Chaos. I can tell you what it smells like – musty, metallic smell of radiator steam.
· Driving home from work…cars stopped…guy not looking slammed into my car
Chaos. I can tell you what it feels like – sharp pain in my lower back
· Head slams into the head rest, body tensed, adrenalin rushing, back aching, muscles clenching
Chaos. I can tell you what it looks like – trickle of blood on the forehead of the guy who ran into me
· Car crumpled, trickle of blood on the guys forehead, police lights, rubber necking drivers
Chaos. To hundreds of little kids in Newtown and a good number of folks in Portland, OR it smells like gunpowder. Sounds like loud pops and screaming, at it looks like images that are unmentionable.
Chaos – is a particular kind of suffering,
On the scale of suffering there’s nagging pain, there is slow growing dread, there is unrelenting affliction and then there is chaos - head spinning bedlam that rocks the very foundation of our souls.
Chaos comes in apocalyptic storms like the Newtown shootings, Hurricane Sandy and of course 9/11.
Chaos comes in personal micro bursts as well: sudden downsizing, car accidents, a shocking betrayal by a loved one, and any number of horrific tragedies.
And just like every other kind of pain…it steals your hope …leaves you without confidence… saps courage…and discourages trust.
“The constant presence of pain and suffering – unwanted and not easily explained - poses an enormous obstacle to unfailing trust in the infinite goodness of God. Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust
Let’s be honest about this…it does.
· My tweet – God have mercy A response – If God had mercy this wouldn’t have happened
· follow up – you speak for God ….tell us what God is thinking about CT, Columbine, Va. Tech…just a word
Brennan Manning raises the same question albeit much less cynically:
How does one dare to propose the way of trust in the face of raw undifferentiated heartache and cosmic disorder?” Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust
So let’s deal with it… Where do you find hope in the middle of chaos?
Let’s look for hope in the middle of the commotion… let’s explore possibilities in the pandemonium.
Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. 6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. 7 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah 8 Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the ends 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 will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." 11 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah Psalm 46:1-11
Background: A song with 3 stanzas
- sons of korah – Levite musicians
- not sure what alamoth is but likely musical description (peppy? Epic?) as is Selah
- like many Psalms it is often quoted
· Psalm 23 – Pres. Bush original 9/11 and Psalm 46 – Pres. Obama on 10th anniversary
What is it about this song that makes it so poignant?
· perhaps it’s in it’s graphic depiction of chaos – what it feels like:
o Vs. 2-3 : earthquake (giving way) and tsunami (surging sea)
· maybe it’s in the bravado, confidence and hope of the song writer that we want a piece of:
o Vs. 1 – refuge – I can run into him
o Vs. 1 – strength – I feel protected by him
o Vs. 1 – ever-present – I feel him near me
then in the 3rd stanza starting at Vs. 8 the writer become prophet and exhorter:
· Come and see something – the works of God
o God himself brings desolations (shocking events)
o God himself intervenes in between warring parties
o Back in Vs 6 – God even breaks the rules (Barry)…melts the earth
· The Writer is creating a contrast:
o Chaos happens but God happens too.
· then in Vs. 10 - the writer get’s up in our business – speaking on behalf of God
o Settle down – Be still
§ stop fearing – start believing
§ stop shaking and start seeing
§ stop worrying and start trusting
§ stop with the panic and be start being courageous
Know me and what I do…I am with you and for you!
And maybe that’s enough to get us through the chaos…a shock to the soul…but where is the longer-term hope? I need more than that to sustain me through the inevitable chaos to come.
I want to say school me in a deeper confidence …disciple me in a more sustainable hope.
Fortunately he does…in the 2nd stanza of the song. (Vs. 4-7)
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. 6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. 7 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Long term hope in the middle of chaos will be found in understanding the river and the city.
The great city of God and the great River of God…both real and metaphor.
There is something about this city and this river that inspires hope.
The theme of a great city of God on the mountain of God weaves throughout the narrative of the bible and history:
· the city of God has a number of names: We know it as Jerusalem (one of the world’s oldest cities) … but has also been called Zion and the city of David and here’s why:
Until 1000 BC the city (located on a Mountain called Zion west of the Jordan) was under the rule of the Jebusites:
· King David climbed the Mt with his armies and captured the city
o made it the capital, built a palace and desired to build a Temple to God (which Solomon eventually completed)
o In the Temple Solon built a holy place and in the holy place was the ark of the covenant which is where God dwelt.
· When you hear reference to the City of God it is more than a geopolitical entity
· Zion is a Mt and on that Mt is a city and in that city is a Temple and in that Temple is a holy place and that is where God intersects earth.
Zion, the city, represents power and defense. It oozes strength, supremacy and authority. It epitomizes holiness and order.
We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts. Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith. Isaiah 26:1-2
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God. Revelation 21:10
The song writer says – gaze at the city…look up to the crown of Zion…be captivated with the strong Kingship and fatherhood of God.
· Last week Steve painted a picture of the tender presence of God in suffering (like a child at it’s mother’s breast)… “I don’t know how it works but it does”
· there are times we need that maternal care of God and then there are times we need a father’s fury.
IL – this week, in the midst of a significant amount of chaos I got a text from my daughter – I fell running … and then she sent a picture!
· the picture elicited in me a visceral desire to do something. To react…
o mom – ohhh! me – that’s it…I’m going to Cincinnati and I did.
That is what the writer of Psalm 46 wants us to know about God. the dweller of the great fortress of Zion…I will act in your chaos…and I might even cause the earth to melt in the process!
Be still, and know that I am Dad!
The writer wants us to grasp the power of the great Father God of the city…he also wants us to stand by the great river…
Vs 4 - There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God
Like the city…river rich and important metaphor in the entire story line of the bible:
A river watering the garden flowed from Eden Genesis 2:10
…all the ravines of Judah will run with water. A fountain will flow out of the LORD's house and will water the valley of acacias. Joel 3:18
Ezekiel has a fascinating picture of a river that flows from the Temple – getting deeper and deeper until it was a river no one could cross as it flowed to the sea.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22:1-2
What is it about this great river that we should see? What is it about a river that gives hope?
IL – I grew up near a river: it defined the geography of our lives, my earliest memory was on its shore…I crossed it hundreds of times
· but it isn’t something I get nostalgic about…it wasn’t pretty. A little foreboding. It scared me.
o it was deep and wide and most of all invariable…it was constant…It never stopped flowing…in the winter or when it flooded and the ice chunks and debris bobbed in it you could see the muscular speed of the river.
· Bodies of water evoke great emotions. Lakes evoke peace, oceans evoke perspective, stream evoke gladness, rivers evoke constancy…they never end, they never dry up.
The great river of God tells us the same about him…”His love never fails, never gives up, never runs out on me”
Be still = stand by and listen to the flow of the great river of God through history
· be still and know that God’s purposes in the world continue in the face of chaos.
· be still and take in the constancy…stability…the never-endingness of God
· be still and surrender to the surging power of our faithful Father God.
Hope through chaos in found in the surging,
constant power and purposes of our great Father God.
Be still and know that…
A fleeting incomplete glimpse of God’s back – the obscure yet real, transforming experience of his incomparable glory – awakens a dormant trust. Something is afoot in the universe. Someone filled with transcendent brightness, wisdom, ingenuity, power and goodness is about. In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, somewhere deep down a Voice whispers, ‘All is well, and all will be well’ “ Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust
…somewhere deep down a Voice whispers, ‘All is well, and all will be well’ “