God Is Like a Safe House

You can’t flatter God, but there was a time when court poets would flatter the king, or so it would seem. Wise kings knew, however, that they had to have people around who would speak truth to power. It’s different with God, of course. He doesn’t need critical friends to tell him when to act. Sometimes, however, even though we know that we are invited to pray for what we most desire–and that he will give it if and when we need it–still, doubts creep in. So with v. 9: if I am singing “he makes wars cease,” I wonder why our world is still so full of conflict; but I still sing it and claim it as a promise, even if I can’t quite believe it as a fact. I remember saying the Apostle’s Creed in a chapel once, and noticing that the person next to me was saying it quite selectively. He said afterwards, I don’t say things I don’t believe. That’s an honest position; though I would reply that even if I don’t feel the truth of everything I say in worship, I know that it’s part of Christian truth that I hope to enter into some day.

One could imagine people in fear, under siege, at war, singing this and taking strength from it. This is a psalm to bookmark and remember for the times when we need it. Martin Luther’s “A Mighty Fortress is our God” is a hymn based on that! What I find particularly comforting is the thought that God is not just a rescuer, riding in from outside to lift the siege. He’s there already (5). For individual Christians, it means the presence of God, which may be tapped into.

Are you ready to discern the strength of God that is already within you? What will you ask God to do with that strength today?