A Very Present Help

The Storm

This psalm names present help specifically, not distant or eventually-arriving assistance, but very present, immediately available, worth holding as direct answer to whatever sense of divine absence your own overwhelm may have produced, distant rather than genuinely, presently near.

Notice though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, an extreme, almost apocalyptic image, worth holding as this psalm’s own deliberate extremity, insisting this present help remains genuinely available even in circumstances this severe, not merely in manageable, moderate difficulty.

This is worth examining against however much your own trust in God’s presence has quietly required circumstances to first improve, calm returning before genuine peace could actually be trusted, rather than this psalm’s own claim, present help available specifically within circumstances this extreme, not merely after they resolve.

Whatever extreme circumstance currently feels like mountains carried into the sea, receive today this psalm’s own claim as genuinely, presently true. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help, available now, in this actual trouble, not merely after circumstances eventually, someday improve or resolve.