Word of Salvation - Vol.48 No.2 - January 2003

 

The Eye of the Storm

 

New Year's Sermon by Rev. C. Berends on Psalm 46

Scripture Readings:  Mark 4:35-41; Psalm 46

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The sea has often been a symbol for chaos. Biblically, the stories of the flood, the drowning of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, the crossing of the Jordan, have all reinforced the idea that the sea is chaotic. It does not always behave in a rational manner. One minute it can be calm and flat, the next minute a pounding wave. It is no wonder that the disciples on the Sea of Galilee, whom we have just read about in Mark 4, are frightened when the storm appears on the lake and their little boat is tossed to and fro.

On dry land, solid ground, terra firma, we can plot courses and make plans to reach a set point. Using maps and compasses and the like we can navigate with a certain amount of surety when the ground below is unchanging. Or if it is changing, it is at such a slow rate that it does not affect us. Liquid, however, is another thing. There are no points of reference, no fixed structures by which we can take our bearing. It is always changing, it never stays the same. Navigation in water, without the fixed points of the stars, would be nearly impossible.

The sea, then, could easily be the symbol of the times in which we live. Nothing stays the same, everything is changing - and so fast. People no longer say that the world changes, it transitions. In the past we could pick out fixed points on the landscape, and head towards them. We could plot a course through life and expect that things would be relatively unchanging and enable us to reach that point. But not anymore. The ground beneath our feet has gone liquid. Nothing stays the same, everything changes.

Every twelve years, the amount of scientific information doubles. Over the last forty years there has been a 100,000 times rise in computer power, and a 1000 time drop in price. Intel's latest boast is that that can double the computer power of the world every year.

In 1996, on August 5, the American Heart Foundation announced that a new drug helped reduce the severity of heart attacks. On the 6th of August NASA scientists announced the discovery of evidence supporting early life on Mars. On the 7th the New England Journal of Medicine announced a new era in the treatment of bone marrow disease among children.

You get the picture? Daily, bombs drop from the sky and change the landscape on which we live. Some tremendous advances in technology, medicine, science and morals occur rapidly.

We live on a landscape of liquid, a sea of change and unpredictability. So the question we face as we enter into a new year is: will we sink or swim in this age? Will our lives be able to float, let alone make headway in this climate? Will our church even be able to tread water in this landscape, let alone swim with confidence? These are very real questions that we face.

1. A world of chaos

With these things in mind, when we read Psalm 46, it is almost as though the Psalmist is living down our street, describing our own lives. You see, here he describes a world of chaos, a world of uncertainty. A world where nothing stays the same, where everything changes. I'm not sure about you, but he could be describing my world, my life. As the 'Unabomber' in the USA wrote in one of his journals, "We are not the first to mention that the world today seems to be going crazy".

To start with, there is in Psalm 46 a description of nature, violent, out of control. It talks about the earth giving way, mountains falling into the heart of the sea, the foaming and roaring seas, the mountains quaking with that surging. It is nature releasing its full wrath and fury in this world. It is as if God no longer had control over all that is going on, as if the controls placed on it were no longer operating effectively. Flick through the pages of your newspapers on any given day and consider the things that you find - earthquakes, floods, droughts, fire - the list could go on and on.

And then the psalmist moves on from nature, and he looks at the city of God, the place where God has chosen to dwell and make His home. And again, we see a picture of turmoil all around it. Nations that are in uproar against it. Kingdoms that are coming and going. Attacks being made at the break of day against this city. The people of God inside, not knowing where the next attack is going to come from.

Religious persecution, as one writer puts it, is the greatest untold story of our time. In 1994 an estimated 156,000 Christians were martyred around the world for their faith. It is estimated that 1 in 200 Christians can expect to be martyred in their lifetime. Amnesty international seems to be more concerned about the persecution of Christians worldwide than we do.

But the Psalm doesn't stop there. It goes on to picture a battlefield, a place where wars are commonplace and death from war is a reality. The scene portrayed is the end of a battle, littered with the remains of war.

In the Pacific rim alone, there are seventeen current border disputes. Over the last eight years we have seen four separate wars in the former Yugoslavia. Fiji has been through three major coup attempts, and the Middle East, well, where do you begin?

And still the question comes to us, will we sink or swim in this ever changing, never stable world of ours? Is there anything that we can trust, anything that we can possibly cling to in our world, in our times? Or maybe we should just hunker in the bunker, and wait for all to pass. But will it?

2. The Eye of the Storm

This Psalm, however, is not a Psalm of despair. Sure, it contains some grim pictures of our world, and the obstacles that we face, but ultimately it is a Psalm of hope, a Psalm of security. Not because we can get down low and wait for it all to pass. Not because we can stand up strong and face whatever comes our way. Not because it really isn't as bad as it all looks. But because there is in this world of chaos a place of calm, a place of security, a place of strength. There is in this storm that rages all around us an eye - the eye of the storm - and that place is God.

The psalmist starts of by saying, "God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble." "The Lord Almighty," he says in verses 7 and 11, "is with us, the God of Jacob, is our fortress."

