Psalm 46

Some things I've been thinking about as we've prayed the psalm for Reformation Day this week. I don't quite have the energy to put it into sentences, but I'm gonna throw the thoughts out anyway.


"God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear,
though the earth be removed,
and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea."

John the Baptist,
and Isaiah's "every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill made low."
Also, there were earthquakes when God died on Calvary.



"There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High."

John 1 -- Jesus tabernacled among us.
His body on the cross is the place of the mercy seat, the real place of sacrifice to which the Old Testament Holy-of-Holies pointed, the place where the blood of the true Lamb was poured out on the ultimate Day of Atonement.
The river in Revelation flows from the tree of life.
The streams of water and blood that pour forth from Jesus' side make glad the Church in Baptism and the Supper.



"God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved.
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn."

The Evangelists tell us that the women came to Jesus' tomb at the break of dawn.



"The nations raged.
The kingdoms were moved.
He uttered His voice; the earth melted."

The nations raged: the Sanhedrin, the Roman soldiers, Herod, and finally Pilate acquiesced.
"He uttered His voice." Jesus spoke seven times from the cross, and it melts our hearts of stone.



"The Lord of hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge."

Immanuel -- which means "God with us."



"Be still and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations.
I will be exalted in the earth."

Sometimes in my NASB the words "lifted up" are translated "exalted" and sometimes they're translated "lifted up" like the bronze serpent was "lifted up" for the people to see, or like Jesus was "lifted up" on the tree of the cross.
"Stand still and see the salvation which the Lord your God will accomplish for you this day. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace."
We hear at Easter Vigil, "This is the night you brought our fathers, the children of Israel, out of bondage in Egypt and led them through the Red Sea on dry ground. This is the night when all who believe in Christ are delivered from bondage to sin and are restored to life and immortality. Oh, how wonderful and beyond all telling is Your mercy to us, O God, that to redeem a slave You gave Your Son."