“Homeland Security”

Psalm 46

Margaret I. Manning

I read a study recently on how we can stay safe in this increasingly unsafe world, and the results were staggering. The study suggested that we need to avoid riding in automobiles because 20% of all fatalities occur in our cars. So, we shouldn’t drive if we want to be safe. Unfortunately, 17% of accidents occur in our homes, so we cannot find a safe place there either. Perhaps more alarming, 14% of accidents happen to pedestrians – so if we want to remain safe, we cannot walk on streets or sidewalks. Well, how about other modes of transportation? 16% of deaths occur when traveling by air, rail or on water. What is a person to do? And what about the remaining 33%? Well, the study reported that 32% of all deaths occur in hospitals! The study argued that the only safe place to be is in church! Only 1/100^th of a percent of deaths occur in church – so, you should be safe here this morning – at least until I start preaching![1]

In all seriousness, all of us are concerned about security and safety in this world. Ever since the September 11^th attacks, security concerns hover over every aspect of our collective life as Americans. We now have the Homeland Security Department and in 2003 the government designated 37.7 billion dollars for this department. In fact, homeland security became the President’s top budget priority that year. Since 1998, monies allocated for security increased to the tune of 21.5 billion dollars.[2]

The government isn’t the only agency concerned about security. Businesses are concerned as well – concerned, because the security industry dangles the golden carrot of financial opportunity. Security is the hottest new growth industry for business. Richard Norton, the executive director of the International Biometric Industry Association, said that the security sector is a ‘gold rush.’ Businesses are scrambling to corner the security market – new industries are springing up to develop new security technology, from fingerprint scanners and biometric identifiers on visas, to voice identifiers. $380 million was spent on visa technology alone in 2003.[3]

Of course, you and I, as individual Americans have incorporated the government’s and business’s fixation on security into our own personal safety systems. Many of us remember the days when we would leave our doors unlocked, and when we welcomed strangers into our homes – perhaps some of us still do this. But, most of us now buy cars with advanced security systems, we wouldn’t dream of owning a home without an alarm system, and we wouldn’t use a computer without some form of virus protection software or complex encryption codes to protect us from the all the various domestic terrorists who come in the form of robbers, identity stealers, and computer hackers!

And yet, does this obsession over security really make us safer? With all the monies spent on technological development, security systems and government initiatives, 3,000 people still lost their lives on September 11^th because of box cutters and domestic airplanes. And here, in our own community, a policeman lost his life while making a house call – he carried a weapon meant to keep him safe, but it didn’t. Our First National Bank has multiple security systems and surveillance cameras, but they’ve still been robbed two times in the last year. And what about the thieves of disease that steal our health? With all our advanced medical technology and understanding, cancer still ravages lives, AIDS threatens to wipe out entire generations in Africa, and we still haven’t even found a cure for the common cold or flu virus. Where can we find a place of safety and security? In whom or in what can we put our trust for protection?

Psalm 46 provides an alternative vision for security by painting a picture of a true, and a safe homeland found only in God’s presence. In fact, perhaps more than any other psalm, Psalm 46 paints a marvelous portrait of confidence in the God who is our refuge and our strength, in spite of surrounding tumult and chaos. For just like our day, the writer or writers of this psalm faced a world of increasing danger and insecurity. If, as many scholars suggest, this psalm was written just prior to, or during the exile of the people of Judah to Babylon, armies were massing against them, even invading their homeland; cities were being sacked and destroyed; the Temple of Solomon – the preeminent symbol of God’s presence among God’s people was razed to the ground; and worst of all, the people were taken away from their homeland to a land of exile – far away from safety and security – and seemingly far away from God’s presence.

In spite of all this, or perhaps in light of all the chaos that surrounded the days of exile, the writer of this psalm remembers three truths about the real source of security and protection and the solace that comes through placing hope and trust in God alone.

First, the psalmist tells us that God is our refuge and our strength who is our ever present help in time of trouble. The original language here suggests that God is abundantly available to help us in our time of need, by providing a safe refuge, or hiding place from the storms of life. The writer argues that God is our refuge and strength, even if cataclysmic events happen on earth, like earthquakes and floods that would rock the foundations of the cosmos. Therefore, the text tells us, we will not fear though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake…. I’m sure most of us have been in severe storms and some of us have even experienced earthquakes, so we can personally understand what the writer is talking about here. But, even if we haven’t experienced these things, many of us have experienced cataclysmic events in our own lives – the sudden loss of health or vibrancy, the death of a loved one, the death of a relationship, the loss of trust in once solid institutions like the church, or the loss of trust in a church leader whom we looked up to or respected. Whatever our storm looks like, the writer uses this vivid and dramatic imagery to tell us even in their midst, God is our refuge.

