Bible Reading
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 46:1-11)
A Thought
The image of God in this psalm is as a strong fortress. When all the world is shaking, the psalmist says, ‘God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble’. When the nations are in uproar, he says, ‘The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress’. God invites each one of us to find refuge in him, to know his love and his peace. And it is when we find refuge in our God that he says to us ‘Be still, and know that I am God’. Like Jesus, asleep in the boat during the storm, we can find a stillness deep within our souls when we put our trust in God, no matter what is going on around us.
And, with the knowledge that God is our refuge and strength, the psalmist says, ‘we will not fear’. He doesn’t say ‘we need not fear’, but that ‘we will not fear’. He is saying we have a choice not to fear, but to trust. Let us find refuge in our God and choose today not to fear but to trust. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
A Prayer
Almighty God, my refuge in the storm, my ever-present help in trouble; help me to find your peace in the storm and a stillness within my soul as I put my trust in you today.
Amen.