Psalm 46[a]
For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth.[b] A song.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.[c]
Every year when we do this blog I read something that hits me in a new way, or sometimes it even seems like something I've never read before (which can't be, since I've read through the Bible numerous times now), but it just serves to remind me that the Word of God is living and active and it teaches us different things at different times.
Today's passage reminded me of something I discovered last year and I immediately thought of it again when I read our passage today.
Last year I found a commentary that pointed out a detail I had never connected to this psalm before.......
Every so often these psalms of Korah’s sons take an autobiographical turn that leaves me breathless with wonder at the profound gratitude rising from the image itself. I discovered one of these treasures just recently. I was reflecting on Psalm 46, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way…”
A strong metaphor…for anyone except the sons of Korah. For them, the earth actually once had given way. The earth moved so decisively that it swallowed up their entire disaffected family. In writing Psalm 46, might they have been living in the memory of their familial rescue? In some dramatic fashion that remains veiled in this family’s history, God had been their refuge and strength on a day when the earth really did open up. So now, when I hear the Sons of Korah say there is no cause to fear—even in the midst of unprecedented human trauma—I listen with different ears.
Truly there is no cause to fear, even in the midst of unprecedented human trauma!
Click here for more about the story of the sons of Korah.
Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Psalms 49-51, Matthew 27:1-31
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