Embrace the Word for Monday, April 6, 2026
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Psalm 46 is a Psalm full of confidence. The LORD is the security of His people. Psalm 46 continues the pattern established in Psalm 42 of sharing key elements of their superscription: “To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.” The main difference between Psalm 46 and the preceding Psalms that share common elements of their superscription with each other is the term “Alamoth.” It is hard to say for sure, but this term is most likely the tune name. When the Ark was brought into Jerusalem, the tune that the musicians played their harps to was “according to Alamoth” (See 1 Chronicles 15:20). Since Psalm 42, there seems to be a progression unfolding. Psalms 42 and 43 expressed personal sorrow for being away from the place of worship. Psalm 44 expresses that same sort of sorrow, but only on a group scale as the faithful remnant is away from the place of worship. Then in Psalm 45, the mood changes when the king returns from victorious battle to marry his bride. Psalm 46 celebrates the stability and security of the City of God as the LORD’s people are safe within the context of the place of worship as a result of the destruction of all who oppose God. Psalm 46 opens to speak of the safety of the LORD’s people amid chaos (46:1-3), then shifts to speak of the safety of the LORD’s people in the City (46:4-7), before closing out as it speaks of the safety of the LORD’s people in all of creation (46:8-11).
Psalm 46 begins with a statement that essentially describes the LORD as His people’s security force: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (46:1). The LORD may use means to protect His people, but ultimately it is He who is the One who protects. The LORD provides safety and shelter amid their troubles, and the LORD provides strength for sustaining His people in their troubles. This is the LORD’s past record, but it is also the LORD’s present record: “a very present help in trouble.” The LORD is His people’s security force at all times. The immediate implication of how the Psalmist sees the LORD is expressed in his response: “Therefore we will not fear” (46:2a). The LORD directs His people to focus on Him, and as we do, our hearts can face whatever troubles might come our way.
While Psalm 46 begins by declaring that the LORD is His people’s security force at all times, we might be tempted to think that pertains to just ordinary times. We might assume that the LORD is present help in standard or average troubles, while still unsure if He is present to help in extraordinary troubles. To speak into such a distinction, the Psalmist applies who the LORD is to His people in the most severe and awful of troubles: “though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah” (46:2b-3). The Psalmist is describing a hypothetical doomsday scenario—all of creation is coming unglued. The earth shakes and quakes uncontrollably, the mountains topple and are pushed into the sea, the water becomes terrifyingly agitated threatening to collapse the mountains. What is unfolding before our eyes is literally the uncreating of the earth and its return to chaos. But even if all that would unfold before our eyes, our eyes should still be fixed on the One who is “our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” In a worst case scenario, should all the earth come apart at the seams, the LORD is still in absolute control. And His control is directed toward His people’s safety.
As the Psalmist has just described the roaring and foaming waters, he abruptly shifts to a life-giving river: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High” (46:4). This is the first use in the Psalms for “city of God.” The Psalmist declares that the LORD literally tabernacles in this city. It will be identified in just a couple more Psalms as “Mount Zion,” God’s “holy mountain” (See Psalm 48:1-2). While the sense is that the Psalmist is speaking of Jerusalem, one of the intriguing facts is that there is currently no river running through Jerusalem that fits this description. Actually, the description has much in common with Eden (See Genesis 2:10-14). However, that’s a thing of the past. There is a future to be told here, but we will come back to this. For now, we are told that this river is a continuous stream that supplies gladness. There are echos of paradise here. Unlike the raging chaos of the earth unraveling, the imagery here is of happy serenity.
