New City family, in a matter of just a few weeks, it seems like the entire world has been shaken. The coronavirus has quickly gone from a distant news story on the other side of the world to a global pandemic. This week, Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued an executive “stay-at-home” order, banning all non-essential travel for the entire state of Michigan. And as infection rates rise, in our state, cities, and neighborhoods, the stark reality and true magnitude of this crisis has begun to hit home. Four thousand miles of Atlantic ocean could not shield us from COVID-19. Ready or not, it has come to our shores. Though we ought to take every precaution and do our best for our neighbors and one another, we are facing trouble that we ultimately can’t buy away, bomb away, manage away, or even legislate away. Thank God, global pandemics don’t happen very often. But when they do, they have a way of unmasking our true vulnerabilities and rocking us to the core. In times like these, we need help much greater than the American military, stock market, and government could ever offer. We need help from the God who sees and restrains what even our brilliant epidemiologists with all their sophisticated microscopes cannot see and restrain. We need help from the God who upholds every molecule and atom in this universe (including Coronavirus) by the word of his power.
Psalm 46 imagines a problem of seismic proportions, an earthquake so cataclysmic it crushes a nearby mountain range throwing gigantic boulders crashing into the sea. We could hardly imagine a more frightening event. Yet God promises help even greater than a world catastrophe, help so certain and secure that we need not fear even if the earth itself should give way. Now that is good news for those of us currently living under quarantined conditions! Today we will look at three aspects of God’s help to his people in times of trouble.
Protective Help in Times of Trouble
Our passage begins, “God is our refuge.” Perhaps the deepest longing for frightened people is refuge. A refuge is a sanctuary or a shelter. We see this image used quite often in scripture to describe how God relates to his frightened people. For instance, Psalm 57:1 says, “Be merciful to me, O God, in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge.” We have a Jack Russell Terrier, named Jack who struggles with anxiety and hates thunderstorms. Whenever Jack senses a thunderstorm he can be found curled up seeking shelter in a corner deep beneath our queen-sized bed. For Jack, our bed represents his safe-haven, port of protection, and place of peace from the danger and chaos of the outside world. God is precisely that for his covenant people. He is our place of protection and safety. Of course, the stronger the shelter, the safer and more secure we feel within it. What greater refuge can we have than the almighty God? If God can uphold billions of galaxies with a word and carve out the deep recesses of the grand canyon, surely he can protect us in times like these. And He has sworn to do so. Protecting us is not just something that he does occasionally, but it flows from who he is. He is our refuge. There are no safer and more secure people in the entire world (even within a global pandemic) than God’s precious children. This was what our Lord Jesus Christ himself affirmed when he declared in John 17 “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost…” The very name of the Lord holds out refuge for his people and when Christ came as our good shepherd, faithfulness to his mission meant guarding the flock entrusted to his care. That mission continues till this day as the resurrected and reigning King uses the authority in heaven and earth to guard his people. This does not mean that God’s children don’t get sick or suffer calamities. We are not magically immune from the coronavirus. But it does mean that the Almighty One guards us in a special way and that not a single hair on our heads can perish apart from his infallible will. That’s good news indeed.
Powerful Help in Times of Trouble
The passage continues, “God is our refuge and strength.” God not only promises to shelter us, he also promises to sustain us. That’s good news for the weak and faltering because it means God himself will be our everlasting supply of strength. While we may only sense a teaspoon of faith, hope, and love within our hearts at any given time, we are joined to the God who promises to be our everlasting supply. J. Howard Olds tells the story of a little girl, who was running ahead of her mother. She was pushing hard against the heavy door of the local bank. Her weak little arms could not push the strong door open. As her mother came close she invited the little girl to try again. This time when the child pushed with all her might the door opened. What the girl failed to see was her mother’s arm far above hers pushing the door open.” That’s how the power of God works in our lives bearing us up amidst the burdens of life. We could never sustain ourselves amidst a crisis like this. If we were living life in our own strength, we’d instantly collapse beneath a flood of doubts and despair. But, we can have hope that the faith God gives, God preserves among his people. That precious faith will remain long beyond the ravages of COVID-19. He shoulders our burdens, doing all the heavy lifting on our journey of faith.
Persistent Help in Times of Trouble
Our passage concludes “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.” The Hebrew word matsa is translated using the English adjective “present.” The Hebrew word itself is actually a verb which means “to find” and is in the perfect tense. The perfect tense implies past completed action with an ongoing present impact. Furthermore, the word rendered “trouble” is actually plural “troubles.” The passage is more literally translated something like this “God has been found to be a very present help in [various] times of trouble.” The Psalmist is looking back at the history of God’s covenant faithfulness throughout redemptive history, at the Red Sea and the banks of the Jordan River, at the Walls of Jericho, during the days of the Judges. He is saying during times of great calamity, God has proven himself to be with us more closely than we could have ever imagined. We who live on the other side of the incarnation, the cross, and resurrection know the greatest revelation of God’s “very present” help with us. In Christ, God came as our help, found to be among us, and brought salvation to us through delivering us from evil sin and death. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Since God has been so good to us in the past, we have nothing to fear in the present or future.
In one of the Superman movies, Superman saves a man from a burning building rescuing him right off the top floor of the building. As Superman is carrying the man to safety through the skies, the man looks at superman and then looks down to the ground below. “I’m scared, Superman. Look how far down that is.” Superman replied, “Now if I rescued you from the burning fire, what makes you think I am going to drop you when I am carrying you to safety?” If the Lord sent his son and justified us to deliver us from the power of sin and death, what makes us think he will drop us before he brings us safely home? The everlasting arms of our heavenly father are yet carrying us even amidst the coronavirus pandemic and every other kind of storm. Praise God for the protective, powerful, persistent help we have in times of troubles!
Questions for Further Reflection:
What are your biggest fears right now? Confess those fears out loud to the Lord and thank him that he stands as a refuge between you and those dangers.
How might knowing that God is our strength produce both humility and confidence at the same time? Do we resist sin in our own strength? Do we have any room to boast in our own works to keep us saved?
Name three biblical instances in addition to the ones that were mentioned that prove to you that God is a very present help to his people. Name two instances in your own life where God proved himself a very present help. In prayer, thank God for those deliverances and let them fill your heart with confidence that God can be trusted today.
Safe in His arms,
Pastor Mika