Steady Faith

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.

Psalm 46:1-2

Humans have learned to control many things once thought uncontrollable—but not the weather. Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, floods, droughts. No one is rich enough or smart enough or powerful enough to control the forces of nature.

Listen to God’s promise: “God is our refuge and strength.” Now, notice how the psalmist frames this response to the promise: “We will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea.” Because of God’s promises, we don’t have to live in fear of those things we can’t predict or control.

A refuge is a safe place, a place that is stronger and sturdier than the storms that come against it or the enemies that assail it. When you have taken refuge inside a strong shelter, the winds that would have blown you about at will don’t touch you. The storms that would have pummeled you don’t come near you. The refuge takes the force of the blow. You live in the calm center.

During a recent crisis of my own, when my husband was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and passed away quickly and unexpectedly, I found great comfort in the words of “Jesus Loves Me.” The line I sang to myself over and over says, “[I am] weak, but he is strong.” My weakness did not define the situation. I was weak—and helpless and useless—and I didn’t have to pretend to be anything else. But one thing never changes. He is strong. He has been my strength and my refuge. I experience the reality of his promise every minute of every day.

Anything can happen at any moment, but I don’t have to fear it. The circumstances of my life may be volatile and fluid, but I have a Refuge who never changes. He promises me himself.

Father, every moment that I breathe, you are my strength. My world might crack wide open, and my life may be shaken to its core, but you are my refuge. In the challenges and uncertainties of which this life is constructed, your unfailing presence is the most beautiful promise of them all.

You must learn to take the calm with you in the most hurried days.

—GOD CALLING, edited by A. J. Russell