God is Our Refuge
Psalms 46
By Pastor Jim May
This 46th Psalm is a song of encouragement and a song of praise unto the Lord for his ever present help to Israel in her times of distress. After the messages last Sunday morning, and the one this morning, I felt that it would be good to hear some words of encouragement.
Psalms 46:1 begins with some instructions, "To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth." What does all of this mean?
The Chief Musician was the presentor , or director of the Levitical choir and orchestra in the temple. This title is mentioned in the opening lines of 55 of the Psalms and in Habakkuk 3:19 where he is called the “chief singer”. The first Chief Musician was a man by the name of Jeduthun and the office of this worship leader appears to have been passed from one generation to the next through the same family.
Since it is also meant for the sons of Korah, perhaps we need to know who these men were.
Korah was a Levite, the son of Izhar, who was the brother of Amram. If you remember, Amram and Jochebed were the Hebrew parents of both Moses and Aaron. The institution of the Aaronic priesthood and the Levitical service at Mt. Sinai was a great religious revolution.
The old order of the priesthood that consisted of the heads of families was abolished by God’s new order. Of course the removal of some of the old priests from office wasn’t accepted too easily by some of them and it gave rise to murmurings and discontent.
While the Israelites were encamped at Kadesh for the first time all of this discontent among the old order of preists came to a head in a rebellion against Moses and Aaron, and the rebellion was headed by Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
Two hundred and fifty princes, "men of renown" , men who were well-known from among the other tribes, joined the conspiracy and they all demanded of Moses and Aaron that the old state of things should be restored. They claimed "they took too much upon themselves to assume that God had only called them to be the heads of Israel."
On the morning after the outbreak, Korah and his associates presented themselves at the door of the tabernacle, and "took every man his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon." But immediately "fire from the Lord" burst forth from the altar and destroyed them all.
Dathan and Abiram "came out and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children," and as they stood there in objection to what God had done to Korah and his false priests, an earthquake struck, the ground opened up and everyone of them went down live into the pit of hell.
God sent a plague began among the people who sympathized in the rebellion, and it was only stopped when Aaron stepped between the living and the dead, and made "an atonement offering for the people".
The descendants of the sons of Korah who did not participate in the rebellion afterwards rose to be accepted into the Levitical service of the tabernacle and then into the Temple, and thus it was to this order of priests that the Chief Musician was to present the 46th Psalm.
The instructions for this Psalm was that it was to be presented upon Alamoth. This was a musical term that meant that the Psalm was to be sung by the female voices of the choir only and sung only in soprano.
I just thought you might find those facts interesting. You can find all kinds of little jewels of information in every Word of the Bible if you are willing to look for them.
Psalms 46:1-3 continues by saying, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah."
What this word “Selah” means is questionable. Some believe that it just means that there is to be a silent pause in the music. Others say that it signals a louder string of music, or the addition of other instruments into the music. In any case it appear only as some sort of division in the way that the Psalm is sung or played in the temple. It appears about 74 times in the Bible and mostly in the Psalms.
The important thing is to look at the lyrics and see what they are saying about God.
As in all forms of worship, in all styles of music, the thing to look for is what do they say about God and who is being lifted up. Do the lyrics lift up Jesus or man? Do they praise God, lift up the name of Jesus, or give credit to the power of the Holy Spirit, or do they lift up the ego of the singer, making him or her look praiseworthy? If you examine the lyrics of the song you will discover whether it is truly a worship song or not, and if you can’t hear, understand or learn the lyrics, how do you know what you are singing and who you are singing to? Too much of the music found in our churches are not what I would call Godly. They only show off the talents of the song writer, singer or musicians, but they don’t really lift up Jesus.
The 46th Psalm is a true song of praise unto the Lord, lifting him up before the people of Israel in every way.
It is good to know that God is always there, waiting to answer the prayers of his children and to meet our every need. God is our refuge, not the bank account, or the economy. None of man’s limitations can limit the power of God to provide for his own in times of need.
