In the Lord I Take Refuge: 31 Days in the PsalmsSample

To turn on the television or radio or to drive down a billboard-filled highway is to be bombarded with the message that various products and services are the secret to achieving inner calm. If you can just get the right body, education, financial structure, and entertainment system, then you will have achieved that deep “soul-sigh” everyone longs for. Psalm 46 offers an alternative to the world. It says: Be still. Be quiet. Look up. Calm down. God reigns.

This psalm does not offer a Pollyanna view of life. This psalm gives us sober realism. Even though the earth goes haywire (vv. 2–3), even though nations assault each other (v. 6), all of this is under the wise and far-reaching hand of God.

What troubles you today? What is it about which you think, “If I can just get that sorted out, life will become manageable”? What worries your heart as you lie awake in bed? God says: I, not any circumstantial solution, am your refuge amid your adversities. I am a very present help in trouble. I am God. Be still.