RTW 2023

God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.

Psalm 46:1

This is so much easier to say and to type in our notes than it is to do, especially for a busy, chatty like me.

Still- (raw-faw’)

• to sink, relax, sink down, let drop, refrain, abate (to suspend or extinguish)
• refrain: to abstain from an impulse to say or do something
• to know nothing and say nothing

Very specifically, “still” in Psalm 46:10 means absolute let alone, i.e. do nothing, be quiet

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God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
Psalm 46:1-3 (ESV)
Selah

“It were well if all of us could say, ‘Selah,’ under tempestuous trials, but alas! too often we speak in our haste, lay our trembling hands bewildered among the strings, strike the lyre with a rude crash, and mar the melody of our life-song.” – Charles Spurgeon

In the midst of the trouble, the mountains trembling, and the water roaring the psalmist confidently celebrates who God is (present tense), then he continues the spiritual pep talk, and end each thought by saying to himself, “pause and think about this” (I tagged Spurgeon in , by including, “and keep your hands off the strings.”

• God is our (my) refuge and strength,
• Our (my) ever-present help in times of trouble
  Selah (Pause and think about that, and keep your hands off the strings)

And

• The Lord of Hosts is with us (me).
  Selah (Pause and think about that, and keep your hands off the strings)

And

• He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
• He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
• He burns the chariots with fire.
  Selah (Pause and think about that, and keep your hands off the strings)

Now

• “Be still, and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
• The Lord of hosts is with us (me); the God of Jacob is our fortress.
  Selah (Pause and think about that, and keep your hands off the strings)

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Pause and think about who God is, and what God has done. Ask God for eyes to see what He is doing currently in the roaring waters and moving mountains that are surrounding you today.

And Wendy, don’t be rude, keep your hands off the strings.