Psalm 46

Reading this psalm makes me think of paralell universes, or at least paralell realities! I used to love watching the old action drama Sliders where a group of young people would go through a portal to alternative realities – where most of the time things were the same but just one thing had changed in history so the whole reality was different! Like when they went to German speaking america because in that reality it wasn’t english that was chosen for the national language but German!

In Psalm 46 we see two realities which we face everyday:
1/ (v 3,6,8,9) living in turmoil, disaster in the world – perhaps its financial instability, that many face at this time or personal hardships or the plight of a nation fighting.
2/ (v 1,2,4,5,7,10,11) the reality that God is present even in troubled times! V1 opens with, “He is our refuge and strength… Ever-present help in troubled times”

Consider today how Father God desires you to call upon him in troubled times! Much of the disaster that we face in the world is because of Creation groaning as humankind have rejected the living God! Yet God’s grace even in the midst of the turmoil is still available to all those who call out to him and discover the refuge that is available in God through Christ Jesus. “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” Ro. 10:13

In your turmoil, whatever situation you find yourself in – know the reality that God is the reality that truly matters!

Reflecting on Psalm 25.

All of us put our trust in things, people even concepts everyday whether it’s in the bus or car to get us to where we need to be, our health or in the Internet for work and even for our social networking fix!

The best security comes however when we trust the one who made us and holds everything together!

V3 talks of a hope (niv) there is when we trust God compared to the consequences of walking away from God. We see from the original meaning (see Amplified Bible) this hope is not just loose but both real and expectant and comes with waiting!

So how much more do we need God to “show us his ways” & “guide us in truth” that we can expectantly live in real hope that he IS at work in our life!(v4)

If you’re not sure, perhaps you need to renew your hope by acknowledging you need Jesus in your life. He is the one who brings you into a trusting relationship with God, at the cross he took your rebellion and took it to the grave so we can know we are forgiven as we confess the enemy can no longer hold that rebellion against you! That is what the bible calls Salvation it gives us real hope for living from now…

Are you forgiven? Ask God to be real to you today, acknowledge Jesus went to that cross for you taking your rebellion, saying “God I don’t need you” that today you change and say “help me Lord I need you in my life, I confess my sin and ask that you would live with me today in the centre of my being and change me from the inside out one bit at a time – Lord I put my trust and all my hope in you, in Jesus name, Amen”