My oldest son Jacob preached his first devotion in the Seminary chapel last Thursday. I am understandably biased, but I thought he did a great job. I talked to him afterwards to tell him I was proud of him. You see I know how difficult it is to preach in the Seminary chapel. Reverend Fedke and reverend Schlawin know what I mean. You see the people you preach to in the Seminary chapel are not ordinary people. I mean they are sinners in need of a savior like the rest of us, but they are either getting their masters in theology or the ones teaching the masters. These guys know how divide law and gospel, they know how to write a good sermon, and they know how a good sermon should be preached. (Imagine you were assigned to give a presentation to the world’s leading experts in your field. That is what it is like to preach in the Seminary chapel). These men, bless their hearts, have no problem letting a fella know when and how he fell short of excellence. They will pounce on a misspoken word, they will point out an awkward hand gesture, and they will track your eye movement and let you know if you failed to make eye contact with everyone in the room. And that is just the students. The professors are much more reserved, but in an equally unsettling way. The only time a professor will say anything is if the young seminarian preaches heresy. When you are done preaching in the Seminary chapel the last thing you want to see is a professor walking your way.
They say, if you can preach in the Seminary chapel you can preach anywhere. It is a tough place to preach. Which is why I was not at all surprised when Jacob told me he was anxious before he preached. He told me he couldn’t focus on his professors in the two classes before chapel. He said he has no memory of what he said during chapel and that the whole thing was kind of a blur. He said when it was all over, he was drenched with sweat. I said, yeah, that sounds about right. I told him I have never met a preacher who was good at his job who didn’t struggle with anxiety every time he stepped into the pulpit. I told him that is why we all wear gowns, so that people can’t see our knees nervously knocking together.
I think we can all identify with Jacob. You don’t have to preach in the Seminary chapel to have anxiety. All of us fall somewhere on the anxiety spectrum. I am not talking about agoraphobia or other social conditions. I am not talking about chemical imbalances that cause depression and other mood disorders. I am talking about a nagging worry that something bad is going to happen or a persistent pessimism that nothing good will ever happen. If you were going to place yourself on the anxiety spectrum from 1-10 where 1 is a mellow Marv and 10 is a nervous Nellie, where would you be? I want to believe I spend most of my time hanging out with mellow Marv but there have been many times in my life when I have danced with nervous Nellie.
For those of you who have spent some time with nervous Nellie or have allowed her to become a constant companion in your life, there is a word I would like to share with you this morning. The word is “Selah”. I don’t know if you noticed it when I read Psalm 46 a few moments ago. I would understand if you didn’t because I didn’t actually read the word. The word Selah is only used 74 times in the entire bible. It is almost exclusively found in the Psalms (the one exception being a prayer Habakkuk wrote). Nobody really knows what the word means. Best guess is Selah is a liturgical notation; an instruction for the musicians and vocalists singing the Psalm (which is why I did not read the word when I read the Psalm). The Hebrew word Selah is similar to the word we translate “lift up”. As a result, some have suggested Selah is the musical equivalent to fortissimo which instructs the musicians to play loudly. This suggests Selah was a direction to the accompanying musicians to break into the singing of the Psalm with a clash of cymbals or blare of trumpets. But this loud interruption was not intended to excite the people but to silence them, to give them a moment to pause so that they would have time to gather themselves and think about, ponder what was just said. The sons of Korah (the musicians responsible for playing psalm 46) were repeatedly given the instruction to Selah as the congregation sang Psalm 46. As we go through the psalm this morning, I think you will understand why.
God knows where you are at on the anxiety spectrum, so He wrote you a song. In this song God recognizes there are reasons for you to be anxious. In verses 2-3 we read about the earth giving way and the mountains falling into the heart of the sea. We read about waters roaring and foaming and mountains quaking and surging. God recognizes the very planet we live on can be a source of anxiety. Now that creation has become corrupted by sin the planet has become an increasingly inhospitable place to live. Famines, earthquakes, droughts, floods, fires, blizzards (for the yankees worshiping online), hurricanes, tornadoes. I know these things have been happening for thousands of years, but doesn’t it feel like they are happening more and more? Even if you could find a place on the planet where the risk of natural disaster is low you still have to deal with biological funk monkeys that seek to infect your flesh. In the past people suffered from things like the bubonic plague and Spanish flue. But, even with our advances in modern medicine, we have all recently been reminded how vulnerable we are to something as simple as a virus. Even if you built a biodome in the place where the risk of natural disaster is low you would still have to contend with the possibility that a rogue asteroid or meteor are on a cataclysmic collision course with the earth.
