Text: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Ps 46:1).

Context, Context, Context: Psalm 46 is a song/psalm of celebration penned by some of the Old Testament hymn writers of people in covenant relationship with the Lord. The 11 verses of Psalm 46 are words of praise to the present-tense God. That is crucial to understand. God is in covenant relationship with his people. He does not abandon them or forsake them. He is ever present with them.

Teaching: Focus for a moment on just verse 1. Does it say that God was or that God will perhaps be? No, it doesn’t. It says that God is, that God is very present. A temptation that we may feel at times is to think or feel as if God is not aware of our troubles, that God doesn’t care. That’s one of the great encouragements of psalms like Psalm 46. It teaches that the Lord is in intimate relationship with his covenant people. He is our refuge and strength because he is “very present.” Our feelings can and will betray us. It is unwise to live by feelings. They can and often do lead us into unwise relationships. Verse 5 of Psalm 46 reminds us that God is “in the midst.” That is, God is present. He is very present. He sees all. He knows all. He knows where you are and what you’re going through. Therefore, go to him. Verse 11 again teaches the same principle, namely, that the “LORD of hosts is with us.”

Encouragement: This past Sunday at church, I told the saints again and again the same doctrine, that God is present, that God is near, that no one escapes God. You can ignore reality, but reality still exists. Your suppression of it does not change the truth of the way things are. God is a covenant-making, covenant-keeping God. People will let you down; they will disappoint you; they will betray you. But God is faithful and will not—indeed cannot—lie. And that truth, dear ones, is encouraging. God is very present and is a refuge and strength to all who are in him.