“The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress”.
Psalm 46:7 NIV
The world is full of threat and danger. With all the conveniences and
technology that we have invented to make things easier, we still all live
in fear. Terrorism is becoming an increasing possibility as the number
of victims increases all the time and countries once considered powerful
know that they are being targeted for attack. In the background too
much thinking is the awareness that nuclear warfare would destroy the
world in a few minutes and that, if the weapons were to get into the
wrong hands, it could happen. Of equal concern is the population
explosion, each new billion mouths arriving so much quicker on the
earth’s surface than the last one, and before enough food is available to
feed them all. Weak and unstable governments constitute a massive
problem leading to failed status becoming more and more common.
In the world of the poet of Psalm 46 there were also many threats
Imperial power developed and threatened each other. Modern medicine
was unheard of. Wild animals still claimed the lives of many people.
Ignorance was widespread. Legal systems were rudimentary at best.
Life was a human jungle. The one great source of strength, confidence
and courage was the deep conviction that God was with them and that
he himself was a source of refuge and defence.
Whatever forms of danger abound today, the God who is the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is still “with us”.