village over, whose European lords speak Portuguese. Ask people in the former Yugoslavia how stable borders and countries can be. But is that a problem for God? Does he say "I want to bless Israel, but they keep moving the border?" or "I want to bless the Jewish people but half of them live in New York City now?"
God lifts his voice and the earth melts. Whether that's from fear or admiration, we don't know, but it's power. We should come see the desolations God has brought on the earth. We don't normally think of God that way. But look at the desolation. The Sahara used to be a grassy plain with lions and giraffes. Whole civilizations used to flourish in coastal cities that are now underwater. Earthquakes, volcanoes, and tidal waves have wiped out regions. Disease almost wiped out white people in the middle ages. It almost wiped out native Americans in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There were seasons in recorded history where crops failed, either by climate or disease, and cultures vanished or were scattered because of famine. Desolation produces change. We fear desolation like we fear death, but God is master of them both. We fear change, but life is change. God is master of that too.
God ends wars, destroys our weapons and defenses, and says "Be still and know that I am God." Relax, he's got it. No matter how intently we rage against his changes, battling his creation and his desolation, God is master of all. We will never be so powerful that his rule will fall to our onslaught. We will never be so powerful that our defenses will hold back his change. God rules over us like he rules over the rest of his creation, absolutely, sovereignly, and without equal. His love is what protects us, not our power or our primitive weaponry.
"The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress." You could substitute your name for 'Jacob' there and maybe wring more truth out of it. God is on our side. He will protect us. He is our safe refuge and our strength.
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress
Psalms are kind of cool. They're small enough to be manageable, in terms of sitting down to read something. They're also simple reports on people's experiences with God and his world. Who is God? What has he done? Where do we stand compared to him?
God is so strong that we won't fear even if the land slides into the sea. How many of us would be unafraid if that happened? You're sitting in San Francisco eating a burrito the size of a man's arm, and suddenly an earthquake so powerful hits that everything starts to slide into the ocean. Buildings are falling down, the waves are surging down the streets, sweeping away cars, smashing out doors and windows, collapsing walls, as everything slides out to sea. You wouldn't be afraid? I would be afraid! But eternally speaking, we have nothing to worry about. God can make a new world with new bodies for us to enjoy it with. It's nothing to him, but it looks like everything to us.
Nations are in uproar and kingdoms fall. We live in the greatest age of peace in history, though the news companies would probably like you to believe otherwise. But even given that peace, look at a map from fifty or a hundred or three hundred years ago. Borders are in different places. Countries have disappeared. Others have risen in their places. Think about the little German boy who grows up to discover that his part of Germany has become part of France. Or the African kid who grows with no country and no borders, constantly at war with people outside his region, who in his old age finds that he can't visit his grandkids because the French-speaking European lords of his village have decided that they should be enemies of the next village over, whose European lords speak Portuguese. Ask people in the former Yugoslavia how stable borders and countries can be. But is that a problem for God? Does he say "I want to bless Israel, but they keep moving the border?" or "I want to bless the Jewish people but half of them live in New York City now?"
God lifts his voice and the earth melts. Whether that's from fear or admiration, we don't know, but it's power. We should come see the desolations God has brought on the earth. We don't normally think of God that way. But look at the desolation. The Sahara used to be a grassy plain with lions and giraffes. Whole civilizations used to flourish in coastal cities that are now underwater. Earthquakes, volcanoes, and tidal waves have wiped out regions. Disease almost wiped out white people in the middle ages. It almost wiped out native Americans in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There were seasons in recorded history where crops failed, either by climate or disease, and cultures vanished or were scattered because of famine. Desolation produces change. We fear desolation like we fear death, but God is master of them both. We fear change, but life is change. God is master of that too.
God ends wars, destroys our weapons and defenses, and says "Be still and know that I am God." Relax, he's got it. No matter how intently we rage against his changes, battling his creation and his desolation, God is master of all. We will never be so powerful that his rule will fall to our onslaught. We will never be so powerful that our defenses will hold back his change. God rules over us like he rules over the rest of his creation, absolutely, sovereignly, and without equal. His love is what protects us, not our power or our primitive weaponry.
"The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress." You could substitute your name for 'Jacob' there and maybe wring more truth out of it. God is on our side. He will protect us. He is our safe refuge and our strength.
Comments
Post a Comment