What He said!, Pt 11: Our Refuge

Psalm 46:1-2                          1God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth gives way, and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. (NIV)

I had two cousins in my youth who lived in a far-away place and who I saw occasionally, maybe once a year.  For quite a while we were not in contact as our lives took different paths.  Over the years their lives took divergent paths also, one into northern academia and the other into the rural serenity of living close to nature in the Bible Belt.  Their lives diverged in other ways too as the one was at best an agnostic and the other a fervent son of God.  The latter passed recently, while the former is entering his ninth decade, and I have on occasion wondered about their relative qualities of life.  I find it difficult to understand the life of those who don’t follow God, “Where do they find solace during their times of struggle?” “Where do they find peace?”

This Psalm is an answer to those questions, as indeed is all of Scripture.  This Psalm was the source of strength to Martin Luther, the great reformer, who was the first to break away from the Roman Catholic Church, and who began the period of the Reformation in the 16th Century.  Luther wrote a great traditional hymn, ‘A Mighty Fortress is our God’ based on this Psalm and he returned to both Psalm and song throughout the struggles of his life.

Another of the great themes of Scripture is that God has all along had plans for the salvation of his people, that those plans provided for the salvation of his children at the first coming of his Son, and the bodily redemption of them during the second.  During the run-up to that Second Coming will be a period of great struggle called the Great Tribulation.  Our only relief during those terrible days will be our dependance upon God as he supports and protects us during those times.  But lest one goes down an erroneous path, this Psalm shows us that God is with us at all times, good and bad, and not that he has left for some other work only to return at the appointed time.

Where do people find their solace, their security?  Those who have not yet surrendered to God have only the world systems to shape them.  And that leads them into finding security in money or prestige (which follows from money), or personal skills and training, or familial, personal, or professional relationships.  None of these offer real security as all depend on human beings in some way, and all can be swept away.  The security that lasts is that found in relationship with God.  But let’s be careful here.  This dichotomy of divine vs. human security can be abused.  Only the rarest of us can lead an ascetic life:  we all have a need to accomplish something unique to us, to be appreciated for what we add to society.  These are good things; none of us wants to be homeless or live in constant struggle.  We were put on this earth to praise God, but also have a responsibility to provide for ourselves and our families.  It is the heart attitude that is in play here.

What counts is how we respond to the struggles which come our way.  Every person on the planet has struggles; it’s a part of being alive.  Struggles come in different ways: maybe suddenly as if the ground has dropped out from under you as in an earthquake, or with a screaming roar as if a tornadic storm were upon you.  Some people seem to be able to respond to such things with an ease and comfort that is disconnected from the turmoil around them.  Others get caught up in the stress.  They wail and moan, contemplate making life-changing decisions, even severe ones like suicide.  What is it that is different?

The thing that defines the one is a firm, resolute dependence upon God.  And this is the same basis for the difference between seeking money for money’s sake and living a successful life in both material and spiritual arenas.  Here is my point:  Some would say leading a successful material life is evidence de facto of a non-spiritual life.  I don’t believe this is the case:  A person can be successful and spiritual if, like the writer of this Psalm, he has a sound, personal relationship with God.  This relationship comes through accepting his Son as Savior and is maintained just one way:  Through prayer.  We recently had a rather heated discussion at a church meeting about whether or not one should schedule times to pray.  I have found that if I don’t schedule a regular time to talk with Him, that life always intrudes.  Something always happens to distract me from where I ought to be, that is, talking with my Father.  Some would say that they talk with God all day long through a sort of running dialogue, but I think a regular scheduled time is absolutely necessary.  This sort of running dialogue has a sort of minimalist aspect to it because it is a one-way conversation.  Real prayer is a deep, meditative, two-directional conversation.  That requires that one be detached from the world for some period of time, detached to the degree that one can listen for God’s answer.

The reason we don’t have to fear our struggles, or how we respond to them, is that God is never so distant that He won’t respond to our prayers.  Its not as if he can’t hear us.  The psalm says that he is a ‘ever-present help in times of trouble’.  The thing is, we have to go to God for him to be our refuge and strength; we have to seek him.  Consider these verses:

Jeremiah 29:11-14a              11For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  14I will be found by you,”….

Zephaniah 3:17                     17The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you but will rejoice over you with singing.”

So if we are to be one of those people who don’t succumb to the stresses of our struggles, those who overcome, we will do so by going to God seeking succor and comfort.  But this is done not as a one time thing, but as a regular part of our relationship with him.  Remember, relationship with God is achieved through prayer or the kind that is deep and relational and communicative.  Through this will we be strengthened, and this is what needs to be practiced.