Fear can destroy us. It makes us weak and undermines our faith. One of the most repeated commands in Scripture is “Do Not Fear.” But how do we do that?
The main point of Psalm 46 begins in vs. 1, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way.”
When this Psalm was written, the nation of Israel was surrounded by various dangers. They had powerful enemies on every side. They could begin to despair and that would make them weak and easy prey for their enemies. So the Psalmist conveys this message from God: “Do not fear!”
That’s great theology, but there’s times when this “have no fear” thing is hard to do. Still today we have fears that deal with health issues, insurance, financial, and on and on. Fear is a natural response to the unknown and what we can’t control. When fear confronts us our lives can get miserable. But God tells us not to be afraid.
How do we deal with fear when it comes knocking on our door? Psalm 46 tells us that God is not indifferent to our life’s struggles. Verse 1 says “God is our refuge and strength, a very PRESENT help in trouble.”
But you might object, that promise was for the ancient Israelites. But did you know the writer of Hebrews repeated that for us? He points out that the same God made the same promise to us that He’d made to Israel (Hebrews 13:5).
And then in Ps. 46:4-5, the Psalmist says, “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.”
In the midst of troubles and difficulties, God not only tells us He’ll be WITH us, but that He will give us joy and gladness and He will refresh us. God will not only be with us in our troubles; He will supply us with pleasure and gladness, He’ll give us a cool refreshing drink of joy even as we go through our sufferings.
So now, right in the middle of this Psalm is an interesting command: “Be still, and know that I am God...” (Psalm 46:10) And there’s 2 parts to that command. First, the command to “be still.” That is, we must not ...
