Date: 15 May, 2002
Time: 06:13:14 PM

Comments

Messenger of Peace

When does God come? God will help the city where he is in the morning.Does that mean that we will have to go through the night enduring the darkness, terror, fear, flood, storms, etc.? Is God telling us to hold steady in the rough places? Could he be reminding us that He is with us even yet when our problems are still unresolved?

Date: 30 May, 2002
Time: 06:57:13 AM

Comments

I love this Psalm but I always use it for funerals!

grace, rachel

Date: 30 May, 2002
Time: 10:44:41 AM

Comments

God is "a very present help in trouble." As opposed to how we are "present" with each other while riding in an elevator?!

Pastor Andy

Date: 25 October, 2002
Time: 07:00:23 AM

Comments

Psalm 46: God is our refuge, our fortress, an ever-present help in time of trouble. Martin Luther wrote the hymn "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" (Hymn 228, Lutheran Book of Worship). Read the lyrics. It's a song of victory. The latter section of the last verse reads, "If they take our house, Goods, fame, child, or spouse, Wrench our life away, They cannot win the day. The Kingdom's ours forever!"

  RT in CO
October 24, 2005
Well, I'll try to get something started.
In our Lutheran congregation, we confirm 9th
graders at our late morning service. (And some of
them even come back the next week!) Last evening
we held our annual Confirmation Dinner, to which
the congregation is invited, in honor of our
confirmands. After dinner, the youth share their
Faith Statements. They are truly inspirational--a
witness to all of us! Each year they blow me away
with the reminder that teen-agers actually do
THINK about faith and other important things, that
they don't just mindlessly follow the pack and
their hormones.
One of the girls has been through a serious
struggle with clinical depression. She didn't
mention it directly, but did talk about
"tough times" she's had--and how one
thing that inspired her and helped her get through
was seeing Psalm 46:1 posted for her to see.
"God is our refuge and strength; a very
present help in trouble." Powerful stuff!
This is the same Psalm that inspired Luther to
compose the "Lutheran Anthem"--"A
Mighty Fortress Is Our God".
As we read the Psalm, we discover that chaos
threatens in the form of natural disaster and the
man-made disaster of war, and that above and
behind it all--and through it all--"the Lord
of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our
stronghold." When all else fails, what a
stronghold we have in God--the God who silences
the chaos and promises peace, abundance, and life
in and through it all, the God who has offered
Godself fully and completely, in mercy and grace
and strength, in Christ.
I'm going to suggest to our Confirmation
class--and all those who worship this
weekend--that the refrain of Psalm 46 not only
makes for a pretty powerful Psalm, but just could
be a worthy refrain for our lives.
 

Posted by Comments: Jeff in Upstate NY
October 25, 2005
Psalm 46 speaks God's word of power and safety to
a fearful people. “God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will
not fear.”

Note that it isn't “might” not or “should” not it
is will not fear.

Though the earth should change – by tsunami, or
earthquake, or hurricane or flood, or war or
terrorism or fear of pandemic nor by anything else
- our God remains our refuge and strength.

“A mighty fortress is our God, a sword and shield
victorious.” Luther was moved by the images of
power in this Psalm. He lived in tumultuous times.
The armies of the Turks threatened – they advanced
all the way to the gates of Vienna. Christianity
itself was in danger of extinction even in the
heart of Europe.

The princes were in uproar. They clamored for
freedom from domination by both the Church of Rome
and and the Emperor. The peasants were restless,
yearning for freedom and dignity. In this already
turbulent environment God called a spiritually
troubled monk to lead his church and his people to
a new thing. With all of the powers of church and
state allied against him and his movement Luther
dared to answer God's call and began what we know
as the Reformation.

In the midst of this tumult the Psalm looks ahead
to the promise of rest and peace in our God. There
is hope of deliverance and what is more even in
our trials “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God
of Jacob is our refuge.”

Lord of Hosts – is a warrior image of God –
leading the army the hosts of heaven. It is one of
the most common in the Old Testament. Yahweh
Zavaoth!
God is with us and fighting for us.

