The Light of God’s Word in the Coronavirus Pandemic
A Mighty Fortress: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
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Written by Chuck Swindoll | Recently, I led a tour through the ancient city of Jerusalem. Early one morning, I looked out across the skyline and read Psalm 46. You may know the first verse by heart:
God is our refuge and strength,
always ready to help in times of trouble.
I thought of how God had shown Himself strong in the very place I had come to visit, protecting His people through centuries of endless wars. The setting gave the psalm new meaning.
Perhaps when they penned Psalm 46 the descendants of Korah had endured yet another grueling battle. To remember God’s greatness, they opened by declaring Him their “refuge and strength.” They closed with the climax of their praise:
The LORD of Heaven’s Armies is here among us;
the God of Israel is our fortress. (Psalm 46:11)
What was true for Korah’s descendants is true for us. God is our refuge and strength, our help. God is our fortress.
The maverick monk Martin Luther, in the village of Wittenberg, pondered those truths as he translated the original Hebrew into the German vernacular, “Ein Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott.” In our language, Luther’s translation became a hymn nearly every believer knows, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” The first verse of that grand theme rings with triumphant confidence:
A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing;
our helper he amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.