Fortress and Refuge - Psalm 46

                       

Psalm 46 is a psalm of lament, a psalm that cries out to God in times of struggle. It begins with a spirit of strength, confidence, and reassurance in who God is. God is a refuge, a place of safety and protection, and place of strength who they can turn to when trouble comes, when anxiety overwhelms and distress fills their hearts and souls. During times like those, when we feel unable to deal with what’s going on in our lives, we seek out places or people of refuge. A refuge is a safe place to get your feet under you again, to recover your strength and find peace and calmness. I’ve learned that no-one can live in chaos all the time.

Because God is our refuge, the psalmist declares, “we will not fear.” Then come images that strike fear in our hearts, “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.” Earthquakes, mudslides, volcanos, tsunamis all come to mind as we hear the psalmist describe how fearsome nature can be. As we journey through the psalm, we see the psalmist is using these natural disasters to describe civil or social unrest. There’re references to nations in uproar, wars and kingdoms falling, and earth melting. These are not easy times.

It's easy to read Psalm 46 as a hymn or prayer that’s for someone else, yet it’s applicable to many of us, even if not in this moment. We may not be in a time of war as a nation, we may not be experiencing the political craziness that’s infecting other countries, yet Psalm 46 is for us too. I think of a number of times when I’ve seen people grab hold onto this psalm and hang on for dear life. When 9/11 happened, my family and I were living in Michigan and the day of the terrorist attacks, we kept looking to the skies for possible planes aimed at Chicago and that evening the churches in Allendale all gathered together and we turned to Psalm 46. A young man I know whose wife died, leaving him with 3 young children to raise on his own turned to Psalm 46 because he felt as if the ground was melting under him. A family who lost their home after both the mother and father were laid off turned to this psalm as it felt as if the world was crashing all around them. My parents after my sister Toni, and then a couple of years later, my brother Glen went home to the Lord, also turned to this psalm for strength. The earth is not nearly as secure underneath us as we’d like to believe.

In the middle of all the images of chaos and turmoil, the psalmist reminds us that there’s also places full of life and calm, of safety where God can be found. “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.” The psalmist uses an image found throughout scripture of life and flourishing, the image of a river. Psalm 1 starts the psalms off by speaking of a person who reflects on God’s way being like a tree planted by streams of water, a healthy flourishing tree. The Garden of Eden had three rivers nourishing the garden, Psalm 36 and Jeremiah pick up on this image as well, Psalm 36:8, “They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.” Jeremiah 17:8, “They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Jesus offers us living water in John 4 when speaking to the woman at the well, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Rivers are usually symbols of peace and prosperity because they bring life for farming and roads for trade so communities can grow and prosper. Jesus’ return often includes descriptions of rivers flowing with clean water, making the world a better place to live in. Rivers are a powerful image of life, blessing, and God’s presence in the world.

The psalmist points us to the city of God, to Jerusalem where the Most-High dwells, a stronghold where the chaos cannot reach us. Then comes the powerful promise, “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress,” a mountain stronghold. He invites us to come and see what the Lord has done. The psalmist then offers an unexpected scene, inviting us to come see “the desolations he has brought on the earth.” This is a God of power, a God you don’t fool around with! Desolation is a word that strikes shock and fear into hearts, it means “an atrocious event,” or “to make uninhabited.” It echoes back to when “the Lord speaks, the earth melts.” The psalmist shows us the power of the Lord, who has the power to destroy all his enemies with a single word.

The Lord’s not only a safe place to turn to in times of turmoil and danger, he’s an active defender of his people. Jesus comes to take our sin on himself to the cross, but also to take the fight to Satan and defeat him and bring peace, his shalom to all the earth. Jesus comes as a warrior, but also as the Prince of Peace “to break the bow and shatter the spear; to burn the shields with fire.” The desolations the Lord brings will bring the end to war, the destruction of the machinery of war. No longer with the people need to defend themselves with weapons of war, instead, as Isaiah 2 tells us their swords will be hammered into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

This will all come about when Jesus returns; until then we will face times of turmoil, of chaos, fear, and uncertainty. In those times, God calls out to us to trust him and “be still know that I am God.” In the times of chaos, when the shaking earth under us is more than we can handle, the Lord calls us to “Be still,” to trust that he’s powerful enough to carry you through, that he’s powerful enough to protect you. In all the smoke and haze, all the shaking and roaring, Jesus invites us to come to him, Matthew 11:28–30, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Charles Spurgeon knows that it’s only when God becomes personal to us that we find peace, “Peace comes to me, not only by what God is, but by what God is to me. “God is our refuge and strength.” “This God is our God.” You never enjoy the goodness and greatness of God if you view them in an abstract manner; you must grasp them as your own. It seems a daring act for a man to appropriate God, and yet the Lord invites us to do it; he says, “Let him take hold of my strength.” It’s in stillness that we find greater opportunities to listen to God, to share our thoughts and lives with God, to connect with our God as our Father, our friend. We need a place of refuge to feel safe enough to be still; the psalmist reminds himself that the Lord is a safe place, a fortress where the Lord is with us.

Where do you go when the ground is shaking under you? Who do you turn to, who do you trust, who will never fail you? God places many good caring people in our lives, but when the fear goes deep, when the hurt and pain is deep and understanding escapes you, the only one who can always be counted on to be a place of refuge is Jesus. Unfortunately, even good people will fail us at some point, but Jesus never will, the cross promises us that his commitment to us is unshakeable.

I’ve learned the comfort, hope, and peace of turning to Scripture, especially the psalms and the Gospels, I’m still learning the peace that comes through prayer, especially praying the psalms. I lean on those who have shared their struggles and brokenness in books and stories and how the Lord brought people into their lives to walk with them during those times, giving me eyes to see how the Lord is present, giving me ears to hear his invitation to come to him. I encourage you to take time to “be still and know God” and lean into the promise that Jesus is with us always through the Holy Spirit and holds the whole world in his scarred hands, the most secure place we can find ourselves.