Psalm 46 has been on my mind and in my heart a lot lately. I take great comfort reading Psalm 46 when my cage is being rattled and the ground around me is shaky. Maybe you’re familiar with this part of verse 10: “Be still and know that I am God.” What a beautiful command. Be still. That’s hard to do in troubling times. If you’re like me, you want to do something. I think Psalm 46 has been on my mind because I’m the one who needs to be repeating the phrase that I’ll be asking you to repeat with me today.

I’m tempted to read the whole of Psalm 46, but I’ll put a link in the show notes to an episode I did more than three years ago based on its first seven verses. Today, I’ll start with verse 7 and read to the end because God wants us to redirect our focus from the craziness around us and fix our eyes on him.

The beginning of Psalm 46 talks about how we don’t have to be afraid even if the earth gives way, the mountains fall into the sea, and the mountains quake. One of the verses I just read talks about the Lord bringing desolations on the earth and the verse right after it says God brings wars to an end. In other words, whether the disasters are natural or manmade, the Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. That promise in Psalm 46:7 is repeated word for word in verse 11. It’s as if God wants us to know that we know that the Lord Almighty is with us as our fortress. You and I can know that we know that the strong and mighty presence of God is trustworthy.

In the previous episode, I spoke of wars and rumors of wars, floods and famine, and other disasters. I encourage you to listen if you missed it. It’s no wonder there’s talk lately about the end of the world. If you’re still in your 40s or younger, you didn’t grow up like I did with the looming threat of nuclear war. After all these years, we’re talking about nuclear war again. That’s some craziness right there. I remember learning a couple of crazy concepts in my political sciences classes in college. One of them was called MAD, for “mutually assured destruction”. The other was NUT, which stood for Nuclear Utilization Theory. Like I said. Crazy. But God says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” That’s Psalm 46:10. Write that down, my friend. Write this one down too; Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” In a mad world that’s gone nuts, you and I don’t have to be afraid. Let’s keep our eyes on the one who has promised to keep us in perfect peace.

Episode 13: Episode 13 – Bible Teacher | Author | Shawna Marie Bryant

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This week’s scripture: Psalm 46:7-11