Your day begins with excitement.
You have had this date circled on the calendar for weeks and a countdown on your Instagram story. Maybe it’s a day trip, a game, a party, or just a break from your mundane routine. You get dressed with a little bit of bounce in your step. Then you check the weather forecast. It is going to rain.
“Maybe it is wrong,” you think to yourself. You open up the radar to see a nasty monster of a storm traveling northeast with a vengeance, overwhelming the area within the next few hours. And just like that, the day you expected—the one you have been looking forward to—has changed.
Many people, even some preachers, tend to suggest that God’s design and purpose for our lives is to make them easy and painless. I think that is theologically incorrect. Over the sum of your years on this earth, you can expect to experience loss in ways that seem unfathomable.
It is also theologically incorrect to say that God intends for your life to be joyless, lonely, and full of discontentment. God’s plans for his children amidst desolation are grand. He desires to walk with you through the rain.
Both of these truths are demonstrated in Psalm 46.
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, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
Psalm 46:1-3 (ESV)
First, notice from the text above that this psalm lays out some rough stuff. Right away, we see the presence of “trouble.” Then comes the cataclysmic imagery: mountains are swallowed by ocean waves and hurled into the watery depths. The ground itself is shaking beneath our feet.
Life can feel like that sometimes. The things and people we trust to hold us up, to provide safety and stability, begin to crumble. Even the foundations we build our lives upon seem to give way. I bet you have felt that before, too.
A storm that hit you harder than expected. A personal failure or loss. The news you hoped not to receive on that phone call. A season that made you realize you are not in control of your life. Psalm 46 doesn’t exaggerate. It captures the moments when life feels like chaos. Psalm 46 is a reminder that these moments are going to happen.
But it also reminds us of who God is to us in those moments. He is our refuge when we need shelter. He is not just helping you get stronger when you’re weak. The truth is more sure than that! God is the strength he provides. And he is not just present, but very present. Literally, the Hebrew word emphasizes the muchness and excess of God’s closeness and companionship when troubles arise.
This is so real for the Christian, the one who has been found in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our God came near to us to provide refuge for the weak by becoming weak himself, and by his blood we have become righteous like him.
And now, as God’s children, we stand not in fear, but in confidence. We are not confident in our own strength. And not in the old saying, “This too shall pass.” Though that message is comforting and probably true, it is not where our hope is. Our confidence comes from knowing our Refuge is secure.
So hear the Lord say this over your life today.
Be still, and know that I am God.
Psalm 46:10 (ESV)
Bee-Attitude
Blessed are those who walk with God in the rain, for they have found their refuge in him.
Grant Turner is the editor of the Barnesville Buzz and an educator, coach, and writer based in Barnesville, Georgia. He shares stories that bridge community, faith, and personal growth. In addition to teaching and coaching, Grant is Director of Musical Worship and a Sunday School teacher at New Hope Baptist Church in Zebulon, Georgia. He lives in Barnesville with his wife, Haley.
