There are two passages assigned for today!
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 46
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. [Psalms 46:1-2] Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honoured by every nation. I will be honoured throughout the world. [Psalms 46:10]
God is a safe place, the best place to be in times of trouble.
Here the psalmist speaks in grandiose terms to make a point – even if the whole world is falling apart, God is still stronger and greater!
Then he issues an invitation from God to rest secure in Him (be still and know that I am God) because He will be the last one standing, the one that everyone and everything bows to in the end (not even a cosmic catastrophe or a nuclear holocaust can dethrone God)!
Therefore relax, rest in Him, allow Him to protect you like a mother hen protects her chicks, under her wings!
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. [Luke 13:34]
Jesus makes the bold statement that HE is the one that issues this invitation, that HE is the one that is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.
He is the mother hen frantically trying to gather and protect her chicks fro danger.
The best thing for the chicks to do is to be still and know that they are safe under her care.
I heard a story recently of someone walking through a forest after a forest fire and finding the charred remains of a large bird (which is odd because why wouldn’t the bird just fly away).
As he approached it, he noticed movement, and beneath the corpse were small chicks, protected from the fire by their mother.
Imagine what the mother bird endured to protect her chicks!
Imagine her saying, “be still and know that I am over you, I am your refuge and strength!”
And then imagine the chicks running away, refusing to be sheltered, trying to survive the flames by themselves; imagine little charred bodies of those chicks that were not willing to be protected.
This is what Jesus is lamenting when He reflects on the Israelites refusing His help: “but you wouldn’t let me”, or “you wouldn’t be still and allow me to be your refuge and strength.”
So many people are refusing God, refusing Jesus invitation to come to Him and find rest.
How many are taking their chances on their own, foolishly assuming that they can survive without God.
And again and again, the voice of God calls out, “be still and know that I am God!”
This psalm is an encouragement and a reminder to center my life in God, to put my hope in Him and in His help.
It is a warning that life can get hard, that this life is not safe or predictable, and that I am not capable of surviving it on my own.
It is an appeal to take cover from the raging inferno under His wings, to allow Him to endure the fires of hell (which we unleashed on this planet) for us, to cover and protect us.
Hide under the shelter of His wings, and He will protect you; just let Him do it!
PRAYER:
Lord, my hope for success and survival in this unpredictable world is You, not my wits or skills or luck. Whenever I start to feel the ground shake around me, help me to hide myself in You, rest in You, trust in You!
I like the symbol of the eagle – God is the wind under its wings.
What a statement of faith. Not to fear though the earth give way.
I certainly had fear when the earthquake hit Haiti. I thought it was the end of the world. Not yet Lord! And yet . . .afterwards . . . in the quiet aftermath, I did experience His presence in all things. The Lord God almighty was with me and the school and used us all as a mighty testimony The school became a fortress, a testimony of His power, His wonder, His presence. The Lord God was with us and guided us on our way.
Today He still is my fortress, my bulwark never failing. I too need to show his presence in my life in all I do and say. God living and doing among His people. That story, His story I need to share each day. Although the next psalm tells us to shout songs of joy, clap your hands, there are times also just to stand silently in His presence and just bow down before the Lord God our Maker.
As the new day dawns, help me Lord this day to go forward in Your way. That is a possibility because You are my fortress – the Rock of my salvation.
Morning has broken, like the first morning,
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird.
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning,
Praise for them springing fresh from the word.
Sweet the rain’s new fall, sunlit from heaven,
Like the first dew fall on the first grass.
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden,
Sprung in completeness where His feet pass.
Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning,
Born of the one light Eden saw play.
Praise with elation, praise every morning,
God’s re-creation of the new day.
Cool the gray clouds roll, peaking the mountains,
Gull in her free flight, swooping the skies.
Praise for the mystery, misting the morning,
Behind the shadow, waiting to shine.
I am the sunrise, warming the heavens,
Spilling my warm glow over the earth.
Praise for the brightness of this new morning,
Filling my spirit with Your great love.
Mine is a turning, mine is a new life,
Mine is a journey closer to You.
Praise for the sweet glimpse, caught in a moment,
Joy breathing deeply, dancing in flight. (repeat)