 All Shook Up 
Psalm 46 vs. 1
Beautiful words, expressing an even more beautiful thought, but do you believe it? When your life gets all shook up, where do you go for refuge? 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Is God the first place you go with life’s daily pressures, with life’s disappointments, with life’s tragedies? OR is God your last resort, when all else fails seek God? Where do you go for refuge? As a child I used to be frightened of thunder and lightning. If the clap of thunder didn’t wake my parents, I am certain that my jumping between them in bed surely did. Somehow, lying between Mom and Dad as a small child, made me feel safe. The thunder and the lightning wasn’t scary as long as I was in my place of refuge. As I grew up and experienced different types of storms, storms of failure, storms of rejections, storms of betrayal, storms of my own doing, I knew I had a place of refuge. Sitting at the kitchen table talking with Mom, or walking to firehouse and sitting on a fire truck talking to Dad, these were my places of refuge. These places were my altars in life, where I met God in everyday life. This is
where I learned the truth of 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, Though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; 3 Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains tremble with it tumult. Psalm 46 makes it very clear. Just as the earth is subject to storms, earthquakes, tornadoes, and hurricanes which will bring a path of destruction. So human life, your life, my life, is subject to storms which can leave in its wake a path of destruction. This week, I met with a family whose 33 year old son committed suicide. I attended a wake for a 50 year old woman, who a week ago was told she had a year to live, because of terminal cancer. I talked with a 49 year old, who for the past 2 years has been kept alive with experimental treatment for a liver disease. I sat with a teenager and listened as he poured out his frustration and anxiety caused by the pressure of the demands placed on him by his teachers, his coaches, his commitments to community activities. I visited with a man, depressed and anxious, waiting for the doctor to give him clearance to have a surgical procedure done. Before it can be done, he waits for healing from his first stroke, yet knowing that if he doesn’t have this certain procedure done, he will surely have another stroke. I listened to a woman lament about the realities of getting old. "The golden age, it’s not what it’s all cracked up to be", she said. "We would be better off calling it the tarnished years." These stories, as well as similar ones, cause any human being to ask, Where is God? The lives of these people, are all shook up. Where can they go for refuge or strength or help? 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change. WHY?, because, 4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The Holy habitation of the Most High. 5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns. Have you ever noticed how many great cities have rivers flowing through them, NYC, Chicago, Pittsburgh, & Milltown. These rivers sustain the life of the city. The rivers make agriculture possible, they facilitate trade. God is like those rivers. God sustains the lives of these people. God sustains your life and mine. Inspite of the presence of storms, inspite of life’s tragedies and disappointments, God provides a river of love, grace, mercy. God provides refuge strength and help. In the book, God’s Vitamin "C" for the spirit, there is a story about a 16 year girl named Rhonda. She rebelled against her parents’ rules, arguing and generally keeping things in an uproar when she was home. One Friday night after attending the High School football game she didn’t return home. It wasn’t until 4 days later that her, frantic parents heard from her. She called home and asked her mother if it was OK to come home. The mother said, of course. When Rhonda got home, her mother Nancy grabbed her daughter and hugged telling her, "Honey, we were so worried about you." Love and relief were not the only thing Nancy was feeling. Nancy was boiling with anger on the inside, because Rhonda acted as though she had done nothing wrong. The following Sunday while Nancy was in church, she prayed to God saying, "Lord, How can I love her? I don’t even like Rhonda. She isn’t pleasant to be around. The house is always in turmoil when she’s home. She doesn’t care that she put us through so much anxiety by running away from home. Lord, how can I love her, let alone forgive her?" In her honest desperation, she opened her heart to God and was still in His presence. In her stillness, she found the river of God, for God turned back the clock in her mind, to see Rhonda as a small child standing on a chair to dry dishes, bundled up with coat and mittens, standing in the snow handing her laundry to hang. She saw her as a second grader bringing home a valentine. As the memories paraded through her mind, she remembered how much she’d loved her, Rhonda. "Lord, restore that love to me," she prayed. Rhonda was one prodigal child who returned without any sign of repentance, though she seemed glad to be back in the refuge of her loving home, she continued doing her dare-devil things which kept her parents anxious all through her senior year. She went away to college, changed majors 3 times. Eventually she graduated and moved to another city, where she has a well-paying job. Nancy says, "I look back to that Sunday in church when I asked God to renew my love for her. From that day, I was able to respond to her with genuine love and forgiveness. Somewhere along the way, that love melted her heart. Now when she comes to visit us she is loving, caring and appreciative." During one visit Rhonda said, "Mom, I really put you through a lot in my teenage years, and I never said I was sorry. Please forgive me." Forgiveness, it finally went full circle. This story reflects Psalm 46 1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble 2 Therefore we will not fear 7 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. 8 Come behold the works of the Lord; See what desolation he has brought on the earth 9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear He burns the shields with fire. 10 Be still, and know that I am God I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth 11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge Nancy, found the strength to love Rhonda, because she was STILL in the presence of God. She allowed God to be the stream of refuge, the stream of strength, the stream of help. God has all the resources we need. God wants to provide us with our daily bread, namely refuge, and strength, and help. The question is are you willing to be still, in order to receive it. By being still you will be able to say, as the Psalmist did. God IS my refuge and my strength, my very present help in trouble. Therefore I will not fear. AMEN
Our
thanks to the
IPoint Midi Gallery for the Hymn
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