Waist Deep 2018 - April 13


Psalm 46: 1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. (NIV)


God doesn’t make us stronger – he is our strength.*


Have you ever called a 24-hour Help Desk – and no one answered? Maybe you got a recording that told you that your call was important to them but all their technicians were busy assisting other customers. They were no help to you. 

We face trouble of some sort nearly every day but in most instances we barely tap into the vast reserves of strength available to us. The Hebrew word for refuge used in this verse refers to a military fortress or a place of protection from extreme weather, and that the ever-present help is a “superlative help” – the most help. Unlike the people on the Help Desk, God’s presence is always near when we are in trouble – and since trouble never goes away, God never goes away. 

The next verses in this chapter say that we will not fear even though the earth gives way; the mountains fall into the sea; the ocean roars and foams; and the mountains quake with the surging of the waters.  Doesn’t that sound like trouble to you? I saw a video of a village in Japan being swallowed by a tsunami and it looked exactly like the word picture in these verses. But God was there with my missionary friends as they dealt with the devastation of the earthquakes in Japan; he was a superlative help to them as they ministered to a nation who desperately needed a refuge. 

What is your “trouble?” Isn’t God big enough to shelter you and protect you? Has he ever failed to be present in the midst of your trouble? “The Lord Almighty is with us.” (Psalm 46: 7)


No bomb can destroy the fortress of a soul at rest in God.*


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