I Shall Not Be Moved

I SHALL NOT BE MOVED (PSALM 46)

How were you affected by the November 26 (2025) Taipo fires? More than 160 people died as of Tuesday (December 9, 2026), of which more than a quarter were foreign maids. I cried daily for a week. Then I was told one of the Indonesian maid, E, a Muslim, visited our church’s Indonesian worship before.

My Mainland coworker said he is reminded to remain in Hong Kong for ministry. I was told that a coworker on holiday in USA for Thanksgiving was very sad when the fire erupted. I asked him how he was, and he replied, “I cried my heart out and only want to return to Hong Kong. Now I’m OK.”

Life is never short of fires and floods, feuds, frauds, foes and foul play. The city is rife with scammers, scoundrels and schemers taking advantage of people’s misery. Two days after the fires, our church opened the worship center on Friday noon and night for those who would like to remember the victims. The text read was Psalm 46, so I prepared this sermon in 10 days.

How is God present in our suffering and struggles? Where is God when it hurts? What in the world has one wrong and how can we make it right?

God is Present to Assist

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth. A song.

1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah

A friend’s second sister and her family lived on the upper floors of the first block of the seven blocks that was on fire. They had lived there for a few years. The son’s day off is on Wednesday (the day of the fire), where he spends the time catching up on sleep at home since he works the night shift! By the grace of God, the family was in Japan on holiday. The mother (friend’s sister) and her son left three days before the fires and the husband on the eve of the fire.

My friend texted her sister about 3-4pm to break the news to her, “Your apartment is on fire,” to which she replied reading the news, “I think so.” Thankfully, besides their lives, the family had their passports and important documents with them on holiday. They returned to Hong Kong a week after their holiday, still figuring where to live two weeks after the fire though they were offered short-term government housing in Cheung Sha Wan.

This is only the second time the word “refuge” (v 1) appears in the Bible, the noun that made its way into the Bible because of Job (Job 24:8 they are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of “shelter”), so refuge is the anchor, accommodation, arrangement, availability and asylum. No one coins the word better than Job through all his heartbreaks, hardship and hopelessness. The noun “strength,” on the other hand, occurs 92 times in the Bible, of which 45 times are in the Psalms, nearly half, mostly praising God’s strength, power and might. Strength is the security.

V 1 Refuge Strength Help

Shelter Security Support

Accommodation Assertion Assistance

Place Power Provision

Residence Reliability Resources

Readers might be surprised to know that the main verb is “–present,” and “ever-” is the regular word for “exceeding,” very or much. “Present” is mostly translated as find or found. God is active, available and attentive. He is always found, faithful and finding us always. “Ever,” on the other hand, is never translated as “ever” in the Psalms, but commonly as “much” (Ps 119:107) or very (Ps 50:3).

The personal declaration “I shall not fear” occurs five times in the Bible, but the group declaration “We will not fear” (v 2) occurs just this once. It means not lose hope, your heart or head. “We will not fear” is not a commanding imperative nor a courageous jussive (“let us not fear”), but a calm statement. It is a reminder, resolve, reaction, reliance, readiness and resilience.

It’s been said, “FEAR means ‘forget everything and run.’”

"We shall not fear" means choosing faith over panic, trusting God's presence and strength to overcome challenges, and acting with courage despite uncertainty, not the absence of feeling fear, but the resolve to move forward with hope, relying on divine protection and purpose. It's a call to stand firm, knowing God provides power, love, and guidance, making fear unwarranted because He is greater than any worldly threat. (Google AI)

There is no “though” in Hebrew and in life and it occurs only in verse 2 in Hebrew; instead it is the “in” preposition, meaning crisis, calamities and catastrophes happen. When it rains, it pours. Troubles come in threes. Misfortunes never come singly.