Truth of the Week 5: In the Midst
Confidence comes from knowing who you are because of Whose you are. Learning who I am because of Christ in me has changed my world.
I absolutely love the flow of this verse. It is one of the most beautiful verses to me. But Jenny and I would like to break down a bit of the whole background around this verse to give full context of what this means. I actually just found it a few years ago.
Kingjamesbibleonline.org commentary, along with Matthew Henry’s commentary found at Christianity.com, The Study Bible for Women Christian Standard Bible, the Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary, as well as commentary from the NKJV I read paint a beautiful picture of this entire chapter being rich with God’s very present help in trouble.
The bookends on this chapter essentially say the exact same thing: God is our refuge and strength. He is ever present and is with us.
All in between the first two and last two verses is a description of troubles that can come to pass and the beauty of the presence of God being in the midst of the city of God. God is where His people are and He dwells among them.
Essentially, the presence of God was with His people from the start and then when Jesus came He was called – Emmanuel – God with us. Then we received personally, not just externally, the Helper – the Holy Spirit – Who came to dwell within us after Jesus ascended into heaven.
Simply put – our God is with us in our midst and we are safe because He is our Defender.
So where does confidence in life come from? This chapter is a pillar of confidence displayed – we encourage you to go read Psalm 46 this week. It’s short and sweet. At the end of it, also is a favorite verse to many, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
In this chapter God is saying He’s here for us and with us! Just thinking on the magnificence of God and realizing He’s all around you in your midst – we are not to fear anything because He is our “very present help” – to me that just says He’s ready. You can’t be ready if you aren’t even close! You can’t be ready if it takes you time to get in position. He’s here, with us and ready to help when we need Him.
Do you go to Him when you are in trouble?
He loves us even when we don’t deserve it. He helps us because He promises that’s Who He is and that’s just what He follows through on. That’s why learning His promises are so foundational to a miracle packed life.
