Psalm 46 reads as follows from the New American Bible:
God is your refuge and our strength, An ever present help in distress, Thus we do not fear, though the earth be shaken, And the mountains quake to the depths of the sea, Though its waters rage and foam, And mountains totter at its surging, The Lord of hosts is with us, Our stronghold is the God of Jacob,
Streams of the river gladden the city of God, The holy dwelling of the most high, God is in its midst, it shall not be shaken, God will help at the break of day, Though the nations rage and kingdoms totter, God’s voice thunders and the earth assembles, the Lord of hosts is with us, our stronghold is the God of Jacob.
Come and see the works of the Lord, who has done fearsome deeds on earth, Who stops wars to the ends of the earth, Breaks the bow, splinters the spear, And burns the shield with fire, Who says: Be still and confess that I am God, I am exalted among the nations, Exalted on the earth, The Lord of hosts is with us, Our stronghold is the God of Jacob,
This is powerful psalm that also gives insights into the presence of the Lord for individuals. The Lord’s help is ever present, even amidst calamities of nature or that are man made. This presence is superseding presence, a presence that goes beyond anything that can happen out there.
The earth quaking to the depths of seas and secure mountains trembling is not the better environment for peace and tranquility and not the normal occurrence. Yet the stronghold in that situation is the presence of the Lord in spite of the out of control dangers of the environment. The later part of the verse depicts the Lord’s violent confrontations with the wars of men, which are stopped by burning the shields with fire.
Verse 5 indicates a different scene than the chaos of nature in the beginning of the psalms and the wars of man at the later portion of the psalm. It says, “ Streams of water gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling of the Most High.”
This contrasts to the presence of raging water mentioned in verse 4. Streams would not be like uncontainable raging waters and streams are symbolic of a type of favor from the Lord that gladdens or gives joy and happiness. The stream is representative of flow in that the Lord’s favor becomes a continuous and unstoppable flow but also something that arrives and comes into the picture to where it is manageable, doable, comfortable, and livable, this is a type of blessing and the type of nearby favors for someone that can be living in and favors that one can actually get a handle on. There is this great river of blessings and the stems of the blessings are like streams, rather than torrents of water. These blessings don’t rush by but come right into the presence of the individuals in the form of a stream, where they can actually receive the blessings fully. The blessings are neither fleeting nor unsettling; a stream is someplace you can actually go to as well. Streams also indicated many blessings, all of which come in a form that equates to streams.
This psalm contains elements of both what the Lord wants and what his people want. His people want gladness, help, blessings and a stronghold and he will supply that, but he wants stillness in his presence and confession of his Lordship in all.
It says outright in the psalm, that the Lord will impose an end to wars as part of his rule.
To this it is said in verse 11,” Who says: “Be still and confess that I am God, I am exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.
One possible interpretation to the latter verses of this psalm is that the Lord is bestowing favor upon those who are in relationship with him, by relieving the outer distresses of war so they can have stillness as part of his shepherding as mentioned in psalm 23, in those famous verses on the still waters. Another possible interpretation of these verses would be that war in general is something where mankind begins to usurp their authority and the attention is given to the rules and purposes of war, where the rule of the earth is for the Lord alone. The sighting of divine authority becomes lost in the efforts of warfare and the call back is to all to confess the Lordship of the Lord and be still in that Lordship.
An important verse is also verse 6, which says, ” God is in its midst, it shall not be shaken, God will help it at the break of day.”
This is referring to the great city of Jerusalem. But the verse also refers to how the presence of the Lord’s help can be imaged and visualized. The Lord’s help at the break of day means that the timing of the help will be perfect, like waves breaking perfectly for the happy surfer, the Lord will supply in his help in a manner of timing that is at the break of day, the break of the need of the day, and right in the middle not only in terms of the issue but also in terms of the timing as well. The Lord will supply in right at the beginning and into middle. You can begin to follow the paths of the blessing. And this could be also for blessings that extend into years under the banner of his favor.
This verse referring to the break of day is also important to the discernment process. The Lord may give signs early on as to whether the direction you are heading, even in this very day, is the under the auspices of his lead, help and guidance. Signs even in nature itself may be given, while you never know completely where you are headed for even within a day, there can be signs telling you of the Lord ways and presence for you as you continue on in this particular path and journey.
The latter call to stillness and confession of Lordship also applies to discernment and decision making. It might not be a matter of running around, trying harder, but going first into the stillness that is spoken of in the psalms and the shepherding of the Lord that is found there. And there needs to be a confession of Lordship even in smaller matters, as the Lord is the God of great and small as well and the God of the very day itself and all that it contains.
Both the imagery presented in this psalm of streams and stillness is important to discernment. Also the presence of gladden or of a gladdening is also a sign as well as to the presence of the Lord’s help. The Lord’s streams will gladden your heart and the hearts of those in the presence of these streams
There is an invitation to the visibility of the Lord’s presence as verse 9 says, “Come and see the works of the Lord, who has done fearsome deeds on earth.” Asking for increased visibility can be an important part of prayer.
With this psalm, something to ponder in terms of prayer is to ask for the Lord’s timing and meditate on the Lord’s timing in the manner of his ever present help which is not just slight but overpowering as the imagery of the psalm presents, where the help of the Lord overpowers even that which causes the very earth to be shaken to its foundations.
Author Resource:-
I am writing on varied areas including the Christian faith.
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