Bungee Cord  11-2-20

Hello,

 

There is a verse in scripture that not only do I cling to, but it also clings to me.  

 

Psalm 46:10

 ‘Be still, and know that I am God!
   I am exalted among the nations,
   I am exalted in the earth.’ 

 

Interestingly enough, this verse comes toward the end of this rather short Psalm, a Psalm that speaks of the reality of the world.

 

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 its tumult.

 

These sorts of things happen literally, and they also happen figuratively.  We all find ourselves confronting things in life that are far bigger than we are, and far more powerful, too.  As we step into this week in our nation, I feel like I am encountering one of these times.  A virus that seems to hunt with the deadliness of a jaguar.  A political environment that feels like a huge cumulonimbus cloud pouring down a hailstorm of anxiety.  Cities so divided by tension that earthquakes of hate are rumbling through them leaving great chasms.

 

Reading the Psalms helps us see that although these things are terrible and frightening, they are not new. From the beginning of creation, through the history of humankind things far bigger and far more powerful than people have been part of life.  And the other thing that reading the Psalms helps us see is that there is one whose power and greatness dwarfs the terrifying things around us.  God.

 

⁶ The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
   he utters his voice, the earth melts. 

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. 

 

Now, as I read scripture and as I read my life, I have come to see that this does not mean that everything will go right for me as I live under the power and might of God.  After all, wars still happen.  Tragedy still strikes.  And chaos still swirls.  But what it does mean, as Martin Luther wrote in his hymn based on this Psalm, “A Mighty Fortress is our God”, that God will be on our side when strife and struggles come our way, “a sword and shield victorious”.  And even when these forces think they have won the day, SURPRISE, their victory was only short lived, “Though they take our spouse, goods honor child or spouse. Though life be wretched away. They cannot win the day.  The kingdom’s ours forever!”

 

That is why I find myself clinging to verse 10, “Be still and know that I am God,” when I am facing the overwhelming forces that swirl around me.  But maybe it would be more accurate to say that I am thankful that I find this verse clinging on to me at those times….or even all the time. 

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
   a very present help in trouble. 

 

It is not that I hear this verse telling me that I need do nothing when “mountains shake and waters roar”. There is a lot that I can do….take cover, help my neighbor, be wise and courageous…but in the end, what I can do also has an end.  And when that end comes, that is when I hear this verse being whispered in my ear, “Good effort!  I’ll take over here.”

 

So, in these turbulent times, I am thankful for that which I can do to make it through, both for myself and for my neighbor.  But I am even more thankful to rest in the power of God’s grace and mercy, a power that will indeed see me through.  “Be still and know that I am God….Good effort, I’ll  take over from here.”

 

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger