Psalm 46
Pray by sitting still.
PRAY BY SITTING STILL
For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth.
VERSE 1. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
VERSE 2. Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas;
VERSE 3. though its waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling. Selah.
roar and are troubled. That is, rage and foam.
Sometimes our enemies rage and foam … at the mouth. We need not fear them.
VERSE 4. There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad, the holy place of the tents of the Most High.
a river, the streams of which:
Psalm 65:9. You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it.
make the city of God glad. Does your walk with God turn you into a person who is GLAD?
VERSE 5. God is within her. She shall not be moved. God will help her at dawn.
VERSE 6. The nations raged. The kingdoms were moved. He lifted his voice, and the earth melted.
Mountains are among the most solid things we know. Yet before the awesome power of the LORD God, they will melt. And so will our troubles. Read more »
VERSE 7. The LORD of Hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
VERSE 8. Come, see the LORD’s works, what desolations he has made in the earth.
VERSE 9. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire.
VERSE 10. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.”
This verse is fantastic! Would you consider memorizing it? More great verses to memorize from the Psalms and from the entire Bible.
Our paraphrase: Sit still and I will show you my power.
Be still. The Hebrew word is “raphah.” It means to slacken, to abate, to cease, to be faint, to be feeble, to be idle, to be still, to be slothful.
We see this as a call to cease activity and to sit still for contemplative prayer.
Activity, and lots of it, is necessary. Action is part of the life that God has called us to live. But if we rush about from activity to activity, we are not very capable of apprehending God’s greatness.
For the sake of our own spiritual development, we need to stop on a regular basis.
We need a scheduled time to sit still. We need to regularly put ourselves in a calm state. There, we are prepared to see God and his activity in our lives. We can listen to him.
We become stationary so that we can receive what he is so ready to give: a demonstration of his existence; a demonstration of his power in our lives.
Even if we know the Scriptures, that’s not enough. We need to know his power.
To not know the power of God is to risk being in error about a great many things.
Conversely, to sit still regularly, perhaps daily, is to be prepared and ready to see God and his power in your life, in altogether fresh ways.
Now that you’ve hurried up to get there, you can sit still!
Some people cultivate a daily habit of “sitting still” for 20 minutes to an hour before God.
That is the core practice for contemplative prayer: being still before God, not reading books or saying prayers or meditating. Rather, you simply sit still.
Matthew 22:29. You are in error because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God. (NIV translation)
and know. The Hebrew word is “yada.” It means to know, to ascertain by seeing. It’s used both euphemistically and inferentially.
that I am God. The Hebrew word is “elohiym.” It means gods in the ordinary sense, but especially the Supreme God.
VERSE 11. The LORD of Hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
PSALMS
CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148, 149, 150
Deuterocanonical chapter: 151
RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize, David’s Fasting
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.