Presence Weekly 10/30/2023

The Devo: Who Is Our Mighty Fortress?

Psalm 46 states,

46 To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song. 

1  God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 

2  Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 

3  though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah 

4  There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. 

5  God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. 

6  The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. 

7  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah 

8  Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. 

9  He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. 

10  “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” 

11  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah 

This Psalm, written over 3000 years ago, was intended to remind those who sang it that, despite their present confusion, suffering, and perceived hopelessness, the LORD of hosts was with them and, more importantly, for them. 

In the two refrains, “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress,” the congregation would have been keenly aware of the importance of the covenant name of their God. 

Whenever we see the LORD written in all caps in the Old Testament it always means that the Jewish tetragrammaton YHWH appears here. So reverent were the Jews who used the Psalter as their hymnal that they refused to write out the full name of God because they saw it as disrespectful to the holiness of God. 

However, the presence of the LORD in these texts is critical to developing a proper theology of trust in God and consequently of faithful presence. Whenever the LORD appears, it is not just conveying the name of God, but his character and his legal obligations to the people he redeemed from slavery in Israel. 

When God calls Moses to rescue his people from Pharaoh in Exodus we read, 

 6 But the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.” 

² God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD. ³ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. ⁴ I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. ⁵ Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. ⁶ Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. ⁷ I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

It's important to notice that in this calling of Moses as the LORD’s covenant mediator, the LORD references a previously existing covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This pushes the redemptive story story further back to Genesis 12 when God calls Abraham. 

 12 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” 

Notice that while the name of the LORD is used here, Moses is inserting it into Genesis before the actual revelation of his name to Moses in Exodus 6. This is because Moses is given the texts of Genesis from God during the same stay at Mt. Sinai, when YHWH uses that time to explain his steadfast love and faithfulness to protect and redeem his people. So, whenever the people of God sang Psalm 46 they were reminded that they must place their trust in The LORD and not in themselves or their leaders. 

This, of course, brings us to Halloween.

And by Halloween, I mean Reformation Day. On October 31, 1516, Martin Luther nailed 95 complaints of corruption and exploitation against the Catholic Church to the the door of the Wittenberg Cathedral sparking the Reformation. As a result, Protestants are celebrating this event with special Reformation Day services in which many congregations will undoubtedly sing Martin Luther’s most famous hymn, which is actually a paraphrase of Psalm 46. 

 A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
Our helper He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing:
For still our ancient foe doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and pow’r are great, and, armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,
Were not the right Man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing:
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth, His Name, from age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us;
The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly pow’rs, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him Who with us sideth;
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

As Christians in the West sing this familiar hymn, especially those in the United States, we should remember that Luther’s breakaway movement was facing heavy backlash from a church highly enmeshed in the public square. So much so that the lives of Luther and his followers were regularly in danger. Their situation was not entirely dissimilar from those singing Psalm 46. 

Nonetheless, as the election draws near, many will move from singing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” to political rhetoric that reveals the true nature of where their trust lies. In the lead up to election day, both sides are slinging fear-based attack ads that would have the viewer believe that life as we know it hangs in the balance. A large number of these ads are aimed directly at evangelical Christians who should be the least impacted by these types of ads because their faith teaches them that, 

“Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing,” 

and,

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea…”

So, let’s use our singing to reorient us in the days leading up to the elections to guide us away from fear and toward trusting in the steadfast love and faithfulness of God. 

 P.S. For those wondering what Selah means, scholars are deeply divided on its precise meaning but tend to agree that it is some type of musical notation. As such, I think we can all safely assume that in our current culture context Selah means,

“Insert Electric Guitar Solo.”

Last Things...

If there are elections coming up for you, please take time to familiarize yourself with the ACTUAL position of the candidates and evaluate them first through a Scriptural rather than political lens.