God is Our Refuge and Strength

Dear friends,
I pray that you are well. These are challenging days in our nation and the world. Someone after hearing about another powerful earthquake in a month or so, asked,"What in the world is going on?" Some would answer using their eschatological beliefs. I am not going there; my desire is to offer hope to the fearful. In these difficult times we are being summoned into the presence of Father God. As I was praying this morning Psalms 46 came to mind. I sent out a devotional from Psalms 46 a few weeks ago so I wondered was the Lord laying this on my heart or was it in my mind because it was familiar. I picked up my Bible and read Psalms 46 again and it so spoke about the present situation in the world that I felt the need to share it.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling. Psalms 46:1-3

As I read this I thought of earthquakes and tsunamis. The scripture was so timely for what is going on now in Haiti and Chile. A leading seismologist said that in the U.S., it is not a matter of if but when. The psalmists says that though these things happen we will not be afraid. Why? Because God is our refuge and strength. A refuge is a place of safety and protection, a shelter, security. God is our place of protection. Our security is in Him. Strength is power and might. As we said a while back there is nothing outside of us that is greater than He Who is in us.

A very present help in trouble. Where is God when trouble comes? Did He leave you by yourself? No, He is very present. Did He not say that He would never leave or forsake and He is with us always? Is not His Spirit in us? He is very present; He's more than just present, He's very present. We have discussed before, the difference between omnipresence and manifest presence. Very present is like manifest presence; He is present to do something. God does not promise that we won't have trouble. If the apostles had been a little more mature in their faith they probably would have let Jesus sleep when the storm really got bad. Some think that if we walk in obedience we won't have trouble. The night Jesus walked on water they were doing exactly as they were told, but there was a contrary wind. You will encounter resistance. Those who live godly lives will suffer tribulation. It is through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of God. You will have trouble but you have a helper who is along side.

Both of the earthquakes were devastating. In Haiti over 200,000 people died. Many were left homeless. The earthquake in Haiti registered 7.0 on the Richter scale. The earthquake in Chile measured 8.8 on the scale. You may or may not know that on the Richter scale as the number goes higher the amount of power registered increases exponentially so that the earthquake in Chile was over 500 times more powerful than the one in Haiti. It was deeper in the ground and the epicenter was further from the population but it was still much more powerful. Yet in Chile less than 800 have died. What made the difference. In Chile they had much stricter building codes. They knew there was a threat of earthquakes and they built their buildings accordingly. I am reminded of Luke 6 when Jesus said,"Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded upon the rock. But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and it immediately fell. And the ruin of that house was great." Luke 6:47-49.
I am not drawing a conclusion about the spirituality of either nation and I am not using either man to represent one of those nations. I am just using the example to make a point. Let's look at the two men:
1. They both heard the word.
2. They both built a house.
3. They both encountered a storm.
The difference was what they did with the word. One laid a foundation in obedience. The other did not act upon the word and had no foundation. Our foundation for whatever we build in our lives must be laid in obedience. Yes we have a very present help in trouble. As I looked at those scriptures again I saw that not only does He take us through the storm, but prepares us in advance for it. However when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and he will tell you things to come. John 16:13

The Holy Spirit is in you. That is about as present as you can get. He is our helper, the paraclete, the one along side.

In closing I would like to encourage you with some good news. For over a month millions have bombarded heaven on behalf of the nation of Haiti. Apart from this terrible catastrophe Haiti would probably not have been on many of their minds. I read a report this morning that there have been over 40,000 recorded decisions for Christ and I suspect the numbers are much higher. There has been a cry of repentance coming from that nation and I believe God is rebuilding it. Continue to pray for them and for Chile. There are over one half million whose homes were destroyed in Chile. We pray that God will move mightily there as well and that redemption will come out of this tragedy.

I pray that these letters encourage you. I always get something in the writing of them. Thank you for allowing me to invade your computer space. Be blessed of the Lord.
In His love,
Herb Dean