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| Artwork Credit: Wooded River Landscape (1913) by Peder Mørk Mønsted (1859–1941). Accessed via Artvee.com. |
Fear often finds us when foundations begin to shake. We might not be in war zones, but our hearts know the feeling of collapse: a diagnosis, betrayal, a door that unexpectedly closed. The first verse in Psalm 46 addresses that kind of world, the real one, where even the mountains fall. The psalmist gives us a truth to hold hat in the midst of it: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Ps 46:1, NKJV).
This is a strength given; it is God stepping into the storm as both our shelter and support. “Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea” (v. 2). The verses testify that God remains faithful even when all else collapses.
The psalm tells of roaring waters and kingdoms in uproar. And yet it also tells of a river, gentle and unseen by the raging world around it. “There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God…” (v. 4). While the nations fall apart, there is joy in the place where God dwells. His presence there holds His people firm.
Then we hear the words many have memorized: “Be still, and know that I am God” (v. 10). It is easy to read this as a personal comfort. And we may remember that it is the stillness that follows God's intervention. The Lord speaks to a world in conflict and calls it to cease. “He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two” (v. 9). Stillness, here, is surrender to His power, His voice.
Even so, there is a personal invitation tucked within this command. We are not only told that He is God, but we are also told to know it. In the stillness of surrender, trust begins to grow. We remember that His purposes never fail. His presence never departs. And the battles we face are never fought alone.
To be still in this way does not mean doing nothing. It means no longer grasping for control that was never ours. It is waiting in faith, while the wind still howls, because we know who holds the storm.
“The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (v. 11). God does not stand at a distance; He enters the conflict and commands the silence. And when everything around us gives way, He alone remains unshaken. We do not anchor ourselves by finding peace within. We endure by knowing the One who speaks peace into the world He governs.
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