Sometimes you don’t feel it.  Sometimes you do, and think, “I can’t do this.”  That’s how I felt years ago when I got a phone call from Buzz Kellman, the late night DJ at the local rock station.  We’re talking totally secular here.  The station was WSHE, and their slogan was, “SHE’s only rock’n’roll.”  Buzz earlier had interviewed me on his program after Bob Dylan made his profession of faith in Christ.  He thought it was another phase for Dylan. So on the phone again he asked me what I knew of Islam after the Iranian hostage crisis began in 1979.  “I don’t know much about it,” I said.  “Doesn’t the Bible talk about the last days? Do you think this could have something to do with that?”  It never had crossed my mind.  Mind you, Buzz was not a Christian.  Far from it.  But he wasn’t stupid — and not ignorant — either.

Suddenly a flash of prophetic Old Testament verses flooded my head.  I began to mention them, and Buzz said, “Whoa, Billy-boy!  Save that for the program.  Can you come on air Sunday night?”  This was Friday.  “Which Sunday night?” I asked, thinking I had a week or two.  “Fool! This Sunday night!” he retorted.  “3 hours of live radio, call-ins, the works,” he continued.  Now I was scrambling.  I so wanted to do it, but I didn’t know enough to say yes.  So in that moment, I do what all the great saints down through the ages have done.  I said to Buzz, “Hold on one second.”  Then I cupped the phone with my hand, looked up and said, “God, help!”  That was it.  No sooner than I had said that, I resumed with Buzz.  “OK, I’ll be there.  What time?”  “Be here at 9:30 PM; we go on at 10.”  “Deal,” I said.  Then immediately the help came: “Buzz, wait a minute!  I just thought of something.  Recently I met a young lady who just returned from the Middle East after living in an Islamic country for 2 years.  She can be my resource!”  Buzz replied, “Great. You can bring her along if you like.”  Little did I know how my life was going to change: that “resource” or helper became my helpmeet 6 months later!

It is countless stories like that, when time constraints and the emergencies of life compel us to pray that shortest of all prayers: “Help!”  Perhaps no verse in Scripture sums it up better than Psalm 46:1, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”  The rest of the psalm expands on this.

Verses 2 and 3 describe the most incredible destruction imaginable: “Though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”  Did you get that?  Ever seen the mountains fall into the sea?  What kind of force does it take for that to happen?  Nothing short of power beyond nuclear explosions could do that.  Tidal waves would wipe out anything coastal that’s left.  Yet amid all that destruction, the psalmist says, “we will not fear.”  At all?  No. Why is that?

Verses 4-7 shift our attention to Jerusalem, “the city of God,” that is glad for the river that brings God’s blessings (from heaven).  “God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.”  Notice the mention of help again?  It comes at the dawn, when the cover of night slips away.  Again, read the power of the Lord: “Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.”  Ever seen that happen?  Me neither.  Yet “The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”  If he can melt the earth with his voice, imagine what he can do with his hands or arm!  Need protection?  You got it!

Verse 9 tells us he “makes wars cease to the ends of the earth” and “breaks the bow and shatters the spear” and “burns the shields with fire” with one goal in mind: “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth” (v. 10). This is a done deal.  It speaks of a God who is relentless for his glory to be displayed.  Some of us earthlings “get it” by yielding to his grace.  Others by yielding to their stubborn selfishness.  The trick, especially for those compulsively oversaturated by media stimulation, is the “Be still and know I am God” part.  That doesn’t happen by osmosis; it happens by bucking outward stimuli.

The New Testament’s Greek word for help is “frap,” a nautical term meaning to tie, bind and secure a boat to the peer or dock.  Receiving God’s help requires us to frap ourselves to him who can knock down mountains and melt the earth.  So why isn’t our faith stronger than it is?  French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal said, “I have discovered that all the unhappiness of men arises from one single fact, that they cannot stay quietly in their own chamber.”  Or, “Be still and know that I am God.”  When was the last time you quietly frapped yourself to him who is your help?