Variety: Psalm 46

• Psalm 46 includes three selahs – a written direction, which scholars suggest is a musical interlude - a pause.
• When we pause, we give ourselves space to hear the voice of our heavenly Father saying, ‘be still, and know that I am God’ (verse 10).
• The ‘knowing’ described here in the Hebrew is the kind gained through seeing. In verse 4, the writer sees a city, a ‘holy habitation’ sustained by a ‘river’ – a prophetic glimpse of heaven also found in John’s vision in Revelation.  
• As we pause, may we hear the voice of God and glimpse the reality of his kingdom coming.

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
God will help it when the morning dawns.
The nations are in an uproar, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD of hosts is with us; 
the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah

Come, behold the works of the LORD;
see what desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow, and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.
‘Be still, and know that I am God!
I am exalted among the nations,
I am exalted in the earth.’
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our refuge.

Selah

Bible Society