Can technology be "our mighty fortress" against the challenges of life? The 21st century has brought many technological advances into our lives. Now, with our cellphones, we can gain immediate access to news, sports, and weather anywhere in the world. We can control our appliances, home security systems, pay bills and make deposits with a few taps or swipes. Technological advances have transformed public and private transportation, medical care and shopping. Communication is almost instantaneous around the globe.
Need for Our Mighty Fortress
Along with these advances, we have a greater sense of the fragility of human life, not to mention global warming. Many experts have predicted cataclysmic consequences that may already be irreversible. The tragedy of war, terrorism, despotism remain real.
Hurricanes, Earthquakes, Volcanoes, Floods
Together with these threats, hurricanes, earthquakes, volcanoes and floods seem to strike with increasingly deadly frequency. As I write this, our coastal neighbors are still reeling from the destruction of devastating hurricanes. Presently, residents of Hawaii cannot escape the unpredictable damage from volcanic eruptions. Across the Pacific, earthquakes and tsunamis cause untold suffering and death.
Violence and Discord Threaten
Untold numbers of people around the globe languish in political prison camps. Weapons of mass destruction are on the increase instead of in decline. Instead of dialogue and understanding, violence and discord threaten to undermine civility and order in the United States.
A Safe Refuge?
With so many uncertainties and challenges, how can we find a safe refuge anywhere? Clearly, no rational person would claim they are safe from natural disasters, accidents, serious disease or death. Secondly, terrible things seem to continue to happen to good people.
God, Our Mighty Fortress
Psalm 46, which so influenced Martin Luther to write A Mighty Fortress is Our God, does not promise us a safe refuge from the perils of life. Instead, it proclaims that God is our ultimate refuge. God is with us, in the worst disasters imaginable, even death. Consequently, we can find peace and ultimate shelter in "his kingdom (that) is forever."