Peace Amidst Devastation: Peeling Onions (III of III)

In my last reflection I shared what I had recently learned about Aramaic references to a healthy or a diseased eye: how such terms can actually be statements about one's generosity. Or stinginess. Thanks to some helpful commentaries, a few scales fell from my eyes as I saw Jesus' words in a new light.

Here in this final reflection on "Peeling Onions" I turn back a few pages to Psalm 46, a Psalm best known for this little gem. (The onion's first layer.)

Psalm 46:10a - Be still, and know that I am God

This verse is a familiar one for Christians. It adorns the walls of Christian bookstores and (in needlepoint) the halls of many Christian homes.

It's not hard to see why. Though the word "Peace" is not to be found in it, it reeks of peace all the same. In so many words, it encourages us to relax and trust God, knowing that he's in control.

For those whose lives seem to be spinning out of control, this is an intoxicating promise. And a good one. One we do well to dwell upon.

But that's just the first layer of the onion. The astute reader will notice (!) that it is not even the whole part of a verse, and that the verse itself is, of course, part of a larger Psalm.

What does the rest of Psalm 46 look like?

Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength,
   an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
   and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
   and the mountains quake with their surging.

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.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
   he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The Lord Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.
8 Come and see what the Lord has done,
   the desolations he has brought on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease
   to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
   he burns the shields with fire.
10 ‘Be still, and know that I am God;
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.’

11 The Lord Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.

To my great shame, I have a confession to make here. I've been memorizing this Psalm, and yet somehow I was nearly done memorizing it before I began to actually confront all of what it said. Sad. Be that as it may, I suddenly heard the word.

Come and see what the Lord has done,
   the desolations he has brought on the earth.

Desolations? Ouch. The next layer of our onion has peeled.

What happened to that warm-fuzzy poster quote material?? God... bringing desolations on the earth. What sort of desolations?

Well, Psalm 46 indicates that our God brings desolations through natural disasters as well as through war. Ouch.

If you were looking for a God who wears pink slippers and sits on a throne dispensing benevolent glances... maybe this God is not for you. The God of Psalm 46 is quite active. And more than a little scary.

That thought rankled within me for several weeks. We Christians quote the peaceful verse quite a bit. In fact, my wife and I use a calming song (for a Sunday School class we teach) whose main and only lyric is this:

Be still, and know that I am God.

We sing that through three times. And since the kids like it, sometimes we go for another round. But imagine the kids singing this:

Come, come and see... desolation of sea.
Mountains fall down... whenever he speaks!

Psalm 46 is not, end-to-end, a song of tranquility. It depicts God in the midst of a world wracked by at least as much upheaval as our own lives evidence. Probably a great deal more.

Christians often take Muslims to task for quoting little sound-bites from the Qur'an that seem peaceful enough–until you read the rest of the Qur'an and discover the wider context. We Christians are playing a bit of the same game when we quote Psalm 46:10 out of context.

But, as I say, I've memorized this Psalm and will continue to recite it until April. (At which point I turn 47 years of age, and I'll start in on Psalm 47!)

To my shame (again) it wasn't until I had recited Psalm 46 for several more weeks that the third layer of the onion began to peel away for me.

Yes, Psalm 46 paints a pretty turbulent and violent scene. But after one internalizes the craziness of all that is happening around the writer, peace returns to the scene. Not peace of the sort we use to calm children before bedtime. No. Peace of the sort that is useful to people whose lives have been turned upside down. The kind of peace a refugee from Syria could use.

Peace in the midst of a raging storm.

One thing in particular struck me one day as I reviewed Psalm 46 again. God is active in war, true. But what is he doing? Shattering the tools of war. Call me stupid, but I didn't really internalize that rather obvious fact until quite late in the game. God is bringing desolations, yes. But it appears he may be taking a turbulent world down a path that leads to a war-free world.

He makes wars cease
   to the ends of the earth.

Syrian refugees already know that the earth is not peaceful. That's not news to them, and they don't have the luxury of needlepoint assurances to the contrary adorning the halls of homes they had to abandon two years ago.

What Syrian refugees need to know is that, in the midst of this upheaval, God is still present. God is bringing good. God will, one day, make wars cease. What they need to know is this:

The Lord Almighty is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our fortress.

People don't build fortresses for giggles and grins. They build them because the world is a dangerous place. But fortresses are hard to build. And when you're done, is the one you built up to the task?

Contrast that with the thought of God himself being your fortress. God is not the sort of fortress that comes up short on strength, resiliance and durability. If God himself is our fortress, we can, even in a turbulent world, return to some rather peaceful and comforting words:

'Be still, and know that I am God.
   I will be exalted among the nations,
   I will be exalted in the earth.’

These words are not a needlepoint-stitched ticket to a blissful, idyllic existence. But they do promise us a future. One we can long for and anticipate. One where wars have ceased and where God is exalted. Let us seek that peace, and (even while it is not yet with us) remember that God will yet one day bring it about.

P.S. It was not my goal at the outset, but I find that all three of the threads in this reflection series invites a segue into politics. I accept the invitation. It is a fact that the Republican party is known for its belicosity. Democratic candidates find themselves trying to keep up, so as to not appear wimpy, but it is Republican candidates who lead the charge. What I find ironic is that the God of the Bible "makes wars to cease." Republican candidates will of course give lip service to this notion, but their chosen route to that destination is a dead (and bloody) end: more guns and a larger national defense budget. I suspect that it will be people with a Republican mindset who find themselves to be the very obstacles that God tramples on when he finally causes wars to cease. That's food for thought. (And probably an encouraging one for the Syrian refugees that Republicans love to hate.)