WE WILL NOT BE MOVED

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. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. The holy dwelling places of the Most High God is in the midst of her, she will not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered; He raised His voice, the earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. (Psalm 46:1-7)

Have you ever witnessed a storm at sea? Storms in life crash over us like agitated, restless waves crash violently onto the shore. Have you ever experienced an earthquake? I lived in California for three short years and experienced a few mild shakers and rollers. I can tell you that nothing prepares you for them. The experience is an unsettling one because it is completely out of our control. You may feel nothing more than what you might experience on a roller coaster, but you can choose to take that ride, and you can see what is coming.

When everything around us seems out of control and all shook up, we can know a settled peace as we rest in the One who controls all things. You’ve heard of peace before the storm? Unbelievers and believers both can have peace before the storm. Only believers can have peace in the storm, a peace that will carry them until there are no more storms on the horizon.

When we first moved to Colorado, I remember one point when we came up over a hill, and the view that hit us was nothing short of majestic. We tend to view mountains as a fixed and firm part of the landscape. Why do people often head for the mountains or the beach when they want to get away? I, for one, find both landscapes very calming and awe-inspiring. They help me to fear God alone. Sometimes in Scripture, mountains symbolize kingdoms of the world. Reading this text during the time of our current pandemic, I thought of what is happening on a global scale. Rarely, do we experience troubles that affect the whole world. Is this pandemic a precursor of more to come? In a general sense, absolutely!  (See 2 Peter 3:10-12)

Right now, the media is barraging us with the reports of “experts”. Never has there been a time that we’ve had to sort out such an onslaught of information discerning lies from truth. It seems every moment is filled with new doubts that slam against our minds crashing over our souls as they threaten to pull us under the tide. We will flit from one fear and anxious thought to another unless we have an anchor. That anchor is Gods character and His promises. Isaiah 41:10 says: Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; surely, I will help you. Surely, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Like the disciples in the storm at sea, only our Creator has the power to calm the storm and our minds in the midst of storms. To walk in faith—not fear—we must fix our eyes on Him, the author and perfecter of our faith. (See Hebrews 12:1-3)  

It would be helpful to read Jonah 1 to see the fearful reaction of the seaworthy old salts to a violent storm the Lord sent once they realized a prophet of the Lord (who was trying to flee from His presence) was on board. Psalm 124:4-5, after the Lord rescued them from their enemies, Israel acknowledged God’s presence with them and said that if He had not been with them: “Then the waters would have engulfed us, the stream would have swept over our soul, then the raging waters would have swept over our soul.”

The picture that is drawn for us here is tidal waves caused by earthquakes. The power of these calamities is debilitating to everyday lifestyles of mankind. Yet the same word that is used in verse 2 for the mountain slipping into the heart of the sea, is the same word used for moved in verse 5. It means to “shake” or “totter”. In other words, even if the fixtures of our landscapes shake, totter, and are moved, those who stand firm on the foundation of God’s promises and who rest in His presence with them, will not be shaken or moved.  Psalm 62:1-2 says: My soul waits in silence for God only; from Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken. Shaken here is the same word.

This psalm is rich with images we can see in our mind’s eye—the earth with its mountains tottering and seas raging. Then we are transitioned to a river whose streams make glad the city of God. Immediately, several things come to mind. The first was the lyrics of the song, “Like a River Glorious.” Did the writer have this psalm in mind? Like a river glorious is God's perfect peace. Over all victorious in its bright increase. Perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day, perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way. Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest, finding as He promised perfect peace and rest. Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand, never foe can follow, never traitor stand. Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care, not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there. Every joy or trial falleth from above; traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love. We may trust Him fully all for us to do. They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.

Second, I think of the River of Life. There’s so much here, that I can only hit it very lightly. It would be worthy of a deeper study. Genesis 2:10 there is a river that flowed out of Eden to water the garden and divided into four other rivers. Ezekiel 47:1, 7-12 talk about a future temple where water flows under its threshold. Joel 3:18 is also future: And in that day the mountains will drip with sweet wine, and the hills will flow with milk. And all the brooks of Judah will flow with water, and the spring will go out from the house of the Lord to water the valley of Shittim. Revelation 22:1-2 portrays this same river. Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. All of these references to the river of life are tied to God’s presence. Jesus said to the women at the well in John 4:10, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” In John 7:37-39, we see this: Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

Often in Scripture the sea is a symbol of unrest while rivers symbolize peace.(See Isaiah 66:12) So, we see the psalmist helping us get our eyes off the storms around us by lifting them to a life-giving river that represents peace which only the eyes of faith are able to see clearly. Revelation 21:1 is interesting in light of this. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.”

Third, I think of Jerusalem which means “city of peace”—Jerusalem, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. In Revelation 3:12, Jesus says to the church at Philadelphia: He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name.

There is so much more to see in this encouraging psalm. I will pick it up tomorrow!