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Refuge and Strength
D. Marion Clark
Psalm 46:1-11
Introduction
In the spring of 1527, the Reformer Martin Luther had to stop preaching in the middle of his sermon because of a dizzy spell. As the summer came and passed, his health declined so much that it appeared he would die. Already prone to depression, he slipped further into despondency. It had been ten years since he had nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Church door. Those years were filled with relentless attacks against him and the swirling controversies that accompany a new theological movement. The plague that had tormented Europe for more than a century entered Wittenberg. Luther opened his home to the sick and watched a number of his friends die. It was likely sometime during this period that he penned the words to ''A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.''
The hymn quickly became popular, so much so that it was regarded as the ''Battle Hymn of the Reformation.'' The basis of this hymn is Psalm 46. Luther loved the psalms, turning to them for his solace and strength. No psalm provided such encouragement as the one we look at now.
Text
Most commentators believe that Psalm 46 was written in response to a great deliverance that God made for Jerusalem. The likely candidate is the deliverance from the Assyrian army of Sennacherib. The army had surrounded the city. There seemed no hope. King Hezekiah prayed, and God answered his prayer by striking down 185,000 soldiers in the night, probably by some kind of plague (2 Kings 18-19). This psalm celebrates either this particular victory or some other.
It breaks into three stanzas, each ending with the term Selah. That is perhaps a musical term meaning ''to pause.'' If we do pause and reflect on each stanza, we will detect the flow of the psalmist's thinking. The first stanza presents the psalm's theme: God is our protector; therefore, we will not be fearful.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
G ...
D. Marion Clark
Psalm 46:1-11
Introduction
In the spring of 1527, the Reformer Martin Luther had to stop preaching in the middle of his sermon because of a dizzy spell. As the summer came and passed, his health declined so much that it appeared he would die. Already prone to depression, he slipped further into despondency. It had been ten years since he had nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Wittenberg Church door. Those years were filled with relentless attacks against him and the swirling controversies that accompany a new theological movement. The plague that had tormented Europe for more than a century entered Wittenberg. Luther opened his home to the sick and watched a number of his friends die. It was likely sometime during this period that he penned the words to ''A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.''
The hymn quickly became popular, so much so that it was regarded as the ''Battle Hymn of the Reformation.'' The basis of this hymn is Psalm 46. Luther loved the psalms, turning to them for his solace and strength. No psalm provided such encouragement as the one we look at now.
Text
Most commentators believe that Psalm 46 was written in response to a great deliverance that God made for Jerusalem. The likely candidate is the deliverance from the Assyrian army of Sennacherib. The army had surrounded the city. There seemed no hope. King Hezekiah prayed, and God answered his prayer by striking down 185,000 soldiers in the night, probably by some kind of plague (2 Kings 18-19). This psalm celebrates either this particular victory or some other.
It breaks into three stanzas, each ending with the term Selah. That is perhaps a musical term meaning ''to pause.'' If we do pause and reflect on each stanza, we will detect the flow of the psalmist's thinking. The first stanza presents the psalm's theme: God is our protector; therefore, we will not be fearful.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
G ...
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