God is our refuge

God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.
-- Psalm 46:1-3

In times of trouble, we often quote these verses to others. Oh how holy we feel when we can quote scripture and prove how much we know. However, I wonder how many of us live in the truth of this Psalm. We can tell others that God will be there for them, but do we trust that God will be there for us, personally.

Look at what the psalmist trusts God through. Even though everything we can see to trust in should fail, the psalmist reminds us to trust God. When your world falls apart, are you trusting Him? When the mountains of your life, those things you just know will always be there, fall apart, are you trusting Him? When the waters of turmoil are rising and roaring into your life, do you trust God? When the earth shakes and everything seems so frightening, do you trust God?

I think most of the time we trust in comfort. I don't necessarily mean creature comforts, although most of us in the USA trust that we will have electricity and water and even gas for our cars. We put trust in whatever systems deliver these goods and services. Many of us trust that God wants us to have a blissful, carefree life, but that is not the obedient life described in the Bible.

This Psalm is so rich because it tells us that God is there, very present, to help us through life's difficulties. There is nothing here that says the problems will be removed, but rather that God is there and we shouldn't fear. God will help us, not by elminating trouble, but by comforting us and guiding us through trouble. The troublefree life is a pipe-dream not based in reality. God never promised us a life of ease. And when we twist the christian life to be somehow easy, we are putting our trust in something other than God.

Dear reader, God never promised us life would be a rose garden. Or, as I have heard it said, maybe He did promise us life would be like a rose garden......................thorns and all! Roses are beautiful, but to cultivate roses one will usually get pricked by a thorn or two. There is pain involved. Similarly, life in Christ is beautiful and beyond compare, but it does have its time of pain. Instead of resenting God for the pain, enjoy His presence and help through the pain. You'll find a new love for Him when you can truly claim this phrase in your life: God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear...