By Nell Green

I cannot imagine what it must be like to be in the middle of a horror such as the one unfolding in Ukraine daily. If you are like me, you find it hard to listen to the news reports each day. Yet, I am compelled to do so. I do not want to ignore what is taking place and thereby perhaps indicate it lacks significance.

Are you like me and asking God what the world is coming to?  The idea that we would live in a time where such violence and disregard for fellow humanity could take place is incomprehensible. And yet, it is so. 

I still think about the earlier explosions in Beirut and wonder how those communities are faring.  There are the fires that have ravaged so much of our own country, leaving citizens bereft and without homes or possessions. Hurricanes and tornadoes are such that a community hardly recovers from one when another hits. The U.S.-Mexico border strains under the thousands seeking refuge.

Some translations of Psalm 46:10 read, “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.” Such meditations often lead us into a time of quieting our hearts and pondering that God is still God. 

Recently however, the Common English Bible caused me to read this verse slightly differently. It reads, “That’s enough! Now know that I am God! I am exalted among all nations. I am exalted throughout the world.” 

In my Western mind, this translation seems more in keeping with the context of the Psalm. Worlds are falling apart. Mountains are crumbling. Waters are raging. God says, “That’s enough!” 

At the same time, the Psalmist reminds us of where our refuge is, where comfort can be found and from whom can we draw strength. 

When the earth is falling apart – or so it seems – we all need reminders of God’s strength and comfort. In scourging violence, in the destruction of natural disaster, in the despair of poverty, in the loneliness of migration and displacement, CBF field personnel are present to beleaguered brothers and sisters. 

The Offering for Global Missions funds the long-term presence of field personnel. As they offer comfort, help, and relief in the name and love of Jesus, exhausted sufferers are reminded God is indeed a refuge. With these reminders comes God’s exclamation, “That’s enough! Now know that I am God! I am exalted among all nations. I am exalted throughout the world.”  

Because presence matters.  Learn more and support the Offering for Global Missions at www.cbf.net/ogm.