Saturday, September 3, 2005
Psalm 46 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble . . . Therefore we will not fear.
GOD ALONE IS OUR REFUGE
True security is in the Lord, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea, though buildings are swept away and uncounted lives lost.
God is our Refuge -- our high tower, a wall that can never be breached.
God is our Strong Defender -- in every circumstance and situation.
The Psalm plainly points out that this is true in time of natural disaster: Though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.
There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God . . . God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved.
God by His Word -- "the streams of salvation" -- is present with His people, His believers. The Word gives our faith the firm foundation that steadies us in such times as these.
"Why do such things take place?" "How can God permit it?" we Christians are asked. The fact is we can't explain everything, but what we are promised by the Word of our God -- this we can speak plainly. The Lord supports, upholds and strengthens us.
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn. Affliction is for a brief night. Like the dawn God's help arrives -- at just the right time -- and there is light for darkness. One is reminded of those who were surrounded by fetid water with no food or water or medicine and then pulled to safety, rescued.
But what of those who died. They are sometimes termed the "lost". And those who did not survive are lost to their families, their friends, their fellow workers. But those who died in Christ are not lost forever.
For death sudden and unexpected, whether in violent winds or surging water or death slow and agonizing in the awful aftermath of the storm. None of it can overturn the promise Jesus Christ has made to all who trust in Him. "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live" (John 11:25).
