Find A Quiet Place

Psalm 46 reminds us of God’s nature and God’s desire for us to trust him. In these few verses, the author David explains how God is larger than the problems of his children. It is in God we find faith and find safety. God is described as near to his loved ones, defending us from attacks. We pause, taking a moment to become conscious of God’s faithfulness—past, present, and future. The psalm ends with a reminder: God is with us.

Seriously. How does this text carry real meaning? An unexpected charge shows on your bank statement. The neighbor calls about your hedge still climbing through the fence. Your mother’s treatment center leaves another urgent message. In a nearby department at work, layoffs affect long-time employees. Who’s next?

Is Psalm 46 true? God’s presence – the way David expresses it – rarely seems so close. Instead, it’s our emotions that are strong. Sure, we know to pray. And we do. Some. But prayer trails off into worry. Later, we find ourselves venting to others. Anything to feel better. We are tempted to medicate our aching heart by indulging sins of the flesh. But such actions lead to no lasting satisfaction, instead creating greater despair.

We read Psalm 46. But have we entered it? Have we entered our situation into God’s situation? In this psalm, we see how we are not merely in our story, we are in God’s story. This fact re-frames our problems. It must re-frame our life.

Like Jesus, our lives are meant to showcase the glory of God. We follow Jesus, who endured trials large and small, and who went to a torturous death. In Christ’s life, trials, death, and resurrection, we see the reign of God. In Psalm 46, we see how we must also enter this reign. In our life, trials, death, and resurrection, we see our story folded into God’s story. As God’s children, we live not for ourselves, but for the glory of God.

Find a quiet place. Alone. Relax your muscles. Breathe deep. Exhale. Repeat. Since God’s reign literally ruling the air—holding oxygen molecules together. Realize God’s loving sovereignty at work, sustaining you. Breathing, inhale God’s reign. Exhaling, let God nourish his reality around you. Over the course of a minute, with eyes closed, meditatively let God’s story fall upon every corner of your life. Realize the completeness of his story. No unredeemed pain. No unloved second of his plan. His vastness. His power. His pain. His death. His eternal life. Each component here realized in his life. Each component here – lovingly born, lovingly bearing witness to himself – through our life. He triumphs. We, in him, triumph.

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."