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, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging (Psalm 46:1-3)

Have you ever seen a mountain crumble and fall into the sea? Not too likely. Do you think you ever will see such a thing happen? That’s not too likely either.

So why should we worry about God being our refuge and strength when we’ll probably never see these things happen? Because the mountains and seas in this Psalm symbolize things in our real-world lives (I just learned to read it from this perspective when our pastor preached on Psalm 46 this week – that’s why it’s always good to pay attention to the sermon ).

The mountains and earth symbolize the things we expect to be stable in life – family, best friends, the church or school you’re used to, jobs and marriage when you get older.

The sea symbolizes chaos – crazy or conflicting schedules, fights with friends, problems with parents, thinking things aren’t fair, all those things that go wrong or overlap and drive you batty.

Sometimes the mountains and seas of life stay in place and things are fine. But at other times, the mountains fall apart and the seas nearly drown us.

When that happens to you, remember that God is in control of the real mountains and seas on earth – after all, He’s the One who created them and put them in place! But He’s also in control of the mountains and seas of your life. When something gives way, God can be your strength to stand up and keep going. When you’re confused and don’t know which way to turn, God can be your refuge and give you peace. All you have to do is ask – turn to God, talk to Him, tell Him what’s going on. Ask for His help – repeatedly, if you need to! – and listen for His response. He can rebuild mountains and bring order out of chaos if you’ll only hold on and trust Him to take over.