“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear…be still and know that I am God…” Psalm 46:1-2a; 10
This year my One Word is Strength. I just finished up lesson 1 of Donna Pyle’s Your Strong Suit. On day one, Jan. 1, I popped in the DVD to watch the first teaching and I cried all through it. Why? Because what a first day to kick off talking about strength, and that’s what she did. She talked about being strong in the Lord, and why his strength. She talked about the enemy and how he strategically plans out his attacks. He’s methodic.
I encourage you to skip over to her website and purchase the study for yourself. Not because I love Donna and she’s a friend, because the teaching it amazing and sound. During the first lesson, while digging into the Word, I ran across the verse above and something struck me. Had I read it before? Yes.
But this time, the word “very” hit me. Maybe it’s because I’m a writer and the thought, “‘Very’ isn’t necessary here. God, you could really tighten your writing by omitting it.” I’m sure His heavenly brow arched as He said to Jesus and the Holy Ghost, “You two hearin this? The student is trying to school the Master.”
And after a slight grin, I decided if it’s in the Word, it’s for a reason. And I want to know why?
God isn’t just my present help, He’s my very present help. “Very” in the Hebrew is, “ma’od” and it means, “exceedingly, much, might, force, abundance, to a great degree.”
Hang with me, I’m going to break it down in just a minute.
God is our REFUGE, shelter from rain, storm, danger, or even falsehood (lies)
God is our STRENGTH, from material, physical, personal, social, political trouble.
A very PRESENT help, “matsa” to find, attain to, secure, to meet, encounter, to come upon, to fall in with, to be gained to hit, to happen upon.
In time of TROUBLE, “tsarah” meaning “straits, distress, vexed.” From the root word, “tsar” meaning, “narrow, tight, adversary, foe, enemy, oppress, hard pebble.”
What this verse is trying to convey so powerfully is, When we are hurt physically, emotionally, materially (finances), when lies threaten us from others from the enemy (we do not fight flesh and blood but powers and principalities)socially–when friends betray us, do not stick by us, doubt us, leave us, offend us…
We can find an exceedingly, abundant, source of assistance. A refuge to protect us when we get into tight spaces when the enemy throws hard pebbles at us. Pebbles are small to God the Rock, but when thrown at simple flesh, they cause much pain.
God wraps us in His loving arms, securing us, wiping away every hurt. Every hurt. And pebbles bounce off Him, shielding us.
We have no need to fear. We have a strong place to find assistance.
“Be still and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10.
The word “still” in the Hebrew means “to relax, drop it, abandon.”
Whatever has hurt you, whatever you’re afraid of, stewing over, concerned about, stressing over can be dropped and abandoned in the refuge and shelter of God.
Relax.
Know He is God.
Some of my favorite verses to read when I’m feeling helpless, alone, frightened, uncertain, when I know I need to relax and remember who it is and what it means to be God is from Job, as He reminds him how small Job is and how big God is.
38-39. “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?…Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth and issued from the womb; when I made the clouds its garment, when I fixed My limit for it…when I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther, and here your proud waves must stop!’…Have you commanded the morning since your days began and caused dawn to know its place?…Have the gates of death been revealed to you?…Have you entered the treasury of snow, or have you seen the treasury of hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble…Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loose the belts of Orion?…Does the hawk fly by your wisdom?…
40:9-10
“Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His? Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor and array yourself with glory and beauty.”
Our strength isn’t in these flesh tents we drag around each day. It’s in a God Who defines might, strength, protection, and solidity.
A God this strong who knows how to caress us as if with a feather, yet fight for us and protect us with fierce love…and strength.
Relax.
He’s got this.
Do you struggle with relaxing–being still? What are some things you can do to try and “be still”?
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