O my soul,
What keeps you going?
Perhaps this.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
― Psalm 46:1-3
God is indeed our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. So very present. The ESV footnote reveals that this may also mean well proven. A well proven help in trouble.
O my soul, are you familiar with the reality of this? A well proven help in trouble is not theoretical. It is physical and actual and real, and there is track record. Remember back to a time you knew the very present help of God⸺his character being revealed, his faithfulness to his beloved ones⸺his faithfulness to you.
As faithful as the Lord has been, so he remains.
For I the LORD do not change.
― Malachi 3:6a
How we need his faithfulness, for as we look around this broken world we do indeed see the earth give way and mountains fall into the heart of the sea. What turbulent times are these!
And in these turbulent times we must take comfort from the entirety of the psalm, so notice what comes next.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.
― Psalm 46:4
What is this river, and what can we know about it? And what is the city of God, and how can it be glad? All of this was revealed to the Apostle John.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
― Revelation 22:1-5
The river is the water of life. O my soul, drink deeply of this water of life and slake your thirst. Come to Jesus and drink!
On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
― John 7:37-39
And the city?
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
― Revelation 21:1-3
The holy city is the bride of Christ, his church for whom he died for the joy which was set before him. The joy of saving hopeless and helpless sinners. His joy in saving me and his joy in saving you. The joy that enabled him to endure the cross, scorning its shame (Hebrews 12:2).
What will it be like, in this city, that will make it glad?
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
― Revelation 21:4
That is all to come. But what of now? For the psalm is rooted in this present age. But notice that even in this present age is the city of God, the bride of Christ, his church, made glad by his streams of living water. This is now. And there is one profound truth that is in common between that joyous day when tears are wiped away and the current turbulent time of the psalmist.
God himself will be with them as their God.
― Revelation 21:3b
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
― Psalm 46:5-7
The Lord of Hosts is with his people, his beloved ones, his city, and he is infinite in power and glory. For while these mountains fall into the heart of the sea in the tumult of our age and the earth gives way, the Lord speaks and the earth melts. And listen to what he says.
Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
― Psalm 46:10
O my soul, immerse yourself in the river of life, and be still and know that he is God and that he is with you! 🙏