What explains the happy serenity? The presence of the LORD: “God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns” (46:5). There is one and only one explanation for the city’s resilience: “God is in the midst of her.” The result of the active presence of the LORD is that the city and its people, “shall not be moved.” Remember back to the previous section and consider what happened to the mountains—they were moved. Here is the same term declaring that the city and its inhabitants will not be moved. Apparently, when the LORD gets involved, its easier to destroy a mountain than it is for the LORD’s people to be destroyed. Why is that? Because the LORD who is a “very present help in trouble,” will provide help, “when the morning dawns.” This phrase conjures up Israel’s help when Pharaoh attempted to track them down and retake them. But while the Israelites cross the Red Sea safely, Pharaoh and his army were drowned as the waters returned, “when the morning appeared” (See Exodus 14:27). Or think of the assault on Jerusalem by Sennacherib and the mighty Assyrians who laid seige around the city taunting the citizens and badmouthing the LORD. During the night, the Angel of the LORD utterly destroyed Sennacherib’s army, and in the morning he returned home (See 2 Kings 18-19).
The nations are not happy with the LORD’s reassurances to His people: “The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts” (46:6). The raging of the nations are paralleled to the roaring of the waters (46:3) for the terms are the same. Thus, just as the waters “roared,” so do the nations. The moving of the mountains (46:2) are paralleled to the tottering of the kingdoms, for the terms are also the same. Thus, just as the mountains are “moved” or tottered into the seas, so do the kingdoms totter. The melting earth is paralleled to the earth giving way (46:2) for the root word is the same. Thus, just as the earth would give way so the earth melts. And what is all this raging and tottering and melting about? The LORD will come to the aid of His people. After this declaration, the Psalmist introduces a refrain: “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah” (46:7). The LORD, who commands an incalculable size of an invincible army, is with His people. He locates His people in a high place of safety.
The closing picture that the Psalmist provides starts with an invitation: “Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth” (46:8). It is hard to be sure who the Psalmist is specifically instructing. Is the Psalmist’s address directly to the nations, but also for God’s people? Or is the Psalmist talking to God’s people with the nations listening in? Its hard to be sure, and the end result is the same whoever the primary audience might be. Either way, the LORD is declaring that He will bring desolation on the earth. The notion of desolation speaks of cataclysmic devastating judgment resulting in utter misery. The LORD will start a war and then the aftermath of His war will be peace: “He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire” (46:9). The LORD’s war will bring war to rest as all the nations will be disarmed and their weapons of war destroyed. This He will do to the nations and this fact is for His people to rely upon.
Next, and in the context of the desolation upon the nations, the Psalmist issues a statement from the LORD Himself: “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (46:10). This statement is often used to give calming assurance to God’s people. And I think it does in the long run, but perhaps not the way we might typically think. Is the LORD speaking gently to His people to experience quiet tranquility? Perhaps. But I am inclined to think that the LORD directs His statement to the nations calling them, more likely demanding them to be quiet and back down as they come to the realization that the LORD is God (notice the Psalmist uses the general word for God and not the Covenant name of God). The nations are being commanded to cease their hostilities and acknowledge who He is (See Philippians 2:9-11). Of course, the result of this acknowledgment will be peace—everlasting peace for the people of God. But this is not to say that God’s people must wait till sometime later to experience peace. No, a quieted heart is already available to God’s people (See Psalm 131). Peace now, even greater peace to come. Thus, the Psalmist restates his refrain: “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah” (46:11).
As we reflect on Psalm 46 we can consider how the Bible continues the theme of, “a river whose streams make glad the city of God.” The theme of an unfailing stream of gladness continues to unfold in the Scriptures. The prophets such as Ezekiel, Joel, and Zechariah speak of a river flowing from Jerusalem: “On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter” (See Zechariah 14:8). These prophecies connect with and are fulfilled ultimately in the eternal state: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (See Revelation 22:1-2). But these prophecies begin in Christ Jesus and can find a partial fulfillment through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit: “On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (See John 7:37-39). The One who said, “I thirst” (See John 19:28), from the Cross is the One who promises, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (See John 4:14).
That’s all for Embrace the Word for Monday, April 6, 2026. I look forward to being back with you for the Wednesday, April 8, 2026 episode of Embrace the Word as we take a look at Psalm 47.