The planet we live on can be a source of anxiety and so can the people who populate this planet. In verse 6 we read about nations in uproar and falling kingdoms. Political unrest is nothing new. Since Cain killed Able man has been in constant conflict. On a global scale, Jesus’ prophecy of wars and rumors of wars has been proven accurate again and again. But perhaps of greater concern is the personal unrest among the people who are closest to you. Gossiping classmates and undermining coworkers can make life outside the home difficult. But not as difficult as suffering betrayal from a person who claimed to be your friend. You could try to avoid such difficulties by never leaving your home, but unfortunately your home, like every home, is full of family members who judge you, criticize you, and insult you. It is the people who are closest to us that hurt us the most. Which is why political unrest might be a cause for concern but the people who are closest to you are often the cause of your greatest anxiety.
The planet we live on and the people we live on it give us reasons to be anxious. There are natural disasters, viral infections, and the potential of cataclysmic collisions. We are surrounded by people who gossip about us, betray us, and criticize us. No wonder we are anxious!!!
Selah! (take a deep breath) Gather yourselves, my friends. Take a moment to pause and ponder. Think about what your anxiety is saying to your God. Your God invites you to call upon Him in the day of trouble. He asks you to see how he feeds the birds of the air and clothes the flowers of the field. He promises to work good in all things on your behalf. Your anxiety questions God’s ability. Your anxiety doubts God’s desire. Your anxiety calls God a liar. Your anxiety is sin.
Your God understands both planet and people can be a cause of anxiety. Which is why He wrote you this song. In this song your God gives you reason to be a people at peace. Twice in this song, in verse 7 and again in verse 11 we read, “The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” God is with you; not in some symbolic way, but He is actually and truly with you. He very literally came to be with us when he took on our flesh, faced all the temptations we face, including the temptation to be anxious, and then died the sort of death you and I should have died. It is true that same God rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. But as He did so, He promised to be with us always to the very end of the age. And He has kept that promise. He is with us in the washing of baptism. He is with us in the sacrament of the supper. He is with us in the proclamation of His Word. He came to be our savior and redeemer and He remains to be our provider and protector. Our God is with us. Your God is with you.
Knowing that God is with you ought to ease your anxiety, but knowing one day you will be with your God rightly makes you a people at peace. Listen to what God says in verses 4-5. “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.” In stark contrast to the foaming waters and falling mountains of the earth is a city of glad streams and firm foundation. In contrast to the transient and tempestuous nature of the nations and kingdoms of the earth, this city endures and offers help to it’s citizens. This city is God’s city, it is where He dwells. It is commonly referred to as the kingdom of heaven and, by the grace of God, it is your home.
Selah! (take a peaceful breath) Again, gather yourselves, my friends. Take another moment to pause and ponder. Think about what your God is saying to you. The waters may foam, and the mountains may quake; the nations may roar, and kingdoms might fall, but dear friends, there is no reason for you to be anxious. Your God is with you. He came to be your savior and redeemer and He has stayed to be your provider and protector. And because He came to be with you, one day you will go to be with Him. You are but a temporary inhabitant of this planet and there will come a time when you those around you will be the redeemed saints and the hosts of heaven. One day you and all the redeemed will be with God in heaven.
God knows where you are at on the anxiety spectrum. Which is why He wrote this song for you. In this song He lets you know He understands both planet and people give you reason to be anxious but in this song He has given you an even greater reason to be a people at peace by reminding you that your God is with you and one day you will be with your God. Which is why in the second to last verse of this song God instructs people like us, who struggle with anxiety, to spend as much time as we can with mellow Marv. God says to you and to me, “10 Be still, and know that I am God.”
Selah! Amen