Psalm 46 – A Meditation for the weekend of Hurricane Harvey
landfall
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Amen.
It’s been an interesting week of observing God’s creation
around us over the past ten days.
For months we have heard about the eclipse that happened
this past Monday. If you were outside, and if equipped with solar glasses, a
welding helmet, or a pinhole camera, you saw the moon partially cover the sun
for about 15 minutes. Even those of us who don’t pay much attention to the sun,
moon, or stars had our eyes drawn to the heavens – if only for an hour or so of
the afternoon. And, in those moments you saw the vastness of God’s creation.
Humans generally look down: we look where we walk, where we drive, where we are
heading. Rarely, I suspect, do we look up except in times of agony when we look
to the heavens and cry out with the Psalmist, “How long, O Lord? How long?” (Ps.
13:1) On Monday, your eyes looked up and saw something that was, quite
literally, out of this world. You saw the sun, just under 100 million miles
away from you, blocked out – at least, partially - by our moon that is roughly
250,000 miles from you. Did you know it took almost 8 ½ minutes for the sun’s
light to reach your eyes when it was released from the sun’s nuclear core?
That’s right…the light that we see by, that warms the earth, that plants use to
produce energy, it’s already old by the time we ever see or feel it. It was a unique experience, an incredible
view, a sight that led us to give thanks to God for the wonder of His creation.
And now, at the end of the week, we are dealing with
Hurricane Harvey. While we knew about the eclipse years ahead of time, the
hurricane just sort of popped into our radar – both figuratively and literally
– this past week. A sloppy African wave
that traversed the Atlantic simply would not die. It sprang back into life
after a nearly terminal collision with the Yucitan Peninsula and is now roaring
outside your windows as you read this. Wherever citizens of Victoria might be –
in your Victoria-area home, in North Texas, or somewhere between - we are all praying
the waters do not rise, roofs do not fail, windows do not shatter, and the
electricity is able to be restored sooner than later. We pray that lives and
livestock are spared, property damage is minimal, and people’s ways of life is
not harmed. But with sustained winds of over 120MPH and rain fall rates that will
be measured in feet, not inches, we experience a very different side of
creation than we saw on Monday. The eclipse was peaceful; the hurricane is, in
Hebrew, tohu wabohu – the abomination
of desolation. Wonder and amazement, to be sure, are part of what we are
feeling, but there is true fear at what might happen as well. And then, there
is the sheer humility of mankind standing in the bullseye of a storm of this
magnitude: how can anything stand against this kind of force? Again, we are
finding ourselves looking heaven-ward, but this time not out of curiosity but
out of angst and concern, and with a cry for God’s mercy.
One force of creation is a spectacle that drew our curiosity
with amazement and curiosity. One force of nature is a spectacle that draws our
attention out of fear and concern for ourselves, our homes, and our well-being.
I wonder what the writer of Psalm 46 was facing as he wrote the
lines of this Psalm. Was it a natural disaster? Was it a political coup? Was it
a warring enemy? It could be any of those things – it could have been all of
those things. The text doesn’t say what his issue, his struggle, his Sitz im Leben, his situation in life was when he wrote the
Psalm. Whatever it was, it must have been significant as he turned to God in
prayer.
Here, the unknown writer speaks with confidence and certainty: “God
is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble,” (v. 1). Notice the
verb and what is says about God: God is a present-tense reality, an immediate,
timely, and positive source of assistance. He is not distant, far-off, and
aloof; He hasn’t wound up the earth like a clock and sits back to wait for it
to die; He doesn’t demonstrate schadenfreude
– pleasure in someone else’s pain. He is a present help in time of trouble.
Good thing, too, as there is plenty of trouble. The Psalmist explains
the trouble as he uses several violent pictures: first, forces of creation - an
earthquake that both splits the land and tumbles mountains; rivers that turn
into storm-driven white-frothed waves; mountains that threaten to stand;
second, forces of man – warfare and governments overturning. You are seeing
these pictures first-hand, whether it is from The Weather Channel or from your
living room window. You are seeing the pictures of the sky being torqued into
ribbons of black and grey, the surf salivating angrily as it slams into the
beach, and trees bowing down in forced obeisance to the wind. You are hearing
the moans of the wind as it demands you be afraid of what it is capable of
doing. You are feeling something that can only be described as surreal,
unnatural, and, well, beyond description to someone who hasn’t been through a
hurricane before.
It would be easy to let these terrifying scenes enwrap and control
us – after all, they are a present reality.
But to you, dear friend – to you, riding out the storm on the
Coast and to you, awaiting the storm in relative safety away from your home
further inland – to you, the Psalmist speaks. He speaks clearly and distinctly
so there is no confusion in the midst of all that is going on around you – the things
your eyes are seeing, your ears are hearing, your body is feeling. He speaks of
the power of God over and against the powers you are seeing, hearing and
feeling.
Even though all of these things are happening all around us, the
Psalmist says, “we will not fear” (v. 2). Pull your eyes away from the scene in
front of you; turn a deaf ear to the sounds around you; lay aside the feelings
your body is experiencing. Turn your eyes, your ears and your heart to the Word
of God and hear His Word.
Three times, the Psalmist declares “The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.” In the midst of earth-riving events, God
Himself is with you even in the midst of this chaos outside. In the Scriptures,
Jesus is given many names one of which is “Immanuel.” Immanuel means “God With
Us.” In the person of Jesus Christ, God Himself is present with His people. He
knows full well what it is to live in a fallen world. He even knows what it is
to experience nature gone sideways as He calmed the storm that threatened to
sink the disciples’ boat (Matthew 8:23-27).
Know that even in the midst of this storm, God is your refuge and
strength. The roaring of the wind and the foaming of the waters do not change
that, for God is the God of creation. He made it, speaking it into existence.
He controls it so that it will not completely overwhelm us. He directs it so it
is for our blessing and use. He protects it so that even in the midst of
terrible flooding, it will not be the end of creation.
Remember this: the world was once rescued through a flood as God
destroyed everything but Noah, Mrs. Noah, their sons and their families, and
the animals on the ark. You have been rescued through the waters of Holy
Baptism. You have been carried through that Flood in the ark of the church. In
that church, you have been taught the faith that is able to say, “I believe.”
This side of heaven, in the face of this storm, you may have to add, “…but help
my unbelief.” And He will. He will as you open His Word and read His promises
contained therein. Read the Psalms – the prayerbook of the church. Join with
the Church on earth and in heaven who implores the mercy of God. Pray for
protection of body and soul, property
and animals and all of creation. Pray for those in harm’s way and for those who
will come in to rescue those who are hurt when the storm passes. And know that
those of us who are well out of the path of imminent danger are remembering
each of you in our prayers as well.
God will carry you through this storm and through this flood. But,
then again, that’s nothing new for Him. He’s already done it.
God is your refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
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