Living Water: From Fear to Faith (5)
The Lord Makes Me Glad
“There is an alarming number of angles from which fear can ambush us,” says David Ivaska in Be Not Afraid. Whatever the source, fear can leave us depressed and disabled, in need of God’s presence as described in this study. You can use the studies as posted here or, if you prefer a print copy, we have made a pdf available at the end of this article. Set aside a special place and time to reflect on the Bible passage and accompanying questions and allow God’s spirit to teach and encourage you. Take to heart these discoveries of God’s promises. May you find yourself moving from fear to faith.
The Lord Makes Me Glad
God is our refuge and strength,
An ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
And the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
Though its waters roar and foam
And the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day…
Be still, and know that I am God.
(Psalm 46:1-5, 10)
I still remember that fearful night. Several thieves had broken into our home while my wife and I were visiting neighbors. We returned to find our house stripped, two guests seriously injured, blood all over the living room and our two boys terrorized but safe. After helpful neighbors left late that night, we sat as a family around a tea table and read this psalm together — “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” The fear was profound, but the refuge we found in God that night was even more profound.
Contrast how this psalm describes the overwhelming flood around us with the quiet stream within us.
What is the significance of God’s help being described in verse 1 as “an ever-present help in trouble” and in verse 5: “God will help her at break of day?”
How does being still enable us to experience the quiet stream in the midst of the storm?
“Dear Jesus, thank you that thieves cannot take you away from us!” (Our six-year-old’s prayer the night of the robbery.)
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