Psalm 46:1-5 (CB)

1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.

Psalm 46 provided the inspiration of the well-known hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” It expresses a kind of confident security in the Lord that ought to be the experience of every believer when facing the crises of life. God is the comfort and salvation of His people in their troubles, even when disasters shake their world. It doesn’t say here that God will help you if you get into a strong refuge. It says He is that refuge. God is a stronghold or city that cannot be bombed or destroyed. Though earthquakes and tidal waves dissolve the solid world and civilizations melt, His rule is unshaken. If God is with you, even the worst thing that happens to you—death—only makes you infinitely happier and greater.

Prayer: Lord, in this psalm you say that even earthquakes and mountains melting can’t take away my inheritance of infinite love, resurrection, new heavens, and new earth. As we face illness, loss, failure and the trials of life, you are ‘The Ultimate Stronghold’, “casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Pe 5:7). Amen