Psalms that Pspeak – Psalm 46 – Be Still There is a back story to Psalm 46 you find in 2 Kings 18 – 19. Hezekiah’s prayer; 2 Kings 19:15 Kings God, God of Israel, seated in majesty on the cherubim-throne. You are the one and only God, sovereign over all kingdoms on earth, Maker of heaven, maker of earth. 16 Open your ears, God, and listen, open your eyes and look. Look at this letter Sennacherib has sent, a brazen insult to the living God! 17 The facts are true, O God: The kings of Assyria have laid waste countries and kingdoms. 18 Huge bonfires they made of their gods, their no-gods hand-made from wood and stone. 19 But now O God, our God, save us from raw Assyrian power; Make all the kingdoms on earth know that you are God, the one and only God. Hezekiah brings his people together and he says this: 2 Chronicles 32:6-8 Hezekiah rallied the people, saying, “Be strong! Take courage! Don’t be intimidated by the king of Assyria and his troops—there are more on our side than on their side. He only has a bunch of mere men; we have our God to help us and fight for us!” Morale surged. Hezekiah’s words put steel in their spines. The end of the story… 2 Kings 19:35 And it so happened that that very night an angel of God came and massacred 185,000 Assyrians. When the people of Jerusalem got up next morning, there it was—a whole camp of corpses! 36-37 Sennacherib king of Assyria got out of there fast, headed straight home for Nineveh, and stayed put. One day when he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer murdered him and then escaped to the land of Ararat. His son Esarhaddon became the next king. This is our God. That is the background of Psalm 46. Psalm 46 For the choir director: A song of the descendants of Korah, to be sung by soprano voices. 1 God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. 2 So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. 3 Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! Interlude 4 A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High. 5 God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed. From the very break of day, God will protect it. 6 The nations are in chaos, and their kingdoms crumble! God’s voice thunders, and the earth melts! 7 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress. Interlude 8 Come, see the glorious works of the Lord: See how he brings destruction upon the world. 9 He causes wars to end throughout the earth. He breaks the bow and snaps the spear; he burns the shields with fire. 10 “Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” 11 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress. Someone once said that we are always in the middle of one of three phases in life; we are about to enter trouble, or we are in the middle of trouble, or we have just come out of trouble. I want to make three points of application… When I read Psalms like this reminds me that God’s powerful. When I read Psalms like this it reminds me that we need mighty men and women of faith who look to the Lord. When I read Psalms like this it reminds me to “be still.” Let’s see what GOD can do! Pastor Brian Harrell