An Ever Present Help
By Ryan Dawson
Where do you go when you need help? I greatly value my time with the Lord each morning, where I pray and reflect on Scripture. I find this time of quiet reflection centring and helpful, and I feel unbalanced when this time is rushed or truncated. Most mornings I will read a psalm and so often this helps me put words to my prayers. Psalm 46 provides some wonderful Truth that anchors us in the storms of life. I pray you are encouraged today by these words…
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day. Psalm 46:1-5
In Songs of Jesus Tim Keller shares some perspective from Psalm 46 that I find very helpful as I consider my own challenges and the challenges of others I know:
Until recently no one imagined the possibility of the world itself being destroyed, but today our films are filled with ways it could happen. But if you have this God as your God, you can face even such cataclysms without any fear. It doesn’t say here that God will help you if you get into a strong refuge. It says He is the refuge. God is a stronghold or city that cannot be bombed or destroyed. Through earthquakes and tidal waves dissolve the solid world and civilizations melt, His rule is unshaken. If God is with you, even the worst thing that happens to you - death - only makes you infinitely happier and greater.
Prayer: Lord, at times I feel so vulnerable - to disease and injury, to financial loss, to political and relational betrayal, to professional and personal failure. But in this psalm you say that even earthquakes and mountains melting can’t take away my inheritance of infinite love, resurrection, new heavens, and new earth. As I praise you Jesus for this, my anxiety ebbs and I experience your shalom peace. Thank you for all you have done. Help me to rest in your unshakable love for me. Amen
I hope and pray you are encouraged and filled with hope today as you trust in your faithful and loving God. He is your refuge – so rest in Him!
Blessings, Ryan
Where do you go when you need help? I greatly value my time with the Lord each morning, where I pray and reflect on Scripture. I find this time of quiet reflection centring and helpful, and I feel unbalanced when this time is rushed or truncated. Most mornings I will read a psalm and so often this helps me put words to my prayers. Psalm 46 provides some wonderful Truth that anchors us in the storms of life. I pray you are encouraged today by these words…
God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day. Psalm 46:1-5
In Songs of Jesus Tim Keller shares some perspective from Psalm 46 that I find very helpful as I consider my own challenges and the challenges of others I know:
Until recently no one imagined the possibility of the world itself being destroyed, but today our films are filled with ways it could happen. But if you have this God as your God, you can face even such cataclysms without any fear. It doesn’t say here that God will help you if you get into a strong refuge. It says He is the refuge. God is a stronghold or city that cannot be bombed or destroyed. Through earthquakes and tidal waves dissolve the solid world and civilizations melt, His rule is unshaken. If God is with you, even the worst thing that happens to you - death - only makes you infinitely happier and greater.
Prayer: Lord, at times I feel so vulnerable - to disease and injury, to financial loss, to political and relational betrayal, to professional and personal failure. But in this psalm you say that even earthquakes and mountains melting can’t take away my inheritance of infinite love, resurrection, new heavens, and new earth. As I praise you Jesus for this, my anxiety ebbs and I experience your shalom peace. Thank you for all you have done. Help me to rest in your unshakable love for me. Amen
I hope and pray you are encouraged and filled with hope today as you trust in your faithful and loving God. He is your refuge – so rest in Him!
Blessings, Ryan