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Our Strength and Help In the LORD Alone
by P. Donor S. K., Bachelor of Divinity Third Year
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We live in times where
our whole world is going through a tragic experience. The future has become unpredictable. Every day brings with it new problems, challenges, and unexpected turns. We are in search of functioning in unconventional ways.
The world’s economic condition is deteriorating . The basic provision for food is affected since there is no source of income for the employees . The fatality rate is uncountable and uncontrollable . People are losing strength both physically and men- tally . Introducing new vaccines do not seem to solve human vulnerabil- ity and helplessness . COVID-19 has become a drastic outbreak in every aspect of our livelihood . Amidst all these adversities and distresses, where all the worldly strengths are proved weak, where the helplessness of the world is evident, where there is no refuge found to be safe from the pandemic, the Bible informs us to find our comfort in the LORD .
Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trou- ble,” displays God as the source of all that we are looking for in the midst of these troubles . This is a psalm writ- ten for the choir master by the sons of Korah . Some commentators say that, by many Jews and Christians, this psalm is believed to be written by Isaiah when Sennacherib, king of As-
syria attempted to attack Jerusalem, the City of God in 701 BCE . God, he declared was the one who protected Jerusalem from the hands of their en- emies . Other scholars like Delitzsch adopt Jehoshaphat’s deliverance from the forces of bordering nations as the occasion of this psalm . Either way, this is a psalm of trust in God and it proclaims God’s universal reign .
This psalm is also called ‘Luther’s Psalm’ because when Martin Luther encountered times of great distress, he would say to his friend Philip Melanchthon. “Come, Philip, let us sing the 46th Psalm .” The Hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” has been a comfort to many over the past centuries, and even today . Against the chaotic situations where sea is roar- ing, earth is quaking, and mountains are collapsing, the psalmist made the proclamation that God is the divine source of refuge, strength and help .
God as the Source of Refuge
The word which is used for refuge in Hebrew is machaseh which liter- ally means a shelter, trust and hope . It was understood that God alone was the refuge for His people, a place of safety . In Old Testament days, refuge was a very real need . The unwalled villages used to surround the walled stronghold cities where the residents could flee during the times of war .
When worldly refuge failed to do their function, the psalmist sought God and trusted Him as the refuge . The possessive personal pronoun lanu which means ‘our’, denotes the