Our Refuge and Strength!

Psalm 46:1-3.

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

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

Because I have an inquiring mind, I did some research this morning before starting to write. Verse two of today’s passage made me stop and picture what it would look like if the whole earth moved, and all the ranges of mountains around the world were moved into the water.

It’s hard to imagine such a calamity. We talk about the strength of the high mountains. Can we imagine that strength being simply swallowed up by the roaring waters of the earth?

I knew that islands are, with very few exceptions, the tops of mountains that are largely under the water. That concept was hard for me when I first learned it, because some island are quite mountainous. If their visible landmass is so high and broad, what must the rest of that mountain that is under the water actually look like?

And all those islands are connected to the earth, way under the water. You can’t swim under them (there are, of course, always a couple of exceptions–just giving you the broad outlines here.) So, I asked myself, what is the difference between an island and a continent? The answer is simple, but boggles the mind: The only difference is size.

That means that continents, too, are simply above-water land masses supported by massive underwater eruptions of the earth. If all of this fascinates you, as it does me, there is a wealth of information available. I think, however, that a lot of the formation of islands and continents occurred during the Flood, when we read in the Bible that the fountains of the earth broke forth. I don’t think we can begin to imagine the violence that took place as massive underwater fountains broke open and spewed unimaginable torrents of water upward to meet the curtains of water descending on the earth from above. There is also the possibility that some of those fountains of the deep spewed magma, forming what we know today as the surface of the earth.

Here’s something else around which to wrap your mind. This vast globe, encircled by vast amounts of oceans and mighty mountain ranges, is going to be completely consumed. It will burn with a “fervent heat” (II Peter 3:10-12). Lots of people want to explain that passage away with the event of nuclear warfare. I don’t think so. Our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). He will not need man’s assistance in fulfilling prophecy. He, after all, created everything without man’s help. When the time comes, He will also destroy what man has defiled without man’s help. I’m not talking about pollution and “climate change” here. I’m talking about the sin in the hearts of all mankind; the sin that turns our hearts away from God and denies His power and His very existence.

God is our Refuge. He is our Strength, He is our very present Help in time of trouble. Think of that (Selah!)