God is our refuge, and strength, a very present help in trouble; therefore we will not fear.
This psalm is another beautiful affirmation but an affirmation we can only truthfully speak if we have had our own troubles and discovered this to be true. Otherwise it's just wishful thinking? Or is it?
I don't think so. In the book cancer 50 essential things to do the author talks about affirmations. To be good, and information must be positive and non limiting. This verse meets those qualifications.
He then"the chi is to initially pretend, to play with the new belief as if it were true. Our minds cannot yet accepted belief that contradicts the old limits. But it can accept it kind of imagery game in which we play with the new belief as if it were a reality. And it is through the play and the practice that the new belief gradually becomes believable. Then we must act. Putting the new desired belief into action confirms and strengthens it."
Sound familiar? Very Alma sounding?
but, behold if ye will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to believe let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye can give place for a portion of my words. Now we will compare the word to a seed. . .
words like God is our refuge and strength become the liturgy in many religious groups with a congregation speaking them together. It becomes a powerful group expression of
we can change the we to eye and make it her own. God is my refuge and strength. Isn't that what Alma is asking us to do? To experiment upon the word and make it our own.
times of trouble give us an opportunity to do that experiment but it is easier to do when those words are already a part of our conscious
remember when Alma the younger shares his remarkable conversion and he says he remembered the words his father taught him which led him to look to the savior?
I think that is why we study and learn and memorize while we are young. It may not have any depth or meaning yet but when we need them, the words are there in our minds and we can remember them.
Alma said it's in Alma 3617 I remembered also I heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
We see it again with the Stripling warriors
yes, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.
So I say after all of this rambling - speak the words. Say them in your hearts. Say them out loud.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble, therefore will not we fear. Therefore I will not fear.
It is almost guaranteed that at some time we will have to exercise faith in these words.
Psalm 40 Be still and know that I am God
I think I forgot this versewhen I did my favorite 30 scriptures. This should have been in there. I don't think we can talk about this concept often enough. We don't teach how to be quiet in a world that is maddeningly noisier and noisier and so intrusive of our privacy
We use the words like "ponder the scriptures". it means to consider carefully, to be absorbed in thought. It can mean to meditate or to reflect deeply. The problem here is that we can just be caught up in our own thoughts in this kind of meditation.
there is another kind of meditation that must be practiced and learned. It is an absolute quieting of your mind so that you are absolutely still. It is a meditative State you may have heard me describe before where I believe you are "in the spirit" Letting go of all around you. It is a state of peace that is beautiful and healing.
Those are the two extremes. One, the pondering keeps you caught in your own thoughts and two there are no thoughts.
Both of those are great experiences. I highly recommend them both.
but somewhere in between is another silence that allows us to experience God in our lives. Sometimes that comes in the quietness of the morning, the early hours before the daily chores begin. I have awakened early and "just knew" there was something I needed to do or I thought I needed to write down.
Sometimes when I am all alone quietly reading my scriptures and in no hurry oh, I have moments of clarity.
sometimes when I am in church on a Sunday morning I have thoughts come to my mind. I should call so-and-so, or share this with someone. I keep a pad in my purse and write those ideas down. I accept them as gods promptings.
sometimes I do a meditation of my own where I sit in a comfortable chair where I won't have body aches that distract me, then close my eyes and think through the veil ceremony only I visualized Heavenly Father himself stretching for his hand to welcome me as I enter his presence and "commune" with him. Commune in this sentence is an intimate sharing of thoughts and feelings.
I don't think it matters how we find that quietness. Many find it in nature; watching a sunset over a lake, the night sky on a summer Eve, a mountain Vista.
but you must be alone. This is your time with the Divine - with God who on one hand is our loving father but is also the almighty creator of heaven and Earth, they have missed shouldn't, the all-knowing, the omnipresent, available to all, the of nipotent - or as it is said so well and Isaiah wonderful, counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting father, the Prince of Peace
I like to think of it this way. When my mind is so filled with thoughts there is no room for God. I need to empty it. I need it to be
I have a mind that is never at rest. It is going all the time that I am awake and most often it is focused on global issues like refugees and poverty. So for me, meditation is a time to quiet my mind.
I am capable of praying or reading scriptures and finding my mind wandering elsewhere. I need a place and a time to be quiet. My quiet has not been the source of great Revelations but it is the source of peace and renewal. And I need that daily. Every once in awhile I feel it connection to a love that blows me away. I believe I can feel the presence of God.
Inter hymn number 123 here oh may my soul commune with thee
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