Martin Luther loved Psalm 46 which was the inspiration for his 1527 hymn: "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” Luther composed it in one of the most difficult years of his life. Overcome with anxiety (Anfechtungen), he was forced to his bed where spiritual battles tortured his mind and body.
"I spent more than a week in death and hell…Completely abandoned by Christ, I labored under the vacillations and storms of desperation and blasphemy against God.”
Struggling with his own depression, he turned to Psalm 46 and found a balm for his soul.
The Psalmist reminded Luther that when God’s people face any kind of trouble, they must remember this one thing: "God is with us.” Three times, the Psalmist makes this assertion.
To declare God is with us, does not mean we will experience no pain, no heartache, no disappointment, no failure. It does mean that God is with us in the trouble. He is our "refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” (v. 1) And so Luther’s hymn proclaims:
A Mighty Fortress is our God,
A bulwark never failing;
Our Helper He amid the flood
A bulwark never failing;
Our Helper He amid the flood
God’s presence means that He rules over the chaos, over the brokenness and messiness of our lives by entering into the trouble with us. He is not remote or removed from our trials—He is in it with us.
Matthew [1:23] specifically identifies Jesus with the promise of Isaiah 7:14 that Jesus is Immanuel—"God with us.” The birth of Jesus was the supreme expression of God with us in our troubles.
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