As our “Season in the Psalms” continues, we turn our attention this week to Psalm 46, another beautiful and much-loved Psalm, which I hope you’ll join me in attempting to memorise over the course of the week. Each day we’ll memorise and meditate on a section of it in light of the “Psalm of the day”.
Daily Reading: Psalm 24 and Psalm 46
Today you’re invited to read both Psalms prayerfully and then to memorise Psalm 46:1-3:
“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.”
First commit it to memory … and then meditate on it throughout the day in light of Psalm 24:1-2,
“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
2 for he founded it on the seas
and established it on the waters.”
Read together, these Psalms are wonderfully reassuring. No matter what great danger or crisis arises in our lives to cause us the emotion of fear, Psalm 46:2 makes an enormous faith statement: ‘… we will not fear.’ It conjours up visions of a cataclysmic event that causes the earth to give way and the mountains to collapse into the wildly raging oceans. Yet it boldly proclaims, “We will not fear!”
Pause to consider that fear is a God-given response to danger. Fear motivates us to protect ourselves and others. So it’s not that we should never feel the emotion of fear when danger arises. Rather, I believe the Psalm is asserting that we will be able to overcome fear’s inherent power to rob us of abundant life, to enslave us and define us.
How could we possibly not be overcome and paralysed by fear in the midst of a Psalm 46-sized catastrophe? Because “God is our Refuge and Strength, an ever-present help in trouble”. God is always with us to help, and in Him we can find safety and security, refuge and strength in every situation. Furthermore, as Psalm 24:1-2 so clearly announces, the Lord rules over the world, planet earth, everything in it, and everyone who lives in it. There is nothing beyond the power of God’s sovereignty and wisdom, so no matter what evil and dangers come our way God will be with us in it all and God will guide us through it. God will help us to navigate the danger and overcome the fear.
“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.”
Lord, help me to go through this day trusting in Your presence, power and wisdom. In every situation remind me that You are with me, give me wisdom to know what to do, the courage to do it, and the strength to endure when the going gets tough. In the name of Jesus. Amen!
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