Be still and know (Psalm 46)
The world is broken. Suffering and difficulties are all around us. It is a by-product of sin. No one is exempt from suffering. Even within us, our sinfulness brings forth afflictions - our bodies are also wasting away, as we fall sick and suffer from aches and pains.
It is in suffering and afflictions where we encounter our finiteness, fragility and weakness. Think about life before the pandemic, how “normal” things felt, how “in control” one felt of their life and their future. Since the pandemic, life soon felt unpredictable and uncertain. Life as we knew it soon felt like it was spiraling out of control and we were spiraling with it amidst deaths, illness, anxiety, loss, political unrest. The level of the awareness of one’s frailty has never been so stark and ever before us.
The feeling of weakness and lack of control is very uncomfortable. We feel exposed and vulnerable. It can be too much to bear that we try by all means to run away from it.
Yet the psalmist in Psalm 46 shows that though the world looks as though it is about to fall apart and everything is going out of hand, God is sovereign and in control. He invites us to come and see the work of the Lord, how he allows and has authoritative power of what goes on because he is God.
The psalmist is confident that the Lord is ever present and he is an ever present help , he will not tremble in fear because God is a mighty fortress that will not shake as the world gives way.. Though his finiteness and weakness is before him, the awareness of his weakness draws him to the strength, and infinite power of God.
He looks to the most high God and draws near in trusting in him trusting in his strength and protection.
The Lord calls him to be still, to rest knowing that he is not alone but that God is present and will help him. Theologian, J.I. Packer puts it beautifully that “God uses chronic pain and weakness, along with other afflictions, as his chisel for sculpting our lives. Felt weakness deepens dependence on Christ for strength each day. The weaker we feel, the harder we lean. And the harder we lean, the stronger we grow spiritually, even while our bodies waste away.” God used the suffering and affections in our lives to lean not on ourselves but on him to grow deeper in genuine fellowship and faith..
