MONDAY 5th
Psalm 46
NIV (v1) – ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.’
ESV (v1) – ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.’
We will spend two days with this short psalm, a psalm which I am sure we have all turned to during a difficult time, reminding us that God is our refuge and strength, and that he is also a very present help in time of trouble.
In times of trouble there are those who will turn to drink, others who will turn to other vices, seeking to try to numb the issues and hope they will go away, but for us who have a confident faith and hope in God our Saviour we turn to him, for in having set our hope in him, we have a confident assurance that he will always be there for us, a very present or an ever present help in time of need.
In a later Psalm, Psalm 121, the psalmist says, ‘I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?’ He then gives the answer, ‘My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.’ In other words, ‘I am in trouble, or I have a problem or need, where or who should I turn to, well the obvious answer is to the one who made me, for he knows everything about me!’ And we the redeemed of the Lord, turn to or go to the one who has not only made us, but has also re-created us in Christ Jesus. He is our helper, he is our refuge and strength, he is the one who is a very present help in the time of trouble.
The psalmist is so confident in the assistance or help that he will get from the LORD that he lists in the next few verses in today’s psalm, the extremes that could happen in life, such as the earth giving way, mountains being moved, or trembling, the waters roaring and swelling, perhaps what we understand as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruption etc. those natural phenomenon that would cause us to fear and yet he says even if these things happen, if the whole world around me falls apart, I am confident that God will be my refuge and strength, he will be my very present help.
He then continues in the psalm to talk of the river whose streams will make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High, a river of blessing, streams of blessing, reminding us that God is with his people, he is there in the midst of all the turmoil that happens around her, with the declaration, ‘The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.’ These words are a promise to Jerusalem, the city of God, and in the modern world in which we are living in, with its antagonism towards Israel, we can be reminded that God is still with his people Israel, he is still the One who watches over her, and he will fulfil all that he has planned for her, and one day his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ will sit on the throne in Jerusalem. This should further remind us that with all that is going on in the world at this moment, God is outworking his plans, his purpose, he is still in control, and he will always be in control, therefore we too like this psalm writer can confidently place our trust in him. God is still on the throne, and he will remember his own. May it also be a reminder for us to pray for Israel, pray for the city of Jerusalem, that it will know the ongoing peace of God.