(To the chief Musician. Of the sons of Korah. On Alamoth. A song.) God is our refuge and strength, a help in distresses, very readily found.
Psalm 46 names what God is before it names anything that threatens. Everything else in the psalm follows from that one fact.
God First
The order of the words matters. Before any danger is described, the psalm puts God at the front of the sentence.
A J PollockThe Psalm begins well. The word GOD is the first sound that breaks the silence. No wonder the next words are "our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Here is a strong tower to run to for safety. Here is unlimited power to calm the heart when danger is terrifying. And it comes just when it is needed.
That focus guards against a subtle mistake: leaning on our own trust instead of on God.
J T MawsonThe psalm does not celebrate natural courage. It does not even celebrate faith. It celebrates the greatness and total reliability of God: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear." What God is drives the fear away. He is greater and nearer than every circumstance. He is greater than every foe. He is "God for us." We may dwell too much on faith and lose sight of God; we may even put our trust in prayer instead of in the God to whom we pray.
One Small Word: "Our"
The claim is not just a general truth about God. It is personal, and one small word carries it.
Hamilton SmithWe do well to notice the little word "our" in the opening verse. It is true that God is a refuge. But believers can say, "God is our refuge." The world has its own people it looks to for protection and guidance in time of trouble. Believers have in God their refuge from the storms and distresses of life. God is also our "strength" when we are weak, and "a very present help in trouble." A closer translation is, "a help in distress that is very easy to find."
What a Refuge Assumes
You only run to a refuge if something is chasing you. In Israel's law, a person who had killed someone could escape to certain towns and be safe from the relative who came to avenge the death. That picture stands behind the next lines — and the help they describe is not always rescue out of the trouble.
The Bible TreasuryA refuge is a place to flee to from danger that is known and coming. A sinner flees to Christ for refuge because he feels the danger is upon him. Christ is everlasting security from the judgment that is coming. He is the true city of refuge, safe from the avenger of blood (Num. 35:13, etc.). He is also the strength of His people in their conscious weakness. He does not always take us out of our troubles. He holds us up in them and carries us through them, which is far better.
Never Out of Reach
"Very present" says something about availability that no human helper can match.
W. W. FeredayNotice, He is "a very present help" — One always at hand. This cannot always be said of human helpers. In a time of distress your truest friend might be on the other side of the world. He is out of reach just when you want him most. This could never be true of our God.
Our Own Plans
There is a way to shut out help this near: rushing to arrange our own rescue.
J. N. Darby"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." … Human efforts shut this help out. … No human planning is ever right. … In His own time and way, God will come in. … Such efforts show a lack of faith and a restless heart, and our planning is nothing more than our own nature at work.
Who Sings This Song
The psalm's heading names its singers: young women, the people least able to defend themselves.
J T MawsonThe title of the psalm is remarkable: "A song upon Alamoth." … Someone has said that the singing of this choir of young women shows something: even the weakest of them may sing in a day of danger without fear, because the mighty One is on their side. Those who know they are weak can sing this song of faith. Their whole strength is in the Lord.
From a Nation's Crisis to Yours
One writer moves from what God is for a whole people to what He is for one person.
A J PollockWhat God can do for a whole people in extreme danger, He can do for one person in his small circumstances. The God who is enough for the whole universe can care for a sparrow, and the God of Psalm 46 is enough for you and for me.
Summary
- Refuge — a place to run to only makes sense if the danger is real; the verse assumes trouble rather than denying it.
- Strength — what God is, not how firmly we believe, drives the fear away. The song is given to the weak, whose whole strength is in the Lord.
- Present — always at hand, unlike the best human helper, who may be far away when most needed.
- Ours — the world has its protectors; believers can say, "God is our refuge."
- Trouble — He may hold us up inside the trouble instead of lifting us out of it, and our own planning only shuts that help out.