What brings you comfort when you feel stressed?
Is it eating chocolate? A glass of wine? Spending money? Talking to friends?
We face all sorts of worries: personal relationships, financial, health, as well as hearing about the troubles other people are facing locally, nationally and throughout the world. The psalm we look at today tells us that no matter what is making us feel stressed, comfort can be found through trusting God.
Read Psalm 46
What most often causes you to feel stressed and troubles you? Can you think of practical things you can do which will remind you to bring your worries to God and allow him to be the helper he wants to be?
Look back over your life, and think about how from today’s perspective you can see how God was there, helping you in times of need, although at the time you weren’t aware of his help.
The write of the psalm lived in Jerusalem, a walled city so it made sense to him to describe God as ‘our fortress.’ What aspects of who God is might the psalmist have been thinking about for him to come up with description? Then consider whether you can say God your fortress.
The middle section of this psalm (verses 4-9) needs some background knowledge to understand what the psalmist is saying. It is thought that this psalm was written in response to how God answered the call for help in psalm 130 which we looked at on Sunday. Jerusalem was in lockdown, outside the city walls there was the invading Assyrian army. In Isaiah chapters 36 & 37 we read that Israel’s King Hezekiah received a letter from the enemy, saying it is hopeless to put your trust in your God as they had previously defeated may nations who had put their trust in their gods. Hezekiah took the letter to the temple and spread it out before God and then prays. Read what he prays: Isaiah 36: 18-20
We might describe what happen next as a virus spreading quickly through the Assyrian army and the next morning when the people of Israel look out from the safety of their city walls, they see a scene of desolation. A huge number of the enemy army had died and the remaining soldiers are retreating. So, when psalm 46 v.8 tells us to see the desolation God has brought about, the writer is telling us to remember that God answers our prayers – but often in the most unexpected ways.
The psalmist then goes on to write on of the most well-known phrase in the bible (verse 10) ‘be still and know that I am God’, which could also be translated as ‘take your hands off! Relax! And God will show you who he is.’ Letting someone else take care of us goes against the natural instinct of most of us – we value our independence, but for God to do all that he wants to do in our lives we need to trust him - bring our needs to God and leave them with him, allowing him to know the best way in which to respond to them.
The 3 verses of this well-known hymn remind us to: bring ourselves into the presence of God; recognise who he is; then trust him to take care of us. Use these lyrics to lead you into a time of prayer. Be still for the presence of the Lord the Holy One is here;
I am hoping that by Friday I will have a ‘Guest Writer’ article to publish, then on Sunday there will be a message from me on the website, and on the church’s facebook page at 10:30am we will live-stream songs, prayer and a message - Stephen