Solid Ground

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 46:2-3

I WAS SEVEN MONTHS pregnant with our second baby when we spent a vacation hiking in Colorado. I use the term hiking loosely. It was more like huffing and puffing and trying to look the part, but it was worth it. As we went along, the trails zigzagged and opened up to endless beauty. Stopping to take in the overwhelming crags, trickling streams, and occasional deer with her babies, we were arrested by God’s creation. The mountains were so majestic, so amazing, so immovable.

Surely mountains can’t be moved, can they? If you were to ask me about those mountains moving, it would have seemed impossible or felt like certain doom.

When the psalmist describes the kind of trouble where the earth shakes and the mountains slip into the heart of the ocean, I can hardly wrap my brain around that kind of core-shaking activity.

And yet there are experiences in our lives in which our very core is shaken. We lose a friend or a spouse or a parent, or our job is relocated, or a friendship is rocked, or a diagnosis is given. And everything shifts.

So many of us have been confronted with the very real fact that nothing is stable, which is hard to believe when you step back and stare at a mountain. But it turns out what we thought was immovable was actually very movable. The landscape of our lives can change in an instant.

It’s a wonder the writer starts the psalm focused on God when his surroundings are in chaos. But we’re going to need this focus. We are going to need to remember that God is with us, even when the most immovable thing we can think of moves. And because He is with us, we will not fear, even when the mountains move into the heart of the sea.

Even when our plans aren’t working.

Even when we find ourselves alone.

Even when what was sure is surely gone.

Even when our dreams are dashed.

Even when we blow it again and again.

We will not fear.

This mantra is a stake, and each word can be carefully pounded into the ground of God’s immovable character. Grace looks like trusting God with our fears, no matter how threatening they appear. He is our refuge, strength, and present help in trouble.

And with a God like that, we truly do not have to fear. God is stronger than an ocean swallowing a mountain. God is mightier than any tragedy. God is safer than a tornado shelter. God is present in the most troubling places. God is greater than our fear. And we can trust in Him.

GRACE REFLECTION: What seems overwhelming to you today? What feels as though it has shifted? What has rocked your world? Today, rehearse these four words, “I will not fear.” God is with you.