I read these words a couple of days ago and they jumped out at me from the passage:
"indeed, the world is established, firm and secure,
Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity"
The world is established, firm and secure? I don't know about you, but my world does not seem very firm or secure. On a personal and family level, we're anticipating some major changes this year and there's a lot of uncertainty about how things will work out. And whichever country you live in, the world rarely seems firm or secure.
We also live in a country where the ground does not even seem firm or secure. I never really thought about what a privilege it was to live in a country where there is no imminent threat of a large scale natural disaster until I moved here. The North Anatolian Fault Line (NAFL) runs across the top of Turkey (and there's an East Anatolian Fault line running down the eastern edge of Turkey as well), making Turkey a 'seismically active area'. In other words, relatively speaking, there are a lot of earthquakes here. The NAFL is about 20km from Istanbul and a large magnitude earthquake is predicted to impact Istanbul in the coming years, although no one seems ready or able to define what is meant by the "coming years".
Some days I walk down narrow streets and look up at the tall, densely packed buildings around us and wonder where on earth we go if the ground starts shaking. I hope that we're not on a bridge if an earthquake comes. I hope that if an earthquake comes, we're all together as a family. I wonder what construction methods were used in building our flat, whether its relative age makes it more or less secure. Our earthquake grab bag sits easily accessible.
But this world that seems so fragile is established, firm and secure. And what makes it firm and secure? The answer is set out in the preceding verse (not quoted here) but the words that immediately follow hammer this truth home. The One who brought the universe into being, who is sovereign over all things, sits on his throne. And that throne was established long ago, because he has no beginning.
That is the only reason why this world is firm and secure. There will be no earthquake here without his permission, that is not under his control. There is nothing that will happen to us here that will not work out for our ultimate good. So we step out, we walk and run and jump on this volatile ground with complete confidence, that the eternal One is our refuge, that under his wings we find safety and shelter.
