Know?

July 3rd, 2021| Topic: RaMbLeS | 2

A recent survey conducted by OnePoll and commissioned by Charmin, they of the rear-end-wipes fame (and I have no idea why they did so), produced some interesting findings.

64 percent of Americans feel pretty confident about the locations of their country’s natural landmarks.

But only 51 percent knew that the Redwood Forest was in California. Only 38 percent knew that the Grand Canyon was in Arizona (20 percent answered Colorado).

Oh, and 22 percent of Americans think that the Niagara falls is in Iceland, not on the New York/Canadian border. (Only 32 percent got it correct. And I don’t know where the remaining 46 percent thought it was.)

35 percent correctly said that Shawnee National Forest was in Illinois, but 18 percent incorrectly selected Ireland.

Sad stats on a day like this, the Fourth of July.

Oh, well. Important as it might be to know these things, there are other things that one must know. Critical things. Essential things. About one Person.

“Stop and know that I am God.”
Psalm 46:10

And this in the midst of trouble and turmoil.

God is a refuge in natural chaos.

¹God [is] to us refuge and strength,
help in distress, He is present always.
²Therefore we will not fear when the earth quakes
and when the mountains totter into the heart of the seas,
³when its waters roar [and] roil,
when the mountains shake at its surging.
Psalm 46:1–3

The earth and its constituent parts, the mountains and the seas, may undergo turbulence, but another location, the “city of God” remains unshaken, a source of joy to the people of God, its inhabitants.

⁴A river—its whose streams make the city of God joyful,
the holy dwellings of the Most High.
⁵God in her midst, she will not totter;
God will help her at the turning of dawn.
Psalm 46:4–5

Then comes an affirmation that God is a refuge in national/political chaos.

⁶The nations made an uproar, the kingdoms tottered;
He gave His voice, the earth melts.
⁷Yahweh of Armies [is] with us;
a stronghold to us [is] the God of Jacob.
Psalm 46:6–7

Notice the “untottering” city of God, in between quaking, tottering, roaring, roiling chaos of nature (46:2–3) and of nations/polities (46:6)—both marked as being on “earth” (46:2a, 6b). There is also the pointed contrast between the chaotic waters of the earth (“seas,” 46:2b–3a) and the joyous waters of the city of God (“river,” “streams,” 46:4a). The chaotic waters may “roar” (46:3a) and the unruly nations may create an “uproar” (46:6a), but God’s abode only rejoices (46:4a).

And you know why, unlike the “tottering” of the mountains (46:2b) and the “tottering” of kingdoms (46:6a), the city of God does not “totter” (46:5a)? Because of the very presence of God “in her midst” (46:4b).

God is a refuge, indeed!

¹⁰“Stop and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
¹¹Yahweh of Armies [is] with us;
a stronghold to us [is] the God of Jacob.
Psalm 46:10–11

The entirety of the earth, like God’s city, will one day never totter again (46:5a); the chaotic waters of the earth will one day acquire the characteristics of the joyful waters of the city of God (46:5b)—and all will be at peace forever!

Until then, in the midst of tottering on every side, we remain with God, untottering.

“Stop and know that I am God.”
Psalm 46:10

Now that’s something worth knowing!

SOURCES:
Study Finds