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My husband was at work when I received news about my mom’s cancer diagnosis. I left him a message and reached out to friends and family. None were available. Covering my face with trembling hands, I sobbed. “Help me, Lord.” A resulting assurance that God was with me comforted me through those moments when I felt utterly alone.

I thanked the Lord when my husband came home and support from friends and family trickled in. Still, the calming awareness of God’s presence I sensed in those first few hours of lonely grieving affirmed that God is readily and faithfully available wherever and whenever I need help.

In Psalm 46, the psalmist proclaims God is our sanctuary, strength, and steadfast supporter (v. 1). When it feels as if we’re surrounded by chaos or everything we thought was stable crashes down around us, we don’t have to fear (vv. 2–3). God doesn’t falter (vv. 4–7). His power is evident and effective (vv. 8–9). Our eternal Sustainer gives us confidence in His unchanging character (v. 10). The Lord, our secure stronghold, remains with us forever (v. 11).

God created His followers to prayerfully support and encourage one another. But He also affirms He is always able and available. When we call on God, we can trust Him to keep His promises to provide for us. He will comfort us through His people as well as through His personal presence.

Lord, thank You for assuring us You’re always accessible because You’re always with us.

God is always able and available to help us.

INSIGHT

Being a member of the kingdom of God brings a sense of personal security. In Psalm 46, God’s sovereignty is eloquently compared to a mighty fortress against which the waters of chaos and death can do no harm (vv. 1–3). This brings a response of worship in a troubled world (vv. 4–9). What relief it is to follow the admonition “Be still, and know that I am God,” for God “will be exalted among the nations, [He] will be exalted in the earth” (v. 11). God’s power and presence give an inner stability to the believer that nothing else can. Our righteous God of grace is ready and available wherever and whenever we need help.

How does this passage bring a sense of calm to your situation?

For further study read Navigating the Storms of Life at discoveryseries.org/hp061.

Last December, my family and I went to the mountains. We had lived in a tropical climate all our lives, so it was the first time we could see snow in all its magnificence. As we contemplated the white mantle covering the fields, my husband quoted Isaiah, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).

After asking about the meaning of scarlet, our three-year-old daughter asked, “Is the color red bad?” She knows sins are things God dislikes, but this verse is not talking about colors. The prophet was describing the bright red dye obtained from the eggs of a small insect. Clothes would be double-dyed in this bright red so the color became fixed. Neither rain nor washing would remove it. Sin is like that. No human effort can take it away. It’s rooted in the heart.

Only God can cleanse a heart from sin. And as we looked at the mountains, we admired the pure whiteness that scrubbing and bleaching a piece of cloth dyed in scarlet red can’t achieve. When we follow Peter’s teaching, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out” (Acts 3:19), God forgives us and gives us a new life. Only through Jesus’s sacrifice can we receive what no one else can give—a pure heart. What a wonderful gift!

Father, thank You for forgiving our sins and wiping them clean.

When God forgives, He purifies us too.

INSIGHT

Sometimes we believe that once we’ve gone down a certain path in our lives, there’s no turning back. And, obviously, if it’s too late to go back, we think we might as well keep going that way. It’s easy to think this way about sin. We may believe we’ll always suffer for our sin, that nothing can heal us from its effects. If we believe this, we may sink even deeper into patterns of destructive behavior, thinking it’s too late to come back to a life of joy and peace with God.

In Isaiah 1:16–20, it’s as if God, through the prophet Isaiah, tells His people Israel, “You can go back.” The Israelites were suffering terribly because of their sin (vv. 4–5), but Isaiah pleaded with them to repent, promising them that if they turned from their sin and lived justly (vv. 16–17), God would cleanse and restore them, no matter how impossibly deep the stain of their transgression (v. 18). God makes truly new beginnings possible, not just once, but every day. His forgiving love is “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:22–23).

How does God’s promise of new beginnings give you hope today?