UNSHAKEABLE
Opening Prayer
Living Lord, sometimes time drags; sometimes it just slips away. Remind me that my times are in your hands.
Read PSALM 46
Psalm 46[a]
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth.[b] A song.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields[d] with fire.
10 He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Footnotes
- Psalm 46:1 In Hebrew texts 46:1-11 is numbered 46:2-12.
- Psalm 46:1 Title: Probably a musical term
- Psalm 46:3 The Hebrew has Selah (a word of uncertain meaning) here and at the end of verses 7 and 11.
- Psalm 46:9 Or chariots
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Are you feeling joyful or fearful at the moment? Shaken or unshakeable? Karl Barth once described joy as a ‘defiant nevertheless’.*This is a psalm of defiant trust regardless of the circumstances, for someone whose world seems to be falling apart – much like the followers of Jesus in Revelation. What images show the fragility of life (vs 2,3)?
The quiet river in the City of God (v 4) appears no match for the noisy turbulence of yesterday’s verses. And yet, like John’s vision of heaven in Revelation, the psalmist pulls the curtain back to show us the reality of God, the creator of the earth who is in control: ‘he lifts his voice, the earth melts’ (v 6b). Ultimately God is a ‘fortress’ (v 7). The Message version translates the opening of this psalm as, ‘God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom.’ Yet, standing fearless at the cliff-edge is only possible if we realize that God is with us and fighting for us (v 11). He comforts us: ‘Be still, and know that I am God’ (v 10).
Apply
Eugene Peterson writes, ‘There’s more to life than your little self-help enterprises … If God is the living center of redemption, it is essential that we be in touch with and responsive to that personal will.’** How easy are you finding it to trust God?
Closing prayer
In you, and in you alone, I am secure. It doesn’t matter what life hurls at me, nothing can separate me from your love for me in Christ Jesus.
*Karl Barth, The Epistle to the Philippians, 40th anniversary edition, WJK, 2002, p120
**Eugene H. Peterson, The Pastor: A Memoir, HarperCollins, 2011, p225
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