God presence can not be held in check, even by the
powers of the world. You can look at the
Reformation in many different angles. The
theologian will talk about justification by grace
through faith. The political scientist will talk
about the rise of nationalism and the birth of
human rights. The educator will talk of the
explosion of knowledge and education coming to the
common people.

Much of our life as we know it today can find its
roots in the Reformation. But what especially does
it mean for us as believers. We have access to the
power of God. God's word is in our hands and on
our lips. A Bible in the hands of a lay person was
a fearful and traitorous weapon in the eyes of the
powers of Luther's time. Worship in a language we
can understand and with a music that is ours.
Luther's hymns were in the style of the
contemporary music of his day as opposed to the
Gregorian Latin chant. Beautiful as that is it did
not speak to the hearts and the faith of the
people.

We have free admission to the table of the Lord.
No magical incantations but rather the promise of
our Lord Jesus he will be there in the bread and
the wine for each and every one of us.

No price to salvation by how much we give or by
what holy works we do. The price has been paid by
Jesus. His grace, his forgiveness, his life
forever is given to all who will accept it. To all
who will believe!

No holy orders! No first class or second class
Christians. All are priests! All have holy
missions in life.

This is power to the people – a very dangerous
thing in the eyes of those in power in Luther's
day; I think still a dangerous thing in the eyes
of those in power today – though their resistance
may be much more subtle and sophisticated.

“But now a champion comes to fight, whom God
himself elected. You ask he this may be? The Lord
of hosts is He! Christ Jesus mighty Lord, God's
only Son adored. He holds the field victorious.”

The Psalmist then moves ahead in time to see the
end result. Wars have ceased. The bow, the spears
and the shields are cast away for fuel. We
experience the peace of God and in our awe exalt
him forever. The Lord of hosts is with us the God
of Jacob is our refuge.

There may still be wars and hurricanes and
earthquakes and all manner of disasters, both
personal and corporate. We may indeed suffer but
we do not suffer alone. The Lord of Hosts is with
us, the God of Jacob is our refuge.

We will walk with the strength of God now and in
his glory and light forever. "The Kingdom's
ours forever!"

 

Posted by Comments: RT in CO
October 25, 2005
Well said, Jeff!
Is that your sermon for Sunday? If not, it's
pretty close to finished!


Posted by Comments: Jeff in Upstate NY
October 27, 2005
RT, these are my initial notes, but they often
become the core of the sermon. If anyone else can
use the thoughts they are more than welcome to.


Posted by Comments: Tigger in MN
October 27, 2005
At our text study, it was noted that this is one
of only two(?) Psalms that begin with just
"God" - not, "O, God" or
"O, Lord" or "The Lord", but
just "God". (The other we found is
Psalm 84.)

In that sense this Psalm is more of a proclamation
than a prayer. And, as noted, it gets to the
point right away - God is our refuge, strength and
ever-present help. When people are suffering and
need to hear a bit of good news - how awesome this
would be to hear - it cuts through the chaos and
gets right to the point: God is our refuge and
strength and an ever-present help. If there is
any doubt, it is quickly banished by this
proclamation.

The refrain in vs. 7 and 11 has in Hebrew the word
"immanu" for "with us" - like
Immanuel.

At bible study this week, I asked the people to
reflect what metaphorically the earth and the
mountains would represent in their lives. What is
a foundation you take for granted? What has a
large presence that it seems it could never be
shaken? And are they? Some they named were
family, health, economies, government and faith.
Even though there are earthquakes and tsunamis
going on, there are elements of chaos taking place
in our lives that cause us to fear and shake us to
our core. Giving those verses that additional
meaning may help them connect more with what's
going on in the psalm.


Posted by Comments: David in SK
October 29, 2005
Many thanks to Jeff in Upstate NY. Your words
became the core of my sermon too. I also learned
a lot about Rosa Parks, using her example of
influence and taking a stand as one small person
against a frightening system. I found an
excellent article in the Detroit Free Press when I
did a search.


Posted by Comments: David in SK
October 29, 2005
Many thanks to Jeff in Upstate NY. Your words
became the core of my sermon too. I also learned
a lot about Rosa Parks, using her example of
influence and taking a stand as one small person
against a frightening system. I found an
excellent article in the Detroit Free Press when I
did a search.