Be Still

Psalm 46

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth. A song.

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.
Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
    he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the Lord has done,
    the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease
    to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
    he burns the shields with fire.
He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Lord Almighty is with us;
    the God of Jacob is our fortress.

What can anyone say about yesterday’s events? Never before has a group of Americans occupied one of the seats of the United States government like this. Terrible news. Gunfire in the Capitol. A woman shot dead and three others who died as well. Many more injured, including those defending our elected officials. Pipe bombs. Desecration of democracy. Violence carried out in the name of vengeance.

 The cracks are showing.

 But the cracks are not in the institution itself. We have a tendency to put blame on institutions, faceless, soulless specters that can easily absorb our blame. It allows us to blame the system rather than to take the blame ourselves. An institution is only as good as the people within it. In America, a democratic republic, those governing rule by the consent of the governed. The cracks revealed are the external cracks as people become more and more separated by ideology and belief. They are the internal cracks of people putting their hope on someone or something other than God. When a house has no foundation, the cracks come quickly.

 Psalm 46:5 says, “God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.” Would the United States show no cracks if every person stood firmly on God's Word? It’s not even worth asking the question. There has never been nor will there ever be a time when every American stands firmly on God's Word perfectly. No Christian is immune to, at times, stepping off this firm foundation and falling headlong into a calamity of their own making.

 Verse 5 refers to the city of God mentioned in verse 4. Jerusalem. And yet, Jerusalem has fallen several times. It fell in 586 BC when the Babylonians conquered it. It fell in 70 AD when the Romans destroyed it. In 637, it fell to the Muslims. It was reconquered in 1099. It fell again in 1187. Especially in 586 BC and 70 AD, we see her fall as a result of their rejection of God and his Messiah. God prophesied about the fall to the Babylonians: “People of Israel,” declares the Lord, “I am bringing a distant nation against you—an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand” (Jeremiah 5:15). Jesus prophesied about the destruction of 70 AD, “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers!” (Matthew 24:15-19).

 Scripture teaches us that the Holy City of God in reality is the Church, both of Old Testament believers and New Testament believers like us. The promises made to Jerusalem endure in the Church. The Church will not fall because God is within her. It will not fall because it is built on the Rock that is Christ.

 The truth about institutions is the same as before. It is not about the institution itself, but about the people in the institution. Scripture makes the distinction between visible churches and the invisible Church, the One Holy Church. Visible churches have both believers and unbelievers pretending to be believers. The invisible Church is only made up of those who believe, who though not holy on their own are called holy because they are washed in the blood of the Lamb. The invisible Church stands forever. God is within her. She will not fall. By faith in Jesus, you will not fall.

 “Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall.” God says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” He alone can grant us the peace and stability we long for. He alone can silence the clamoring nations. He alone can calm our fears. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.