Psalm 46 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 46 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Verse 2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
Verse 3though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Selah
Verse 4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
Verse 5God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved; God will help it when the morning dawns.
Verse 6The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.
Verse 7The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Verse 8Come, behold the works of the Lord; see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
Verse 9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.
Verse 10"Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth."
Verse 11The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
Devotion
God is our refuge and strength... We will not fear, though the earth should change. Many of us, as children, took this psalm in like mother's milk, because of the great hymn of the sixteenth-century reformation, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," which paraphrases it. How the world has changed since that reformation! But in one respect it has not changed. For most of the past 499 years, the church in the West has remained divided. But we live in extraordinary times and have reason not only to be hopeful, but to be optimistic, for many of the walls that have divided so much of Christ's church are at last crumbling.
As the walls we have erected—for such good reasons yet at so high a price—do fall, as the earth does change, as we rediscover our oneness in Christ, we shall learn anew that "The LORD of hosts is with us"—and that when our lord and savior said, "Repent," he willed that all our lives should be a daily returning to this faithful God.
Prayer
Hasten the day, gracious God, when all your varied and diverse people rejoice to share one baptism, one meal, one faith, one hope, one Lord Jesus Christ. In his name. Amen.