Wait...Listen...Trust - Psalm 46
This past Wednesday was
“Back to the Future Day.” It was the
future date into which the time traveling DeLorean from the second Back to the Future movie 1989 leapt. The weeks and days leading up to October 21,
2015 had many people comparing our current time to the movie’s projected
time…to see which science fiction inventions had actually come to pass. This year, Lexus has released video of their
newest ride, the famed Back to the Future hover-board. Flat-screen televisions have become the
standard—outside of a flea-market or yard sale, I don’t think you can purchase
the old “two-ton” bulky televisions anymore.
iPads, Microsoft Surface, and a variety of Android tablets show how
touch screen tablets have just about replaced laptops that weren’t even popular
in 1989 (when many households were just acquiring their first desktop
computers). This past week Pepsi had a
public relations fiasco as they released the sale of a limited edition Pepsi
Perfect a day before Back to the Future day…and selling out. You have to admit, it was a great deal, a
bottle of Pepsi Perfect was only $20.15, almost $30 cheaper than the $50 cost
in the movie. And this week, in what had
looked like a plan between Hollywood and Major League Baseball, saw the Chicago
Cubs Back to the Future World Series Championship dreams come to an end.
So what do these
predictions have to do with Psalm 46?
Nothing, really. However, the
movies offer the exact opposite reaction to trouble as Psalm 46 offers. In the first of the three movies, the whole
series of events is begun when Marty jumps into the DeLorean and takes off in a
panicked response to the attack of Libyan terrorists. The premise of the second movie is a panicked
response to the poor choices of Marty’s future children. The final movie is based on a panicked
response to learning of Doc’s future death in the past.
What do we do when
disaster strikes? How do we respond when
troubles come? Do we have a Marty McFly
panicked response?
Panic occurs out of fear…panic
occurs when we trust that the worst-case scenario will happen…panic occurs when
we believe that it is up to us to put a stop to whatever is going wrong.
Or do we have a Psalm 46
response? Psalm 46 is about anything but
a panicked response to danger.
Imagine standing in Manzanillo
on Friday night as Hurricane Patricia came ashore, or in 2004 Phuket as the
tsunami from the world’s third strongest earthquake came ashore, or standing in the midst of both of those at the
same time, as a shift in the climate caused a flash freeze shifting the
hurricane’s rain into snow and ice.
Could you stand confident and fearless in the midst of that? The Psalmist writes, “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.”
Imagine standing in
Washington DC as confirmation of multiple nuclear launches indicate the start
of World War III. Could you stand
confidently fearless as the missiles approach the nation’s capital? The Psalmist writes, “The nations are in an
uproar, the kingdoms totter….”
The Psalmist speaks with
confident assurance, from the beginning of the Psalm to the end. “God is our refuge and strength, a very
present help in trouble…the God of Jacob is our refuge.” Where does this confidence come from? We find it in the midst of the Psalm. “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.” Jerusalem was the capital of Israel, the
center of life for the Hebrew people. In
Jerusalem was first the mobile Tabernacle that had traveled with the people
since they left Saini…then later with Solomon, there was the Temple. Within both were the Holy of Holies…where God
was understood to be present, to make His home on earth. The Ark of the Covenant, containing the Ten
Commandments, represented God’s presence amongst His people. It was the assurance of God’s presence with
them that gave the Psalmist the ability to write that were all of earth to
undergo natural cataclysm and massive war to break out amongst all the nations,
that he, and all of God’s people, should be able to stand confident—assured that
God was with them, even in the midst of the chaos.
So what does this mean
for us? We are not Hebrews. We do not live in or near Jerusalem. The Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed. Where is the promise for us? The promise is in our access to this passage. The only way that we are able to approach
this passage that offered hope to the Jewish nation is through the Savior of
the Jewish people, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Jesus is our access and entrance into the passages of the Old Testament,
including this Psalm. It is through
Jesus that we receive the confidence that “God is our refuge and strength, a
very present help in trouble…is is through Jesus that know that the God of
Jacob is our refuge.” How do we receive
that promise without Jerusalem, the ark of the Covenant, and the Temple? We receive them because while Jerusalem, the
ark, and the Temple were symbolic of God’s presence with the people, we know
that the fullness of God came to dwell among us in the very being of Jesus
Christ. The very presence of God came to
live among God’s people. God came and
dwelt and offered His presence in the midst of all the pain, misery, and
struggle of His people in Jesus—the One called Emanuel…God with us. After His death and resurrection, as Jesus
prepared to ascend to the Father, He promised His followers that He would be
with us always, to the end of the age…that promise was fulfilled as the Holy
Spirit was poured out upon His followers, so that the presence of God now
dwells in each of us. We also live with
the promise offered through the vision that Jesus gave John, the vision that God
is with His people through the trials and tribulations that we face, and that
there will come a day when God won’t simply put a temporary end to the
struggles of God’s people, but that the day will come when God permanently
wipes all crises from the face of the Earth, and permanently makes His dwelling
here, in the midst of His Creation as Heaven and Earth are re-created and the
New Jerusalem covers the face of the Earth, forever…indicating the very
presence of God here, with us, always.
That day when every tear is wiped away, that day when there will be no
more pain and no more sickness, that day when death and darkness have finally
come to an end.
It is through Jesus and
with the promise that He is with us that we can stand when all the world seems
to be in complete chaos about us. We
stand with the assurance that God is with us.
So if we aren’t to run in
panic, seeking to fly to the future, the past, or somewhere else…if we aren’t
to cower and hide…then what are we supposed to do? We are called to wait…we are called to be
still and know that God is God…we are called to listen to the voice of God
saying, “I am with you, always, even to the end of the age.”[i] We listen to the promise of God at the end of
the age saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his
peoples, and God himself will be with them.”[ii]
So we stop running in
panic and become still and wait…
We listen and hear the
promise…
Then we trust…and know
that God is God…
We remember that cancer,
tumors, chronic pain, Alzheimer’s, and terminal illnesses are not God…
We remember that
unemployment and financial troubles are not God…
We remember that broken
relationships are not God…
We remember that
dysfunctional families are not God…
We remember that depression
that war, conflict, and chaos are not God…
We remember that nothing
that comes against us is God…
We also remember that we
are not God...
We are to stop running around
in panic trying to save ourselves…and trust in the One who is our refuge, who
is our strength, who is our very present help in trouble. We are to be still and remember and know that
God is God, and through Jesus, He has proved that not only the storms and
sicknesses are subject to Him, but also that death falls before Him.
So, my brothers and
sisters, when those tough times hit…may we always begin, not by scrambling in panic,
but remembering to “Be still, and know that God is God,” and the future is secure.
In the Name of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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