Be Still
It had been 12 years since Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses. During that time, he had debates with Catholic officials. He was put on trial and accused of heresy. He was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church and declared an outlaw by the Holy Roman Emperor. He fled for his life and lived a year in hiding. He had married and had had 3 children, but one died just days after her birth.
His efforts to reform the church and restore the pure Word of God to Christianity had seen some success, but he was still dealing with many of the same problems and a few more that had cropped up since all this began. So, maybe it comes as little surprise to learn that Luther was depressed.
Even before all this happened, Luther was known to battle with depression – but this time it was different. He couldn’t shake it. He tried all the old standbys. He leaned on his wife. He surrounded himself with friends. He made himself celebrate things even when he didn’t feel like it. But the medicine that always worked best for Martin was music.
And so it was that in the year 1529, while suffering from severe depression, Martin Luther read Psalm 46 and wrote a hymn about it. We just sang it: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. Allow me to read the psalm that inspired it:
1 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.4 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.8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
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 He says, “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.[1]
Whether you’re an Israelite under siege in Jerusalem, or whether you’re Martin Luther who lost a daughter and felt like he was losing the Reformation – whether you’re a confused Christian now wondering what to do with a global pandemic and crazy politics, or whether you’re a grieving grandson or mother whose heart aches at the unbelief of their loved ones – God has two words for you: “Be still.”
“Be still,” he says to all the things that roar. It’s a rebuke, really, to the waters that roar and foam, to the nations that are in uproar, to the lions roaring in their den when Daniel was thrown in. “Be still,” God says.
I read a story earlier this week about Venice. You see the pictures of the gondolas and the canals and the bridges. It’s beautiful! But it’s also a civil engineer’s nightmare. For one, the city was built on a swamp, but, on top of that, sea levels are rising. So while the sea gets higher and higher, the foundations of the buildings are sinking lower and lower. They had a flood last year that cost more than $1 billion in damage and left parts of the city under 6 feet of water.[2]
The Venetians came up with a clever solution. They call it MOSE (Italian for “Moses”). It’s an inflatable floodgate. The idea is that it stays deflated on the bottom of the sea until they need it. Then they pump it full of air to prevent flooding in the city. In the last month they have had to use it twice. And it’s worked well… except… it can only stop waves that are 3-5 feet tall. Should a more severe storm strike, well, then, they’re literally underwater.
The best and brightest minds still cannot keep the waters from roaring and foaming, from wreaking havoc on coastlines and causing irreparable damage to cities. But God can. Jesus did. He slept in a boat tossed back and forth by a furious squall on the Sea of Galilee, and when his disciples woke him for fear that they might all drown, do you know what he said?
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.[3]
God gives orders to the forces of nature… and they listen! God says, “Be still,” to nations in uproar and they obey.
Sennacherib was the king of Assyria shortly before this psalm was written. He tried to sack Jerusalem, so he laid siege to the city with some 200,000 men. But when King Hezekiah prayed to God for deliverance, he sent the Angel of the Lord to kill 185,000 of Sennacherib’s soldiers overnight, and God spared the city.
To stand on the walls of Jerusalem and see Sennacherib’s army, it must have felt like a sea of enemy soldiers crashing against the floodgates of the city, but God said, “Be still,” and they were silent as the grave.
The same thing happened when Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den and when Jesus sent his disciples out as sheep among wolves. The same thing happened when Luther was excommunicated and made an outlaw. There are dangers in this world that we cannot control, threats to body and soul, but God says “Be still,” and every danger and threat must cease. The lions close their mouths. The wolves are held at bay. The powers that be cannot put a finger on the one God protects, because
The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.[4]
When the world feels like it is crumbling around you, you can find refuge in God. When the waters roar and foam and shake the mountains with their surging, you can find safety in the unshakable city of God. Because God is within her, she will not fall.[5]
That’s God’s promise to you. You have a place in the city of God. You have the invitation, “Be still.”
I’m a bit of a word nut – I love knowing the story and the picture behind words – and this invitation is no different. When God says, “Be still,” he’s literally saying, “Droop.” To those enemy forces outside of Jerusalem with their swords and spears raised, God says, “Drop your weapons. Let that sword-swinging arm go limp.” And because the command comes from the Lord Almighty, they have to listen.
When God says, “Be still,” to you, it’s the same word, “Droop,” but the connotation is totally different. When you feel stressed, upset or afraid, how does your body respond? It tenses up, right? Your shoulders get closer to your ears. But God says to you, “Be still. R-E-L-A-X. Relax.” When you enter into the fortress of God, nothing can harm you. God says, “I’ve got this. Be still.”
No matter who wins the election on Tuesday, be still.
No matter how the pandemic effects your day to day, be still.
No matter what causes you to shake with fear, be still and know who your God is.
He is the Lord Almighty, who has the power to command the wind and the waves, to close the mouths of the lions, but, even better, that almighty, all-powerful Lord is with you. God is with us. Do you know how to say that in Hebrew? “Immanuel” = “God with us.” That’s the name that was given to Jesus when he was born at Christmas. That’s the name that tells us that God made his dwelling among us.
The Almighty God came down from heaven to live here in our world and wield his considerable power, not to end poverty or hunger, not to reconcile mother to daughter, not to cancel every natural disaster, but to fall victim to an act of violence himself, to put himself in harm’s way so that you could live in the safety of his salvation.
The reality is that our greatest threat isn’t a virus; it’s not an election gone south; it’s not division or corruption or even death. It’s our sin that makes us enemies of God. It’s our sin that puts us on the wrong side of war with heaven.
But that’s why, when Luther read these words, he found comfort in the pronouns. God is our refuge. The Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. The beauty of Jesus is that he has “us” in his name!
Jesus came for us. To die on a cross for us. To forgive us our sins. To reconcile us to God. So that even if you’re kept up at night with nagging doubt or creeping fear, you can say with Luther, “When I look at myself, I don’t see how I can be saved. When I look at Jesus, I don’t see how I can be lost.”
When Luther felt overwhelmed, he turned to the Word of God and there he found refuge. When he felt the weight of his sin and the burden of his guilt, he read about his Savior who took all his sins away. When he felt uneasy about what was happening in the world around him, he read about the Lord Almighty who was with him and is full of power and love.
The Word is our refuge. When we shelter in the pages of Scripture, we can weather any storm. There we hear the soothing voice of God that says, “Be still. I’ve got this.”
Be still, brothers and sisters, and know who your God is. He is almighty and powerful. He is with you and for you. He is your fortress and stronghold, your Savior and friend.
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, because the Lord Almighty is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Amen.
[1] Psalm 46:1-11
[2] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/venices-new-floodgates-deployed-second-time-shielding-city-potentially-destructive-floods-180976087/
[3] Mark 4:39
[4] Psalm 46:7
[5] Psalm 46:4,5