A Refuge and a King
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Psalm 47:2
For the LORD, the Most High, is to be feared,
a great king over all the earth.
The Psalms are a rich prayer book addressing just about every state of mind, position of the heart, and the whole breadth of human experience. I find myself regularly revisiting Psalms to find words to pray that speak from my heart in a way I can’t articulate. So many individual Psalms or just particular phrases stand out in my mind and minister to my heart. On top of this, though, is the sheer genius of his God arranged his Psalms for us. So often there are groups or pairings of Psalms that individually are wonderful but collectively reveal immensely more of God’s promises and character. Psalm 46 and 47 are just such a pairing, and we can see this simply in the opening to each one.
In Psalm 46 we receive an invitation to find rest and peace by running to God’s presence. It is a word for the weary and the fearful. It is gentle and hopeful. Then in Psalm 47 we have a declaration of God’s power and royalty and victory. It is a word for the fed up, the upset, the exasperated at the injustice in the world. Friends, this is the same God–gentle and royal, peaceful and mighty, protective and just. And we will find ourselves in both states of heart and mind–crushed and angry, weary and fed up–so we need all this promise. God has given us words to pray and promises to cling to.
I originally wrote this post for my church, Immanuel Nashville, in our Daily Pulse email. If you want encouragement from God’s word delivered Monday thru Friday to your inbox, I encourage you to subscribe.
Psalm 46:1 is a really great one! First time I heard that one was when I was in youth group.