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‘God is…a very present help in trouble.’ Psalm 46:1 NKJV

Randy Reid, a 34–year–old construction worker, was welding on top of a nearly completed water tower outside Chicago. According to writer Melissa Ramsdell, Reid unhooked his safety gear to reach for some pipes when a metal cage slipped and bumped the scaffolding on which he stood. It tipped, and Reid lost his balance. He fell about 35m, landing face down on a pile of dirt, just missing rocks and construction debris. A fellow worker called the emergency services. When paramedics arrived, they found Reid conscious, moving, and complaining of a sore back. Apparently the fall didn’t cost Reid his sense of humour! As paramedics carried him on a backboard to the ambulance, Reid had one request: ‘Don’t drop me.’ Doctors later said Reid came away from the accident with just a bruised leg.
Sometimes we resemble Randy Reid. God protects us from harm in a 35m fall, yet we are not willing to trust Him to get us over the next 35cm hurdle. Being sinful, we fail. Being prone to sickness, we hurt. Being mortal, we die. Pressure wears on us. Anxiety gives us ulcers. People intimidate us. Criticism offends us. Disease scares us. Death haunts us. What’s the answer? ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.’ (Psalm 46:1 NKJV) Note the words ‘very present’. When we hit life’s rough spots our tendency is to feel abandoned, yet the opposite is true. At that very moment we are more than ever the object of His love and concern. Yes, even when our vision is blurred, our thinking foggy, our faith fleeting, and we look up and can’t see Him clearly—He is ‘very present’.

SoulFood: Esther 4:13–5:3, Matt 6:16–21, Mark 2:18–22

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