Reformation Day - Crossings | The Crossings Community

A SANCTUARY NOT MADE WITH HUMAN HANDS

Psalm 46
Reformation Day
Analysis by Scott Benolkin

1God is our refuge and strength,
   a very present help in trouble.
2Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
   though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3though its waters roar and foam,
   though the mountains tremble with its tumult.
4There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
   the holy habitation of the Most High.
5God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
   God will help it when the morning dawns.
6The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
   he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7The Lord of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our refuge.
8Come, behold the works of the Lord;
   see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
   he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
   he burns the shields with fire.
10“Be still, and know that I am God!
   I am exalted among the nations,
   I am exalted in the earth.”
11The Lord of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our refuge.

“Having been to the cross and tomb, there is nowhere God in Christ will not be with us.”

DIAGNOSIS: Nowhere to lay our heads

Step 1-Initial Diagnosis (External Problem): Everything is shaking
The earth is changing (v. 2). Seas are surging; mountains are trembling (v. 3). And just as the natural world is in turmoil (if not “final insurrection” [von Rad, Gerhard, Old Testament Theology 1:152]) so are the world’s peoples. Nations totter on the edge of survival (v. 6). Bitterly opposed sides wage intractable wars in which everyone loses and from which no one can escape. Everyone wants to find a refuge from this reality, but no place is a safe haven from the tumult.

Step 2-Advanced Diagnosis (Internal Problem): : Shaken to the core
If nowhere is safe, then where is God? Indeed, God may seem to us like an absentee landlord, no good at protecting sanctuaries – ecological, personal, institutional, or ecclesial – from change and decay. Again and again, the ground moves beneath our feet, and our trust is shaken. Even the famed habitation of God on Zion is long fallen and in our time is a place of conflict more than of safety. If “home is where the heart is,” the heart is in trouble.

Step 3-Final Diagnosis (Ultimate Problem): Just desolations
Could it be God is not absent but “active” in this whirlwind of change? Even without knowing the wrath wrought by ecological selfishness (though perhaps knowing of personal, institutional, and religious offenses), the psalmist proclaims that God’s voice melts the earth (v. 6) and God’s works include desolations brought on the earth (v. 8). If God is the one melting our fortresses of solitude, then no one, not even a superman, can flee from God’s presence (cf. Ps. 139:7).

PROGNOSIS: “Be still, and know that I am God!”

Step 4-Initial Prognosis (Ultimate Solution): Resurrection out of desolation
Outside the city walls, nailed down, exposed, Jesus took no refuge and enjoyed no protection from pain, shame, or death – nor even the silence of God. The earth shook, and the curtain of God’s temple was torn in two (Mt. 17:51). But even in the desolate stillness of the tomb, God was very present, raising Jesus and setting in motion the end of the old creation’s rebellion. In this way God’s unshakable mercy has been made known from heaven to Sheol (cf. Ps. 139:8).

Step 5-Advanced Prognosis (Internal Solution): “God is our refuge”
Having been to the cross and tomb, there is nowhere God in Christ will not be with us (Matt. 28:20). The Holy Spirit tethers our hearts to Christ in faith and cuts them free from false security, so that in all times and places we may proclaim with the psalmist: “the God of Jacob is our refuge” (v. 7, 11).

Step 6-Final Prognosis (External Solution): Stirred, not shaken
No longer holed up in man-made sanctuaries, we take courage in Christ and behold uproar and desolation with steadfast compassion, not flighty fear or denial. While expecting God’s final peace (v. 9), in the meantime we care for our neighbors, offer refuge to the fearful, and reform those systems – ecological, personal, ecclesial, and institutional – that foster life. By the Holy Spirit, these too may be “works of the LORD” for which God is “exalted among the nations” and “exalted in the earth.”