PSALM FORTY SIX

THE LANGUAGE OF FAITH.

   Martin Luther's favourite hymn was, "A mighty fortress is our God." He is 
known to have said, "Come let us sing Psalm forty six and let them do their 
worst!" This is the language of faith. It is inspired by these truths found 
in this psalm:- There is a refuge - There is a river - There will be a 
reclamation.
   The psalm has a very abrupt opening. "God is our refuge."  There is a 
shelter, a trust, a hope. "God is our strength." He is our power. Every 
contingency is met in Him. He is our present help. He is a sufficient help. 
He is an immediate help. The first verse of this psalm needs no 
interpretation. All God's people have proved it.
   "Therefore will not we fear." Violent changes and commotions may come, but 
catastrophic changes will not make us afraid. This confidence was in the 
heart of Mordecai on the darkest day he ever saw. He said to Esther, "If thou 
altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall enlargement and 
deliverance arise to the Jews from another place" (Esther 4.14). This was 
indeed the language of faith. God will do it one way or another.
   Throughout the Bible there is evidence of an upspringing-well, provided by 
God for the need of His thirsty people. "There is a river," sings the 
psalmist. From the psalms we learn that God will make the saints drink of the 
river of His pleasure. Jesus declared that the water He would give would be a 
well of living water springing up unto everlasting life. The prophet Ezekiel 
saw waters to swim in. Zechariah prophesied that living waters would go out 
from Jerusalem. The last Book of the Bible speaks of a Pure River of water of 
Life. The river of God is the reverse of other rivers - it flows out into 
streams. God's ways are surely not our ways. Faith knows that for the people 
of God there will always be a river.
   The psalm ends with an impetus to faith embodied in the promise of 
reclamation. God will act. He will make wars to cease. He will destroy the 
apparatus of war. He will burn the armour of the vanquished. On the Roman 
Emperor Vespasion's medal is the representation of the Goddess of Peace, 
holding an olive branch in one hand, and a lighted torch in the other, with 
which she sets fire to a pile of armour. (Armour was then mainly made of 
leather, and so was combustible.) The imagery is very appealing, but the 
Truth of God's intention is exhilarating, our God WILL really bring the 
restoration of Peace.
   Wesley, as he died, said, "God with us."  The hope of the world is in the 
mercy of God. This is the language of faith.



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file: /pub/resources/text/hpalmer/psalms: ps-046.txt
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