Now, how can the writer say this in the midst of all the chaos of the exile? The writer says this because when we find our rest in God, we have found our true home and real homeland security and this is the second truth. In the midst of the cataclysmic events that we experience – whether we experience these changes through real natural disasters, or through the disasters that come upon our own lives, we can rest in God because we are citizens of God’s country. What do I mean here? The psalmist describes the city of God– the place where God dwells- as a heavenly city with rivers of joy, where the streets are safe, and the God of the universe is at our service day and night. He writes, “God is in the midst of this city; she will not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.” God is in control in this heavenly city, and those of us who put our trust in God are inhabitants of this city. This city is our real home, our real place of refuge and security, and nothing in heaven or on earth can violate it! Do you remember, as a child, how you would build a tent or a shelter out of blankets and pillows, or boxes? Do you remember hiding in that shelter and making it your safe place? This is what the psalmist is talking about. When our lives are placed in God’s hand, and when we place our trust in God, it’s as if we walk around, go through the ups and the downs of our lives always in the shelter of that hiding place – that safety tent. The safety of God’s presence is our real home in this world!

But God is not just in control over a heavenly city yet to come, and God is not removed from the reality of our world. The third truth the psalmist teaches about security is that since God is in control over the earth, we can cease striving and rest. Even in the midst of chaos and destruction, the psalmist tells us that God is tending to the earth by sowing seeds of beauty everywhere. This is the work of God in the world. The psalm tells us that God breaks the weapons of warfare, and will break them ultimately when the rule and reign of the heavenly city comes in its fullness. We can rest in the promise that God will be exalted among the nations and God will be exalted in the earth. How is God at work in this world? Through you and me, of course – God’s heavenly city-inhabitants and residents! As God’s people, we reveal the rest and security that inhabits a heavenly city kind of life in the midst of the storm. Let me give you a real life example of this.

Timothy Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, New York, wrote that after the September 11 attacks, he began to re-read Saint Augustine's classic book, The City of God. Rome in Augustine's time was facing something similar to what New York faced in the aftermath of this tragedy. The city had been sacked. It didn't really fall; it had just been violated. It's as if the barbarians attacked to say, "See what we can do?" All of Rome, even the Christians, felt that if the barbarians could do that, attack the seemingly inviolable city of Rome, there would be no safe place to hide.

Augustine's point in The City of God was that people were confusing Rome with the City of God. They were seeking their security from the wrong place. While pagan Romans might run and hide—which would only make sense with Rome being such a dangerous place to be all of a sudden—Christians should be and could be different. As citizens of the City of God, there are no weapons or bombs that can threaten a Christian's home in that eternal city. For Christians it was illogical, even wrong, to flee Rome when there were so many needs to be met and no threat to a Christian's true security. And while many people sought to leave New York City, if Christians really believed in our security in God, Christians would have every reason to stay.[4] We are safe in this world, not because of the security we build around us, or advances in technology, or through the creation of a Homeland Security Department in the government, but because our refuge and our strength, our hiding place is with God. Our habitation with God cannot be moved or destroyed, stolen or ravaged by any of the forces this world might throw up against it. With the psalmist, we declare, “we will not fear, though the earth should move and though the mountains slip into the sea.” Therefore, we have the wonderful task of spreading this kind of fearlessness and a trust in God’s kind of security – God’s beauty, God’s peace, and God’s rest, to the world.

Finally, there is one more truth that the psalmist communicates about our security. Throughout this psalm, the writer highlights God’s sovereignty by repeating the refrain, “The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our stronghold.” What does this phrase mean, as it relates to our security? First, the Lord of Hosts literally means the Lord of armies. God and all of God’s heavenly forces are arrayed and poised for battle – ready to fight for us to protect us and to keep us. We have the God of the heavenly armies in our corner. Second, the psalmist invokes the “God of Jacob” as our stronghold. Remember Jacob from our bible story days in Sunday school? He was that weakling, momma’s boy, younger brother to manly Esau. Yes, with his mother’s help, he tricked his older brother Esau into giving up some very important things – like his birthright (inheritance) and his father’s blessing, but nevertheless, he was the younger, weaker brother. Jacob, our smaller, weaker momma’s boy actually wrestled with God.

Genesis 32 records this spectacular and incredible event. The God of Jacob is our stronghold – Jacob had tangible evidence of God’s stronghold through their wrestling all during the night. God had a hold of Jacob, but Jacob also had a hold on God. In fact, the new name that God gave Jacob as a result of their wrestling match was the name Israel – which means ‘God strives’, and can also mean ‘one who has striven with God.’ This powerful image of clinging to God, and God holding onto us, is the image the psalmist doesn’t want us to miss – God has a strong grip on each one of us. It’s a grip so strong that none of the most potent forces unleashed on us can loose that grip. But, in the same way, we need to cling to God for our safety and our security. When we place our trust in other things, hold onto other things or people for our security and our hiding place, then we cannot hold onto God. God will wrestle us out of trusting in anything else – God will show us the insecurity of all these other means of security, until we come to know for ourselves that God alone is our refuge and our strength – our abundant, available help in times of trouble. Our security is in the God of Jacob – our stronghold.

Where do you find your security? Where do you place your trust? How one answers these questions reveals one’s own personal ‘homeland security’ policy – my hope, and the psalmists challenge, is that we find our security in God – the God who is our true refuge and strength.

[1] Sermon illustration cited from PreachingToday.com

[2] Statistics cited from CQ Daily Monitor: Agency by Agency Analysis of White House Budget and Policy Proposals, 7 February 2002, vol. 38, no. 15A.

[4] Citation: Tim Keller, "Preaching amid Pluralism," Leadership journal, Vol. 24, no. 1 (Winter 2002), p. 34