It seems that anywhere I go I hear people bemoaning the state of our world, talking of frustration and fear. It seems as if life is spinning out of control. What are we to do?
In the midst of these difficult days, we would do well to reflect on the words of Martin Luther’s most famous of his 125 hymns, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” Luther wrote this hymn over 500 years ago in a time that was as filled with doubt and despair as today’s society. There was war and unrest. The Black Plague was raging. Luther himself had a price on his head.
The sheet music which was published in Augsburg 1529 reads “A Hymn of Comfort.” The hymn takes its inspiration mainly from the first two verses of Psalm 46, along with the refrain of verses 7 and 11. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear . . . (Psalm 46:1–2) “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” (Psalm 46:7, 11)
Psalm 46 opens with God as “refuge and strength,” and the battle hymn opens with God as “mighty fortress” — literally, a strong or unshakable castle. In the version of this hymn with which we are most familiar we hear God called a “bulwark never failing.” A bulwark “denotes a place to which one would flee in time of danger – as a lofty wall; a high tower; a fort; a fortress.” What assurance for Luther who was hiding in Whittenburg Castle and for us. Our God is a strong, safe, unmoving, unchanging place of safety for us in the midst of the storms and trials of life.
That first stanza goes on to remind us that, though the Devil, the power of evil is real and is indeed at work in our world, God is there for us in the midst of the floods of turmoil. As verse 2 of the Psalm says, “Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;” Our God is faithful.
We can never sing just the first stanza of this hymn or we risk leaving Satan in charge. We need verses 2 and 3.
Verse 2 declares: “Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is he; Lord Sabaoth, his name, from age to age the same,
and he must win the battle.”
This is a reminder of the powerful message of the Reformation. It is not up to us. As one person expressed it, “God doesn’t love us because we are loveable. God loves us and makes us loveable.”
That’s what Martin Luther discovered when he struggled to make himself good enough for God. We are saved, not because of our works, not because of our worthiness, but because of the amazing love of our Lord and Savior. We are saved by God’s grace!
From age to age God is the same…God’s strength never fails….God’s love never ends. We can depend on that!
The third stanza goes on to remind us that no matter how upside down our world is turned…how strong the power of evil is at work in and around us…God is stronger and will prevail. That powerful line “One little word subdues him” reminds us of John’s gospel, “In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God and the Word was God.” One little Word…Jesus the living Word of God will overpower all evil!
And verse 4 declares that no matter what horrors life throws at us, no one can take God’s love away from us, just as St. Paul declares in Romans 8: “Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord!”
Our God goes beside us every step of the way. And, even when we die, God is there to welcome us to our eternal heavenly home…a life lived in Christ’s unfailing love. We live in God’s kingdom of love now and forever!
On Martin Luther’s tombstone is etched the phrase “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God!” This promise sustained him during the turmoil and conflict that threatened to engulf him. This same promise can sustain us as we deal with our crazy world.
Our God, that mighty fortress in Christ, is the reason that life is still possible in this world, that peace is still possible amidst the violence and discord, that forgiveness and reconciliation are still possible in your life and in mine. Then just live by faith, and that message is a transforming power even today because it is God, the mighty fortress, who is at work in the world amidst this world’s craziness, sinfulness, evil, and chaos.
There’s a story that came out of World War II about this transforming power amidst the world’s evil and chaos. The story was about a small village in Poland, and the fateful day was when the Nazis came to town. The people were gathered in their church. They were there worshiping when the troops of the Third Reich swarmed into the village. They entered the church. They escorted everyone outside, and they set fire to the structure. As the soldiers then trained their weapons on the congregation, these people began to sing. Now what song did they sing? What verse could matter now?
They began to sing “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” They sang amidst violence, amidst fire, amidst danger, at the end of the barrel of a gun, but the people kept singing. They sang verse after verse, waiting for the bullets they expected to rip into their bodies and stop their song, but the bullets never came.
Finally, looking around at the German soldiers surrounding them, they were astonished to see the guns lowered and every hardened Nazi face streaming with tears. The soldiers, one by one, two by two, slowly turned and climbed back into their trucks, as they pulled away from the little town, leaving behind a congregation of the faithful standing outside of their burning church, singing.
No doubt these words still echoed in their ears. “Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing; were not the right man on our side, the man of God’s own choosing? Dost ask who this may be? Christ Jesus, it is He. Lord Sabaoth His Name, from age to age the same, and He must win the battle.”
And He did. And God will continue to win the battle in our lives too.
In these days of turmoil, we can find comfort and peace lifting our voices in song to declare, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God!”
Your sister in Christ,
Linnea K. Gustafson
Interim Minister at Lutheran Church of the Redeemer
And Zion Lutheran Church
