Refuge

God is our refuge and strength,

a very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,

even though the earth be removed,

and though the mountains

be carried into the midst of the sea;

though its waters roar and be troubled,

though the mountains shake with its swelling.

Selah.
Psalm 46:1-3

Has your world ever fallen apart?

I don't know how many times I've read this Psalm...dozens, hundreds maybe. I know I've quoted that first verse many times...God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. In fact, I quoted it over a congregation last night. God is our help, our shelter, our strength. When we're in trouble that's where we can go. But today as I was reading, it wasn't the first verse that caught my attention so much as what follows.

Though the earth is moved...

Though the mountains fall down...

Though the oceans rage...

Though the mountains shake...

It sounds like the end of the world! Some speculate that what caused the Great Deluge was the earth being knocked off its axis, going from straight up and down in the universe to a slight tilt, like spilling a glass of water. Scientists hypothesize something similar killed off all the dinosaurs (and creationists insist the two events were one and the same).

I've never been in an earthquake, or a mudslide, or an avalanche, or a hurricane. I was "in" a tornado once when I was a child. With they eye of the storm directly over our house, my dad--God's man of faith and power--pointed his finger at the descending funnel-fingers and rebuked the wind, just like Jesus. And though I was terrified by the storm, I watched those fingers withdraw into the cloud, and then watched in amazement as the cloud moved quickly over our home and our town without doing any real damage at all! When I was a child, tornadoes terrified me, but as an adult, I have realized I have nothing to fear from those things. God is my refuge!

But what about other kinds of world-changing upheavals? Crisis, tragedy, loss...these also may seem like the end of the world. I have been with people when they received the shocking news that their life was coming to an end. I have stood by the bedside of a few, and held their hand as they left this life for the life eternal. I've been with parents in the midst of emergency with their children. I've even had a few crises myself. They come in all shapes and sizes...broken relationships, shattered dreams, a reversal of fortunes. There have been a few days in the past two years when it seemed like my entire world was falling apart around me, and I feared I would not make it.

But then I remembered...God is my refuge. God is my strength. God is my very present help in troubled times! Praise the Lord! I'm glad I remembered.