The next best thing to reading God’s Word is singing it. And of course that’s why God gave us the 150 Psalms … not just to read them, but to sing them. It should be an especially wonderful experience to sing the very words God has inspired, even if it’s by way of a translation or metrical setting.
The singing of Psalms was for centuries one of the hallmarks of reformed churches, both on the continent (in Switzerland and the Netherlands), and in the British Isles (in England, Scotland, and northern Ireland), as well as later coming from those countries to Colonial America. In fact, the first book printed on American soil was the 1640 Bay Psalm Book. How sad that the singing of Psalms has become a practice so infrequent in our generation in our churches.
As I write this hymn study, we are in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no better place in God’s Word to find perspective, encouragement, guidance, comfort, and peace than in the Psalms. And there is no better Psalm that perfectly fits our situation today than Psalm 46.
It has often been called Martin Luther’s Psalm, since he wrote A Mighty Fortress Is Our God based on themes in Psalm 46. But there are compositions that are much closer to the very words of Scripture. One of the best of these is God Is Our Refuge and Our Strength, a metrical setting that gets us as close to the Hebrew as possible in English. It’s number 40 in the Trinity Hymnal. By the way, there is another setting of the Psalm at number 89, this one written by the late Richard Bewes in 1982, the man who succeeded John Stott as rector of All Souls, Langham Place in London.
The text for God Is Our Refuge and Strength, is of course Psalm 46 itself. There have obviously been a number of translations of this Psalm into vernacular languages over the centuries. For many years, one of the most commonly used was the one in the 1650 Scottish Psalter, which is also the source for the setting of Psalm 23 that is so familiar. The text used here for Psalm 46 comes from the 1912 Psalter. Work on this collection was begun in the 1890s as a collaborative effort of several Psalm-singing denominations.
The primary effort in that psalter came from the United Presbyterian Church in the US. This collection of all 150 Psalms was well-received and widely used. Many of the selections from this collection found their way into 20th century hymnals, where they were included along with the hymns which were being increasingly accepted. While several tunes are used for God Is Our Refuge and Strength, the one used in Trinity Hymnal is named BETHLEHEM (Fink). It was written in 1842 by a German pastor, Gottfried Fink, who worked in Leipzig.
The biblical Psalm is clearly divided into three stanzas, each ending with Selah, a term that probably indicated a pause for a musical interlude that enabled the singer to pause and reflect on what had just been sung. So, what do we know about the origin of Psalm 46 itself? It clearly was composed at a time when the people of God were facing a terrible threat, just as we are today from this viral pandemic.
In the first stanza (verses 1 – 3 in the Psalm, not the stanzas in the hymnal) the imagery of mountains quaking and falling into the roaring, foaming sea stand in sharp contrast to the lack of fear in the hearts of people who recognize that the LORD is present as a refuge and strength, thus Luther’s Mighty Fortress.
God is our refuge and our strength, our ever present aid,
and, therefore, though the earth gives way, we will not be afraid;
though hills amidst the sea be cast, ‘though foaming waters roar,
yea, though the mighty billows shake the mountains on the shore.
The second stanza (verses 4 – 8) speaks of a peaceful river (the opposite of the roaring seas!) flowing through the middle of the city where God dwells with His people. Even though the nations are in an uproar, when the LORD lifts His voice, the opponents in the earth melted. Once again, the confidence comes from trusting in the God who is our fortress, which leads to the second Selah.
A river flows whose streams make glad the city of our God,
the holy place wherein the Lord Most High has his abode;
Since God is in the midst of her, unmoved her walls shall stand,
for God will be her early help, when trouble is at hand.
Next, in the third and fourth stanzas (9-11) we are invited to come and look at what God has already done, causing wars to cease and breaking the tools that hostile forces use: breaking the bows, shattering the spears, and burning the shields. The point is that since God has done this in the past, He will do it in the future. And we can be sure of that, even if we haven’t seen it yet. The day is coming!
The nations raged, the kingdoms moved, but when his voice was heard,
the troubled earth was stilled to peace before his mighty word.
The Lord of hosts is on our side, our safety to secure;
the God of Jacob is for us a refuge strong and sure.
O come, behold what wondrous works the Lord’s great might has wrought;
come, see what desolation great he on the earth has brought.
To utmost ends of all the earth he causes war to cease;
the weapons of the strong destroyed, he makes abiding peace.
Finally, we come to the fifth stanza. This is the best part of the Psalm, as God Himself speaks and says, Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted. To whom is God speaking here? We usually think that He says this to us who are tempted to be anxious, that we should just be quiet and contemplative. But the words of previous verses have already described the peace we have in our hearts. Many commentators (from Calvin to Boice) believe this is the Lord speaking with His powerful commanding voice to those who dare to threaten His people. Just as Jesus spoke to the storm on the raging Sea of Galilee, Be still, He will speak at His perfect time to our foes … even to this virus … Be still. And beyond that, on the day of His glorious return, He will speak those glorious words.
Be still and know that I am God, o’er all exalted high;
the subject nations of the earth my name shall magnify.
The Lord of hosts is on our side, our safety to secure;
the God of Jacob is for us a refuge strong and sure.
Most commentators believe that the most likely historical context for the origin of this Psalm is the threat from the mighty Assyrian army of King Sennacherib. As recorded in Isaiah 36-37, the enemy field commander taunted the city of Jerusalem with his huge army standing ready to attack. King Hezekiah wisely sought the LORD’s counsel in prayer. He led the people to put their trust in the LORD. That night, their faithful God passed through the Assyrian camp with the result that 185,000 were killed, and the army retreated. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God chose to pass through our land and annihilate every speck of virus in the 2020 pandemic? He could do it! He is with us! This is our God.
This is your God, too, if you have come to Him through faith in Jesus Christ. And if He is your God, then He is with you at all times, which is what this important couplet says. On the day he died John Wesley had already nearly lost his voice and could be understood only with difficulty. But at the last with all the strength he could summon, Wesley suddenly called out, “The best of all is, God is with us.” Then, raising his hand slightly and waving it in triumph, he exclaimed again with thrilling effect, “The best of all is, God is with us.” Is the Lord Almighty with you? Is the God of Jacob your refuge, as He was for Martin Luther and John Wesley? Make sure that He is. The storms of life will come, and the greatest storm of all will be the final judgment. Make Christ your refuge now, while there is still time.
(from James Montgomery Boice’s sermon in his Expositions of the Psalms.)