In the fall of 2001, a thunderous storm blew across Lake Michigan for 36 hours straight. Sustained winds of 60 miles per hour, with gusts much stronger, whipped up the highest waves in 15 years. One frothing roller after another, some up to 18 feet high, crashed over the breakwaters and pounded the shore with great fury.

The writer of Psalm 46 must have experienced a sustained spiritual and emotional crisis like the incessant pounding of a giant storm, for he wrote of troubled waters and roaring seas. He also mentioned the quaking of the mountains (vv.2-3).

That may describe how life in this world feels to you right now. If so, continue on to verse 4, which tells of a quiet river that delights and refreshes the people of God. Its cool, peaceful waters flow continually as a never-ending source of joy and blessing.

This psalm describes God as "our refuge and strength" (v.1). We have no need to fear, even when the nations of the world are angry and pounding one another with their tools of war (vv.2,6), for "the Lord of hosts is with us" (v.7).

Let the Lord quiet the storms in your heart. For He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" (v.10).  —David Egner  — David C. Egner