Be Still
Psalm 46
Psalm 46
To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth.
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. 5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. 7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
8 Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth. 9 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. 10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. 11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
75 times the word “Selah” appears in the scriptures, once only it refers to the name of an individual, 74 times it is a part of a song. 72 Times in the Psalms and twice in the book of Habakkuk.
No dictionary I have read can give to me an accurate understanding of what the word means. But there are certainly hints in the 74 passages that gives a clue and some dictionaries do seem to point in the same direction.
Psalm 3:4
4 I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah.
Psalm 4:4
4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.
Psalm 24:6
6 This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
Psalm 24:8
8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
Psalm 46:3
3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
Psalm 46:7
7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
Psalm 46:11
11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
A hint is Given to us in some of the dictionaries;
1 to lift up, exalt. 1a Selah. 1a1 a technical musical term probably showing accentuation, pause, interruption.[1]
Strongs Lexicon
selah (699d); from 5549; to lift up, exalt:—Selah(74)[2]
American Standard
an unknown musical or liturgical marker (Ps 3:3[EB 2]-143:6 passim); Hab 3:3, 9, 13+, note: (njb) translates “pause”;[3] Dictionary of Biblical Languages
Çelâh, seh’-law; from 5541; suspension (of music), i.e. pause:— Selah.[4]
Three times it appears in Psalm 46 and each time after a statement of trouble and trust.
Trouble may come BUT Trust in the Lord your God.
Pause….BE STILL!
GOD IS OUR REFUGE
To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth.
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
Noah began to understand this when the first drops of rain ever witnessed in history began to fall upon his face.
Though the “earth was filled with violence”, though trouble came to the bow of the boat, Noah experienced the refuge of God his strength as the huge ship began to lift from its moorings.
Torrential rain, never before seen pummelled the people and the land outside, but the Ark remained dry and the people preserved.
The springs of the great deep broke up and the waters in the earth covered the face of the earth, but the Ark was stable, secure, safe.
It was a refuge, it was God’s prevision of “help in trouble”.
God was to Noah and to his family, his very own refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
The first verse is a statement that is made, a proposition that is pronounced that is to tell the people of God an absolute truth that can be relied upon.
There was no need to fear.
2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
There was no trouble like that trouble. The time of Noah was unique in the history of the world, but only a part of that history would not be repeated.
God will never again destroy the earth with a flood
Genesis 9:11
11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
But there would come a time to resemble that of Noah before the Lord judges the world again.
This time of grace, this time of OPPORTUNITY would eventually be rejected by the people of the world as they return again to the “days of Noah”.
Turn to
Matthew 24:37–39
37 But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. 38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, 39 And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
But they who know the Lord can BE STILL, for;
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; 3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
GOD IS IN THE MIDST
4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. 5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. 7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
The most remote and highest source Jordan River flows from the Spring that feeds it near the base of Mount Hermon in the location of the Tribe of Dan, I have seen it with my own eyes, we visited the place when in Israel in 2012.
The Website Life In the Holy Land describes it this way;
“The fountain, like that at Cæsarea Philippi, bursts forth from the foot of a bluff which in this case is of volcanic origin, and sends into the valley a large volume of water.”
Many are the sources of the Jordan river, but all are springs at the beginning of it and the waters are fresh and clear. When the snow melts from Mount Hermon, the ground absorbs it like a sponge and permits it to flow into the streams which flow into the river;
4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God,
The water from the Jordan continues down stream unto it enters into the lowest Fresh water Lake on Earth.
Set 210 meters below sea level, the Sea of Galilee is identified by its unique shape referred to in the Bible The Lake of Gennesaret In Luke 5:1, a transliteration of Kinneret in the Hebrew tongue for it is in the shape of a Harp.
The water of Galilee nourishes the People of God and makes glad the city of God.
While God sends water on the just and the unjust, there is a catchment for the people of God that encourages them to make use of the pure waters of jordan.
It feeds the land, it waters the plain and the people make great use of it.
5 God is in the midst of her; Begins verse 5.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
Beloved we are cared for by the Lord, he provides to us the nourishment of life and he did so through his death.
He secures for us life evermore and the joy of the knowledge of him, the continual remembrance of the Lord feeds the soul.
Like the rain that falls on Hermon and feeds the streams of Jordan, “makes glad the city of God”, we are made glad when we drink of the waters of life.
In the precious words Jesus shared with the woman seeking water from Jacob’s well, he said;
John 4:13–14
13 …., Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
Water of Life, living water, whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst;
When the largest and lowest body of fresh water is taken advantage of in every way, whether it be through the abundance fish in itself, or the simple channeling of it to nourish the land to bring forth all manner of vegetation to nourish the people of the City of God, life brings forth more life.
When we partake of Christ through the reading of his words, through our times of prayer, through remembering him as we rise and as we rest, through thinking of him throughout the day, we nourish our lives by “drinking of the water that he gives us” and so we “shall never thirst”.
But if we do not take advantage of that which God has given us to live and to bring forth more life, when there is not outflow of life giving water from our own life, down stream of Galilee is another lake, it is the DEEPEST AND LOWEST LAKE ON EARTH.
It is the DEAD SEA.
6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. 7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
It is interesting to see how God has formed his geography in the land matching what is seen in life.
“The heathen rage” and they do so having no life, no part in God, “dead in trespass and sins”, they take no advantage of the water of life that stems from Christ even though they see the gladness of our own hearts that is nourished by him.
Jealousy manifests in rage against eh people of God and would seek to destroy the city of God.
But beloved, our manner of life may match that of the rage of the heathen if we wont nourish ourselves with life giving water.
Like the DEAD SEA, we bring froth nothing of value to the people of the world and so “The heathen multiply” in the world all the more, and will rage, “the kingdoms will be moved”.
Nevertheless;
The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
And so, “BE STILL”
I AM GOD
8 Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
9 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.
10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. 11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
2 Samuel 5:22–25
22 And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim. 23 And when David enquired of the LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees. 24 And let it be, when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself: for then shall the LORD go out before thee, to smite the host of the Philistines. 25 And David did so, as the LORD had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer.
2 Chronicles 20:17–18
17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you. 18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD.
Exodus 14:13–14
13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. 14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. 11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
[1] James Strong, Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon, 1995.
[2] Robert L. Thomas, New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries : updated edition, 1998.
[3] James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament), 1997.
[4] James Strong, The New Strong’s Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words, 1996.
0 Comments