There is a river...
‘There is a river’ - the most powerful statement, definitive and decided. Set within a psalm that exhorts us to stillness because God reigns supreme, that offers the greatest comfort in the midst of calamity and hostility, these words lead into a place of calm and confidence.
There is a river whose streams
make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
Those who knew the city were well aware that it had no river. The contrast offered here is between the raging waters of chaos spoken of in the opening verses and the symbolic, euphoric streams of the life-giving presence of God. The unquenchable flow of his life and love, drenching the hearts of his people with grace.
These never-ceasing streams of mercy “make glad” - they lift the heart and give strength to the weary and fearful - because “God is within her.” He dwells in and among his people and is the source of their complete security: “she will not fall”. Not even when the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea. Not even in the bleakest seasons of the soul, nor in the collapse of all that used to make life seem secure. You will not fall. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ will endure.
His help is always timely - “he will help her at break of day”. Having wrestled and wept through the night, joy will come in the morning, as the LORD rises to honour his promise to be the Helper of his people. He has the deepest compassion for the weak and will not allow them to be defeated. The city of Jerusalem in the Old Testament knew great extremities of need and conflict, just as the church and Christians do today. The same LORD that was within her is also within us and will keep us even as he delivered them.
Notice that these joyfully vibrant words of Psalm 46 are set within the currents of biblical revelation. There was a river in Eden (Gen. 2:10) that watered the garden, the source of all fruitfulness, and there will be a river in the new Jerusalem, the river of the waters of life, flowing from the throne of God. And so there is a river now, the gift of the Spirit to the Lord’s cherished people, “rivers of living water that flow from within them” (John 7:38), the gift of the risen Lord Jesus Christ. The transformation is underway.
The promise and the fulfilment of the river of the waters of life is seen in a captivating passage in Ezekiel 47, where water flows from under the threshold of the temple and, in stages, becomes a river so deep it cannot be crossed and whose healing properties, as it empties into the Dead Sea, make the salty water become fresh. Here is the healing love of God, that enters our lives now and will one day transform and renew and sustain the new creation.
There is a river. Against all the shades of doubt that creep across our hearts, in the face of the desertification of our days, nothing can alter this reality. It flows now and it will continue to flow and will one day overcome the parched conditions of drought.
Bonus article: “There were also other boats with him”.
God is our Refuge and our Strength,
Our ever-present aid,
And therefore, though the earth remove,
We will not be afraid;
Though hills amidst the seas be cast,
Though foaming waters roar,
Yea, though the mighty billows shake
The mountains on the shore.
A river flows whose streams make glad
The city of our God,
The holy place wherein the Lord
Most High has His abode.
Since God is in the midst of her,
Unmoved her walls shall stand,
For God will be her early help
When trouble is at hand.
The nations raged, the kingdoms moved,
But when His voice was heard,
The troubled earth was stilled to peace
Before His mighty word.
The Lord of hosts is on our side,
Our safety to secure;
The God of Jacob is for us
A Refuge strong and sure.
O come, behold what wondrous works
Jehovah’s hand has wrought;
Come, see what desolations great
He on the earth has brought.
To utmost ends of all the earth
He causes wars to cease;
The weapons of the strong destroyed,
He makes abiding peace.
Be still and know that I am God,
O’er all exalted high;
The subject nations of the earth
My Name shall magnify.
The Lord of hosts is on our side,
Our safety to secure;
The God of Jacob is for us
A Refuge strong and sure.
(The Psalter, 1912)