There Is a River

“God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging.
                                                                                    Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
    the holy place where the Most High dwells.

He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God;
    I will be exalted among the nations,
    I will be exalted in the earth.’
                                                                                    Selah”

Psalm 46:1-3, 4, 10

No matter what we face, God is our refuge and strength. I love that the Hebrew word for God used here is Elohiym, the plural form of God.  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  

The entirety of His character – His goodness, His faithfulness, His ever-presence, and more than I could ever list here – is available to us in times of trouble. 

The streams of His grace and love and peace continually and eternally flow through the kingdom of God and sustain us.

“Be still…

Stop

and know…

Acknowledge

that I am Elohiym…”

that He is the I Am, the All-Encompassing, All-Sufficient, Triune God. 

Selah.

Selah indicates a pause in the music. In the entire Psalm, there are 3 selahs.

Yes, they may be instructions for the music, instructions for the singers, but I believe they’re also instructions for us.  

Pause…   and contemplate what’s been said. 

Pause…   and let it take hold inside the heart and mind. 

Pause…   and believe. 

This is a song a dear friend introduced me to years ago, and it never fails to bring tears to my eyes. The precious Holy Spirit of our God is a joyful, quenching constant for every need we will ever have.  We can go to the river and be satisfied.  

There Is a River
by Rita Springer