11 The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.
Selah. ~ Psalm 46:11 (KJV)
By Bro. John L. Cash
As our nation is grappling with coronavirus, it’s been a week of great uncertainty in the Cash household. We’ve undergone a variety of great changes, with the announcements always coming at the last minute. In the space of two weeks I’ve gone from Spring break, to going to school each day with no students, to “social distancing” after being dismissed from school for an entire month. Truly, the past few days are a bit of a blur for me.
I have a great number of things I want to share with you as we venture together into this unknown territory. But I’m going to have to collect my thoughts first. Fortunately, I should have a bit more time to write!
Until then, I just want to share something I’ve carried with me since childhood. In 5th grade choir, my music teacher Mr. Willie Kirkland taught us to sing a passage from the Scriptures. It has always resonated deeply in me, and I’ve clung to it in times of trouble for nearly a half century. I believe it more fervently now than I did when I first learned it. And it has always sustained me in my life, as I have gone through such a multitude of trials and battles.
It goes like this:
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear,
though the earth be removed,
and the mountains be carried
into the midst of the sea
the midst of the sea.
There is a river
The streams thereof make glad the City of God
God is in the midst of her.
I was a grown man before I realized the Bible passage the song was taken from. It’s the beginning of the 46th Psalm.
Your assignment for this week is to read Psalm 46. We can all feel the danger and our own weakness this week. Let’s turn our hearts and prayers to our Heavenly Father, the One who is our refuge and our strength.
Dr. John L. Cash is the “Country Preacher Dad.” He was raised in Stuttgart, Arkansas, and has spent the last 34 ½ years being a country preacher in the piney woods five miles south of the little town of Hickory, Mississippi. He’s currently on a sabbatical from the preaching ministry, and is an English teacher at the Choctaw Tribal School. He and his lovely wife, Susan, live in a brick house in town (where they’re pretty much staying full-time, just like the government said.) You can send him a note at brotherjohn@ilovechurchcamp.com.
