Monday, August 29, 2016
Psalm study today: Psalm 46
This psalm gives confidence to
those who need it:
God is for us a refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in time of distress:
The first line of the psalm is a
summary of a great part of the psalter. The word refuge appears about 40
times in the psalms; the word strength 57. This is a message which is
continually driven home, particularly to those who are going through those
trying phases of life which we all have.
The message is clear and I would
express it this way: hide in God. I think of one of my favorite psalm
verse which we frequently use during Morning Prayer: Hide me in the shadow of your wings till the storms of destruction pass
by. When I pray this, I picture myself residing within the embrace of almighty
God, being hugged, as it were. I remember one day in particular: it was
during the summer and there was a lot of construction going on on campus.
Outside our church windows, heavy equipment was making a terrible racket, so
much so that we could hardly hear our own voices. We prayed that text and it
became vivid for me. The sound of the bulldozers represented all the forces and
tumult of a world under distress and attack, while we were safe and snug in our
choir stalls. We were aware of what was raging outside, but it couldn’t get
to us.
The psalm continues by reminding
us that God is an ever-present help.
Sometimes it is so easy to forget that He is with us, especially when we may be
frightened or overwhelmed, or when it seems like our world is crashing down
around our heads. The psalm expresses this tumult poetically:
though the earth should rock
though the mountains quake to the heart of
the sea
though the waters rage and foam
though the mountains be shaken by its tumult
Can you relate to that? Have
there been times when the rug has been pulled from under you and you didn’t
know where to turn? Have there been times when you doubted you could survive?
Times like this come in every life, and we have so many examples of this
happening throughout the world these days.
Hold this psalm close to your
heart. And if, by chance, you seek a time of quiet meditation, simply repeat to
yourself the command given near the end of the psalm:
Be still and know that I am God
And may that God be with you and
bless you, now and forever. Amen.
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