Likewise, our strength does not come from within, but from without. How many times have you felt physically and spiritually weak, but after only a short time in true praise in worship your spirit is lifted and you feel rejuvenated?
When God is on our side, whom shall we fear? With God in control of every aspect of our lives, why should we worry? It doesn’t matter what the weather may do, to what level the price of gas may rise, or what crops may fail – God will provide for his own people. The economy of Heaven will never fail, and no one can make a run on Heaven’s bank. We serve an awesome, powerful God who knows no limitations at all. With God all things are possible to him that will believe.
“Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.”
Though the flood waters may rise, or the droughts may come; though the mountains shake and quake and fall into the sea; though the storms and hurricanes may blow, and the tidal waves may wipe away the coastal plains; no matter what happens, stop, pause and remember that God is in control of it all and he will not suffer his people to be moved by any of it. We may face the hard times but we will not be forgotten. We may face some struggles but God will not fail to bring us through in victory.
Psalms 46:4-5, "There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early."
There is a river – there is a river called Kidron that fed the Pool of Siloam and other pools in the city of Jerusalem that were places of provision and refreshing that came from the mountains of God. It’s life giving flow was a great comfort to the city of Jerusalem and it would see them through many times of siege and attacks from their enemies.
Likewise there is a River that still flows today through the church and the Body of Christ. It is the River of the Gospel. The "streams" of this river are eternal election and calling by God; the covenant of grace with its blessings and promises; the provision and mission of Christ as our Lord and Savior, and redemption through his precious blood. The streams of this river, or the currents of this river of the gospel include justification, pardon for sin, adoption as children, regeneration and rebirth by the Holy Spirit, and eternal life.
They can be called "streams", because they flow from the fountain of divine love and are able to carries everything upon their force. They are abundant, everlasting and unending. They are free to all who will accept them and will deliver everyone who trusts in them. They flow as streams from the River of Life that comes from the very Throne of God in Heaven right down to you and me, right now.
God’s love and his provision are flowing in that great Gospel River bringing good news, healing, salvation and deliverance to all who will plunge into those waters. God will not allow his church to fail. We will not be moved. We are as trees planted by the Living Water, the River of God, constantly gaining strength from Almighty God and unshakable, unmovable and forever victorious.
God will help us, and he’ll do it quickly. He won’t suffer one hair of your head to be injured if you will just keep your faith and trust in him.
Psalms 46:6-7, "The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah."
The heathen will rage in fear; they will run in terror; they will go deeper into sin as they run from the presence and wrath of God when his judgments are falling. God speaks and creation will obey.
But the Lord of Hosts, the Commander of the heavenly forces; the great God of Heaven is with us – He’s on our side! Praise the Lord! The God of Jacob is our refuge and our strength. Whenever calamity strikes, wherever the storms of life may rise – stop, pause, think about it – and then praise God that He is watching over you through it all.
Psalms 46:8-9, "Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire."
Here is the pause that truly refreshes the Child of God. Just look at what God is doing and understand that it is he who is doing it. Though desolation may come upon the earth; and wars will come – it will all come to an end by the Hand of God in time. He will break the power of the weapons of men, bring the armies of the world to naught and there will be war no more. He will consume the weapons of warfare until they are forever gone and peace will finally reign in the earth during his Millennial Reign for a thousand years. In the end, God wins, and we are on his side, so we win too, and we win big!
Psalms 46:10-11, "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah."
When we have done all we can do, and everything that we have preached about; sang about; prayed about and cried about begins to come to pass, then just be still and let God do the rest.
God’s name will be exalted in the earth. Every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord. There will come a day when the whole of creation, every man and every devil included, will bow before Jesus and confess that he is Lord.
That Lord of Hosts is with us and he is our refuge, so what shall we fear! Pause and think about that when things seem to be falling apart on every hand. God is our refuge and our very present help in time of need.
