Psalms 46:1

God Provides for and Protects His People

1

For the [music] director. Of the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A song.

1 God [is] our refuge and strength, a very sufficient help in troubles.

Psalms 46:1 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 46:1

God [is] our refuge and strength
That is, Christ, who is God as well as man, is the "refuge" for souls to fly unto for safety; as for sensible sinners, in a view of danger, wrath, and misery, so for saints, in every time of distress; typified by the cities of refuge, under the legal dispensation; (See Gill on Psalms 9:9); and he it is from whom they have all their spiritual strength, and every renewal and supply of it, to exercise grace, perform duties, withstand enemies, bear the cross patiently, show a fortitude of mind under the sorest distresses, and hold on and out unto the end: in short, he is the strength of their hearts, under the greatest trials, of their lives, amidst the greatest dangers; and of their salvation, notwithstanding all their enemies;

a very present help in trouble;
whether inward or outward, of soul or body; the Lord helps his people under it to bear it, and he helps them out of it in the most proper and seasonable time: they are poor helpless creatures in themselves; nor can any other help them but the Lord, who made heaven and earth; and he helps presently, speedily, and effectually: in the Hebrew text it is, "he is found an exceeding help in trouble" ^F20; in all kind of trouble that the saints come into, the Lord has been found, by experience, to be an exceeding great helper of them; moreover, he is easily and always to be come at, and found by them for their help.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 (dam aumn) "inventum valde", Michaelis.

Psalms 46:1 In-Context

1 God [is] our refuge and strength, a very sufficient help in troubles.

2 Therefore we will not fear though [the] earth change, and though the mountains totter into [the] {midst} of [the] sea,

3 though its waters roar [and] foam, though mountains shake with its surging [water]. Selah

4 [There is] a river whose streams gladden the city of God, the holiest of the dwellings of the Most High.

5 God [is] in the midst of her; she will not be made to totter. God will help her {at daybreak}.

Footnotes

• [a]. The Hebrew Bible counts the superscription as the first verse of the psalm; the English verse number is reduced by one