Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns. The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Come, behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth.”
The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Very little feels like solid ground these days. Rock solid things have been shaken right down to their roots. The usual ebb and flow of good times and hard times, now seems stuck in relentless-raging-storm mode. Black masked secret police are in our streets. People think about the Ann Frank House, not as a historical place to visit in Amsterdam, but as model for remodeling their basement here in Sheffield. I can’t remember a time where more people felt so tossed and battered by the world. The storms are deadly. They feel unending. The earth changes, the mountains in the seas shake, the chaos of the sea rages and the solid earth that you thought you could always count on is shaking. But today’s Psalm contains a promise from God for times such as these: The God of Jacob (that’s the God that wrestled with Jacob in the river and gave Jacob the new name of Israel) THAT God, is with us, through it all.
Julian of Norwich, a nun back in the 1300’s was tormented by the raging storms in her world. Why was there sin, brokenness, tumult, and all the horrors rampaging though the world? In a vision, Jesus spoke to her saying: "It was necessary that there should be sin; but all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well". This was Jesus reminding Julian of the truth of today’s Psalm, that there is no storm… no amount of unbelievable brokenness… up to and including even death itself that will keep us from ending up right where God wants us to end up… in joy and peace, light and life.
The hard part is remembering to keep your eye, not on the storm, but on Christ. I have trouble with that, but to be fair, even the disciples had trouble with that! Do you remember the story of Peter wanting to walk on water? He wanted to walk to Jesus across the water, so Jesus told him to come on! The chaos of the sea was kept firmly under Peter’s feet when he kept his eye on Jesus. But when his focus moved onto the chaos… when the storm became his focus, rather than Jesus… that’s when he was sunk.
We’re living in a time where people work very hard to move our focus onto the chaos. Media these days is built and finely tuned for the purpose of turning our focus onto the chaos… to sink our heads in the raging storm. We try to simply to stay informed but end up doom scrolling in worry, hate, and vitriol. Inevitably, like Peter, we end up drowning in it. Which is one more reason why we ALL need reminding that the shaking mountains, raging seas, and even drowning in the sea is NOT the end of the story! Even after Peter sank into the chaos of the ocean, he got pulled out. The Lord of Hosts was with him. The God of Jacob was his refuge. Jesus pulled him out… Jesus ALWAYS pulls us out, no matter how deep into the world’s STUFF we might have sunk. So, as Julian was reminded by Jesus, all will be well, and all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.
All WILL be well… BUT… there’s always a but, isn't there? Even though all WILL be well… and it really WILL be well… that doesn’t mean the raging seas and the shaking mountains are set to all magically disappear. Jesus didn’t dry up the ocean with magic to rescue Peter. He reached right INTO the depths of it and pulled him out THROUGH it! All WILL be well. That is true. The God of Jacob IS with us. That is true. But it is also true that the noise of the shaking mountains and raging storms in our world is not going to magically disappear over night.
Julian of Norwich, after her vision of Jesus reminding her that all will be well, had another vision. It was a vision of the devil attacking her… trying to take away the hope she saw in Christ. I know, I’m not a big fan of a personified devil either, BUT sometimes, giving a NAME to hard-to-pin-down things like, chaos, fear, doubt, and insecurity can be a very powerful way to fight against those shadowy forces. The finite name of “The Devil” can remind us that everything that brings darkness, chaos, and storms into our lives is finite as well! All of it has limits. All of it has an end… and no matter how the chaos and darkness rages, the God of Jacob IS our refuge AND all will be well, AND all will be well AND all manner of things will be well.
Martin Luther’s own struggles with the storms that raged around him in his world plagued by chaos inspired him to set this same Psalm to the tune of a popular beer drinking song. He knew his people needed an easy way to remember that the God of Jacob was their refuge. I wonder every year at this time what beer drinking song of our time I should set this Psalm to so that we might be easily reminded of that very same thing. Tom T. Hall’s “I Like Beer” or maybe Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places”… can you imagine? But honestly, if it would help us remember the truth… that no matter how much the world rages, God’s got me. God's got you. God's got US… If it would help us remember that all WILL be well, and all will be well and all manner of things will be well! That the Lord of hosts is with us. That the God of Jacob IS our refuge. If it helped us remember THAT… well, a new tune for Psalm 46 might just be in order. Amen.
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