The Scriptures have a deep simplicity to them. They feed and nourish us from the first reading to the 100th. I understood this more vividly once I began reading and teaching the Bible to children. Not only are their little hearts warmed and their little minds enlarged in child-like faith, but so often is my own heart and mind strengthened by familiar ground revisited time and time again. These are ancient paths that become sweeter and richer with time.
The Psalms especially display this characteristic because they are not only meant to be read and studied and meditated on, but they are meant to be sung. What an incredible reality that we can simultaneously plumb the depths and exalt to the heights its glorious truths and do so with one voice alongside my children, the aged saints, and the young in faith. These are ancient songs that resonate with old and young alike.
While I was working through Psalm 46 some time ago preparing a sermon, these thoughts were ruminating through my mind; and there were three “notes”, three observations that struck a chord with me and seemed to set the tune for this wonderful song of war and peace.
The first note we hear is the blessedness that comes from God’s immutability. This simply means that God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. a This Psalm appears to have been written with a particular historical event in mind in the life of Israel. There are a couple of different opinions as to what event that might have been, but there’s no doubt that it was at a time of great uncertainty and danger for the nation as a whole.
The Psalmist begins by saying, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (v.1) The only way he could say that with confidence is to have fixed in his mind the firm belief that God Himself does not change; there is no shadow of turning with Him. The Psalmist looks back at what was and proclaims in the present what is. To serve an unchanging God is to elevate history beyond mere curiosity or cautionary tale or nostalgic recollection. History becomes one of the means by which God encourages and instructs His people. This is why a rejection of the worship of God eventually ends with a rejection of the importance and continuity of history.
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. – Romans 15:4-5 ESV
The second note we hear is the blessedness that comes from God as creator. Like so many others, this Psalm makes use of nature imagery like earth, mountains, rivers, and seas. Unfortunately, we live in a time that makes it very hard to appreciate the significance of this. C.S. Lewis, in his book, Reflections on the Psalms, is insightful and helpful on this point.
He explains that acknowledging the One true God as the creator of all things brings a separation between the Creator and creation that releases Nature from being divine and frees her up to be a symbol of the Divine. Let me give you Lewis’ own words.
“To say that God created Nature, while it brings God and Nature into relation, also separates them. What makes and what is made must be two not one. Thus the doctrine of creation in one sense empties Nature of divinity…But in another sense the same doctrine which empties Nature of her divinity also makes her an index, a symbol, a manifestation, of the Divine.”
In other words, only when the “created” speaks for and points to the “Uncreated” can it find its fullest expression and meaning. So earth, mountains, and seas are both real created things and instruments through which God reveals a greater reality, a more lasting reality. Thus, the song of the Psalmist establishes us as in the world but not of it. It is a Christianity that is earthy but not earthly.
The third and final note is the blessedness that comes from God as covenantal. We not only have a God who is immutable, and a God who is eternal, but we also have a God who is relational. And this covenantal relationship between the eternal God and his chosen people is the very thing that enables the Psalmist to say “[Because] God is our refuge and strength…therefore, we will not fear…” (v.1,2) The LORD is most wonderfully our LORD and we are His people. It establishes the connection between how we live and who God is. Our hearts can then be tuned to fill in the blanks with absolute hope, “Because God is _________, therefore, we (as His people) will _________.”
Let these notes resonate in our hearts and minds as we study and sing the Psalms. We serve the Lord of history, the Lord of life, and the Lord of love, and He is bringing us in harmony with Himself and one another.
- Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17; Malachi 3:6 (back)