Now this is a message that we need to hear going into a new year. This is a glimmer of hope that we need to grab a hold of and base our lives on over the next year. While all around us is water, liquid that changes and moves with the speed of light, there is a place where there is quiet, where there is strength, where there is renewal.

While the waves are crashing over us, God is our refuge. While all else seems to change, God is unchanging, as reliable now as He was before. He is the one who gives us shelter as the forces of nature, the things that would seek to harm us and bring us down, threaten to engulf us.

While we are weak and uncertain in the face of these threats and fears, God is our strength. He is the one who fights for us, who goes on ahead of us and prepares a way for us, and the one who empowers us for action in this world.

While we sometimes feel alone, like we live on an island that is abandoned, He is the one who is the ever present, the one who is never far away, the one who doesn't fall asleep or goes away on holidays for a while.

While we wonder if this world is heading in any direction at all, and whether we might be swallowed whole by it and left behind in its wake, He is our help in trouble, the one who is enough, sufficient, for any and every situation.

What we have here is a message of security as we go into a new year, a message of hope in the uncertainty that a new year always brings.

3. Therefore I will...

And so the Psalmist can make, in full confidence, some statements of faith as to how this fact affects our day to day lives. Because this is not a fact that is way out beyond, a concept that does not have effects on how we live our lives each and every day. This has some very real implications for the way in which we approach this new year. It means that the Psalmist, although he sees the world and life in general as being in chaos, faces it with confidence and assurance.

The first thing he says is that he will not fear. Even though - and he lists a bunch of things to do with the world - even though the mountains shake, even though waters foam, even though nature itself seems to be dissolving into chaos, I will not be afraid.

Fear can cripple us. Fear causes us to be weak and ineffective. When we are fearful, we have to spend so much of our time and energy into putting ourselves into a place of security that we have little time or energy for anything else. Fear can make us dread the new year, dread its uncertainty and its chaos, but a life of fear is not what we have been promised. In 1 Timothy Paul writes that we have not been given a spirit of fear, but of love, power and obedience.

You see, these are the very things that fear inhibits: love, power and obedience. Fear hinders us from living the full life, the eternal life, that Christ died to give us. Now based on our own strength, sure, we have a lot to be afraid of. But this is not based on me, on my strength, but on who God is and what He has done.

And secondly, I will not be moved, or actually, we shall not be moved. Although there are forces that would love to see the people of God removed, the Psalmist can conclude that we will not be moved. The city of God, the people of God are unshakable, not because they have been built strong, but because God dwells within them.

So, while nature itself is shaken, and changed, while the people around are in turmoil, in uproar, one thing stays the same, one thing will not be moved, or changed or shaken, and that is the city of God, the place where God dwells. And that is us. God dwells in us. His presence is not confined to one city in one part of the world, but He dwells within His people.

The protest song of the last few decades has been, "We shall not be moved." It was based on our determination to stay put no matter what was thrown at us. But where are they now? Not still sitting there, are they? No, because in our own strength we are moved, we are shaken, we are buffeted. But in God's security we stand strong. He is our anchor, our rock and our fortress.

4. The invitation to Look

And so, to conclude, the Psalmist gives two commands that relate to who God is, and the confidence this gives us. And these are not hard things to do - in fact, they are actually quite easy.

Firstly, he invites us to look back. Come and see the works of the Lord. Come and take a look, He invites us, come and discover what God has done in this world, the absolute devastation He has met on those who would try and oppose His people.

Take a look He says, ponder at the things that I have done for you in the past. Have a look at how I have been working in your life over the past year, and the lives of the people around you. Look at where you were a year ago. Look at the struggles and triumphs that we have experienced that year. See for yourself that I am a refuge and a strength.

And in this, He invites us to look back at what He has done in Christ. He says to us this morning, "see how much I love you, see how much I care for you, see how far I will go to make you safe and secure in this sea of chaos."

And it makes me wonder, have I taken time out to have a look at where God has brought me over the last twelve months? I invite you, as you prepare for a new year, to take time out and see what God has done in your life. See the times of pain, and see Him there with you. See the times of triumph, and see God leading the way.

But not only are we invited to look back, we are invited to look forward. "Be still," He says, "and know that I am God." "I will," He states, "I will be exalted in all the earth."

Cease, he says, stop from your constant striving, your constant running around and attempting to do things your own way. Stop fretting over this and the next thing. There is no need. I have it all in my hands. Relax for a while, let go of the reins and know that I am God. You see if we continue to hold onto the reins, if we continue to try and face this world on our own, we won't fully realise just who God is, and the strength that He gives us.

And so God invites us to look forward to this new year in confidence, to make it our ambition, or New Year's resolution if you will, to know that He is God, that He is in control. He is the one bringing it all to His appointed end. Although the world seems to be spinning out of control, although chaos seems to be the order of the day, He is still in charge, the big boss, the one who is doing things in His time.

And so the challenge comes to us, at the start of this new year, to look forward in confidence. God is for us a refuge and a strength, an ever-present help in trouble. We will continue to face trials and hard times and struggles over the next year, and the years after that. But this is no cause for alarm, no cause for retreat. What God has done in the past, He will continue to do in the future. He will be there for us. We shall not be afraid, we shall not be moved, we shall be still, we will let go, and we will see that He is God.

Amen.