Psalm 46:2-3

Psalm 46:2-3

Though the earth give way

The terrifying prospect that unfolds in these verses are enough to shake anyone’s faith! The picture being painted is of catastrophic destruction of the earth where whole continents are torn apart, mountains are uprooted and the oceans becoming roaring cauldrons for the land masses. It is as if creation is becoming uncreated! In Genesis 1:9-10 the Lord God gathers the waters to one place and the dry land appears, and so it has ever been since that creative upheaval. This Psalm reverses the process and dares us to imagine the consequences as the waters return again in triumph and the land masses are flattened by the onslaught of the primeval deep. 

It is more than likely that the author of the Psalm is imagining what it will be like if Israel is sucked down from her lofty place and swallowed by the tumultuous oceans. Like a mountain range she will be crushed and broken and drawn under the waters – uncreated! In some ways, that is exactly what happened in AD 70, when the Roman armies swept in, the people fled to the four corners of the earth and Jerusalem was destroyed. However, our writer is not afraid, there is a God, a God who controls all of these processes and He is our refuge and strength, He is there even when the earth gives way and He will be ever-present when the most terrible calamities strike. Does our faith allow us to believe that, whatever happens, our God will save us? 

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