REFUGE AMID UPHEAVAL

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

There is much in our world that can make us afraid.

As we look back and read the accounts of peoples and nations in the past, we see that there has been much in world history that has made people afraid in their respective times and places. Among these, the first few verses of Psalm 46 describe upheaval in the natural world—things like earthquakes and landslides, storms and tsunamis.

It is similar to the language that Jesus used in describing the fearful events in the world at the end of time: “On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea” (Luke 21:25). That this was a reality written about in the poetry of ancient Israel, in the teachings of Jesus, and in His expectation of the end times reminds us that our world has been much less stable than we often imagine and that disasters of different kinds have been experienced in all societies across history.

They have been something that all people have had to reckon with, live with, and try to explain across human history. People have had to find ways to live well amid the uncertainties of our planet and its sometimes destructive forces.

While Jesus seemed to indicate that there would be a greater intensity of natural and unnatural disasters as the time of His return neared, these are not new experiences for human beings. We can learn from the faith of our spiritual ancestors, who encountered these unnerving phenomena themselves yet found refuge and strength in the same God we follow and serve today. These psalmists would insist that, in the midst of seemingly ever-present trouble, we have an “ever-present help,” so we will not fear.