“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (Psalm 46).
If you happened to read my September 2026 Pastor’s Corner article (if not, you can read it here) , I wrote an article of comfort and encouragement about not being anxious and trusting in the Lord in the midst of this chaotic, uncertain and, oftentimes painful world. And, this month, I wanted to continue those themes by sharing the above psalm with you; because, for me, when it seems like everything is spinning out of control and I am at the end of my rope,when the world seems too dark and overwhelming, this psalm is a great source of comfort for me. It reminds me that our God is a good God; a God who loves us, takes care of us, and protects us.
The psalms generally begin by describing some crisis, event, or situation that has spurred the psalmist to write. This is not the case, however, for Psalm 46, which is not a response to a specific event, but rather to a general sense of instability and insecurity in life. The world was a messed-up place, full of pain and suffering during the time of the psalmists just like it is today. But we have right here in Scripture the good news of the situation, and that good news is that we can endure and overcome all of the pain and all of the suffering if we lean on God, trust in His provision, and have confidence in Him.
In verse 1, the psalmist says that God IS our refuge and strength, and ever-present help. This is a very telling sentence; the psalmist doesn’t say that God and being strong-willed, or God and positive thinking, or God and anything is our strength, but God alone. The Hebrew noun that is translated here as “refuge” means shelter. When the storms of life are pouring down on us, God is our shelter. But, more than just shelter, He is our strength; meaning that, as it says in Psalm 21:8, “Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies; your right hand will seize your foes.” God is our shelter and our strength, He is both our shield and our sword. And then the psalmist tells us that God is an ever-present help in trouble. Now, I’m not trying to give you a lesson in Biblical Hebrew and don’t want to bore you by talking about nothing but grammar, but I feel like it is important to point out in this case that the Hebrew word “trouble” literally translated means, “distress, cramped quarters, a constricted feeling.” Isn’t that amazing?!? So, what the psalmist is saying here is that when the pressure mounts, when the world is closing in on us, when we feel that we have nowhere to turn, we can lean on God because He is here to help. When we are at our lowest point when all seems lost and we are at the end of our rope, He wants us to lean on Him. He wants to be our comforter, He wants to be our protector. As it says in this psalm, we don’t have to fear, no matter what is going on, no matter how much our earth is shaking, no matter how much the waters of our life are roaring and foaming.
In verse 4, then, we see the psalmist gives us an image of a river. This river is seen to give constant provision to the city of Jerusalem, which is a significant image because Jerusalem was one of the few major cities of the ancient world that didn’t actually have a river running through it, simply a few small streams; but the psalmist was looking forward to the day when a magnificent river flowed from the temple itself as told by the prophets. Then, in the second half of verse 4, we see that this river made the city of God glad. This “city of God” is Jerusalem, which was glad because God had provided the river to give life in the dry land of Israel, and to provide protection for the city. For us, the river is the image of God’s mercy, an image of His Holy Spirit and the city of God is His church, who is made glad through the life and protection we receive from the Spirit, no matter what life throws our way. The psalmist then, in verse 5, shows us the image of God in the midst of His city, in the midst of His church. We then see, in verse 6, that even though the earth is in chaos, God is still there as our stability and our security, providing for us.
Finally, in verse 10 of the passage, we see a very well-known line of Scripture, “Be still, and know that I am God.” In this verse, there is a change from the third person to the first person and God begins speaking. God is telling us to “Be still;” or to put it in more modern terms, he is telling us to “calm down and relax.” He then tells us to know that He is God, He’s telling us to take our hands off and have confidence in the fact that He is God and He is in control. So, by the phrase “Be still, and know that I am God,” He is saying “calm down, relax, and trust me; I’ve got this!” God doesn’t keep bad things from happening to us, he allows them to happen to us so that our faith will grow and, like it says in the second half of verse 10, He will be exalted. And this word, “exalted” means “to be lifted up, to be raised high.” So often we boast about the great things going on in our life and act as though it was through our own doing, we don’t give God His rightful credit for these things. But in the bad times we have nothing for which to boast but can only rely on God to bring about resolution.
When life starts to tear you down, beat you up, and you aren’t sure where to go or what to do, just stop; literally stop, stop moving, stop stressing, stop thinking, stop everything and focus on Him. Take a moment, take a breath and dwell on the fact that God is here for you. Say a prayer; even something as simple as, “Dear Lord, things are going crazy in my life right now, but I know that You are still on the throne, and You are in control. I have peace in the confidence that You’ve got this, and I am going to put my faith in You. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.” But taking that small beat and reorienting yourself to God, reorienting yourself to the cross, you can refresh your confidence that no matter what the circumstance, God’s got this. God is enough, we need nothing else.
If we lean on God as our shelter and refuge, if we look to the cross and trust in God’s provision, and if we have confidence in Him, then there is nothing that we cannot make it through. There is no evil or brokenness in this world that stands a chance against the God of the universe who loves us and wants to be our protector and our fortress. No matter what our earthly bodies may have to endure, our souls will always be ok. Because we have God, the Holy Spirit, dwelling within us, we can endure all of the slings and arrows that life can possibly throw at us. It is well with your soul!
May the blessings of the Father and the peace of the Son be with you,
Pastor Keith
