“Come, see the glorious works of the Lord: See how he brings destruction upon the world. He causes wars to end throughout the earth. He breaks the bow and snaps the spear; he burns the shields with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress.” Psalms 46:8-11 NLT
The sons of Korah bring this Psalm with specific instructions to sing it in soprano voices. It is about the victory of Jehoshaphat celebrated in the valley of Berachah (blessing). This Psalm of victory is a picture of the young king (35yrs old) steering the nation back to God, remembering who really fights and wins the battles.
I love the bold proclamation that is themed throughout the Old Testament-“be still and know that I am God.” It is followed with this truth: God will be honored by every nation and throughout the world! It was true then, it is still true today. God is at work! How helpful is it to be reminded of this? Us in our postmodern era of science, intellectualism and social snobbery. We start believing the cultural nonsense: “if there was a god, he is far off and completely disconnected from us.” We’ve suppressed the reality of spiritual happenings, even denying that we are spiritual beings ourselves.
Who’s wiser, Jehoshaphat and the sons of Korah, who believes, or our modern windbags preaching for us to look within and find our own god-ness? It’s embarrassing that the ancients were more in tune with reality than we are today! The Korahashians were far more reliable than the Kardashians! The ending refrain was sung back in response to these declarations and we would do well to remember it today – “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress.” Look up, God is at work among us.
Prayer
Dad,
It is too easy to just look at all the things happening in our world today and to think that we are alone. To believe that no one is in control of the chaos of wars, physical and cultural. But we know better. Those who know you, love you and follow you understand that you are at work redeeming humans. Yes, there is an adversary, the liar, the slanderer. And, there is our own evil pursuits, bent on making our own happiness and purpose outside of your will. Neither of those will succeed. You will be victorious in all pursuits to accomplish your will and we can celebrate that fact! Thank you for being active and working in and through us today.