"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging."
- Psalm 46:1-3 -

Looking around us, it seems at times as though the earth gives way (v 2), reminding us of the mountains and islands in flight. Then again, something like a mountain ‘was thrown into the sea.’ We find earthquakes here in verse 3. The answer to the uncertainty around us is presented with two contrasting elements. On the one hand, the refuge God offers is found in a very specific place: the ‘city of God’ and the ‘holy place’ (v 4) refer to Jerusalem at the heart of Israel, the temple within it and the Holy of Holies at the center. The God who is a fortress is the ‘God of Jacob’ (v 7) and none other. And yet, on the other hand, this God will be ‘exalted among the nations’ (v 10) and will do his work ‘to the ends of the earth’ (v 9). The God of Scripture is a God of the particular and the universal; he is the God of Israel, whose grace, peace and power have now, through Jesus, been made available to all.

Prayer: In you, and in you alone, I am secure. It doesn’t matter what life hurls at me, nothing can separate me from your love for me in Christ Jesus.

(A summary from Encounter with God)