Psalm 46 Be Still & Know That I Am God

Daily Bible Study for Wednesday August 31, 2016

By: Hanny Lynn Stearns

Fish N Loaves Ministries, Inc.

“Multiplying God’s Word Around The Globe”

Chapter Reading for Today: Please read in your Bible before proceeding. Note that most translations are considered paraphrases. The Young’s Literal Translation provides a more accurate translation since he is the one who authored a concordance. Others are helpful for seeing a different perspective, but we cannot always depend on their wording. I hope this is helpful to you. If you are studying in another version, that is fine. I am studying from the KJV, but for the purpose of this study, I will keep it with the New King James Version.

One final note: I will put the scripture in italics to differentiate from my own writing. I am adding red to the letters when it is Jesus talking – just like the Bible. Thank you.

Bible Gateway Verse of the Day

Psalm 95:6-7a

Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.

Psalm 100:4

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

and into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Song:  Be Still and Know   By: Steven Curtis Chapman (You Tube)

Psalm 46

Be Still! Know That I Am God!

One of the most powerful revelations of Who God is and what He can do lies within the verses of today’s Psalm! Hallelujah! It is a wonderful reminder of how powerful He is. He will show us that He is with us, He helps us and gives us joy in spite of the enemy’s threats and attacks. If you want to know how to handle the storms that this life will surely bring, come with me on this wonderful journey of assurance. There is a place of refuge where we can go – it is the Lord God of Jacob! Praise His name forever. Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father;

Thank You for Your unending support and love to Your children. Thank You for coming to our aid in times of need and trouble. You are swift to hear and respond to the cries for help coming from the lips of those who praise Your holy name. Lord, I ask You to bring the people that need to hear this today. If they are on the internet surfing, cause them to land on my blog and find out how good, big and powerful You are. Bring them Lord, from the north and the south – the east and the west. Make Your face to shine on every person who is studying this lesson. Father, I ask You for the utterance, the anointing and the leading by Holy Spirit through every bit of it. May Your message go out through my mind, heart and hands unhindered and unchecked by any outside force or my flesh. Help me to see and understand exactly what You want said and revealed. Father, we will make it our goal to be doers of Your word and not forgetful hearers. Thank You for always watching over Your word to perform it in our lives. We will give You all the glory, honor and praise as we exalt You above all else. Thank You in advance for Your help and answers to our prayers today in Jesus mighty name. Amen!

This is such a faith building lesson! Praise the Lord! Once you read through this Psalm, read it again a couple more times. Look for the following thoughts. Think about what things look like in this chapter. Next, take a look at the things God does. Make a note on paper of what God is for us, His people. Notice what we are called to do in the circumstances, no matter how “noisy” they may be. After that, look at what God is calling us to do, as He tells us what He is going to show us. Finally, look closely for how God will be viewed by the enemies and all the inhabitants of the earth. I recommend that you do that now before you read any further.

One of the goals is not only to “preach” God’s message to you, but to teach you how to reap all that the Lord has for you as you learn to effectively study your Bible – the precious word of God. He wants you to see how to pray and ask Him for help like we do before we get into each lesson. Listen to Holy Spirit as He speaks to your heart while you study. Make note of and ask the Lord for help with anything you do not understand. He wants to help you and teach you. But we have to be quiet and listen. We also must be patient. As we continue to meditate on His word – think about it and roll it over in our hearts and minds, He will bring light and revelation to us.

OK – now that you have read and looked for the things I asked you to pay attention to, read the following verses from 2 Chronicles 20, verses 1-30. It is one of my all-time favorite passages in the word of God when it comes to watching the awesome power of our Lord God Almighty take down the enemy before our very eyes! I have seen Him do it my life many times, and I know He will continue to “fight my battles” when I place my hope and trust in Him as my refuge and strength! Is that your heart? Is God your refuge and strength? If you have struggled with seeing Him in that way before, I promise that if you will study this lesson, you will walk away encouraged and your faith level will rise to new heights! Praise His name forever!

2 Chronicles 20:1-30

20 It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat. ² Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi). ³ And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. ⁴ So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

⁵ Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, ⁶ and said: “O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? ⁷ Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? ⁸ And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, ⁹ ‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’ ¹⁰ And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them— ¹¹ here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. ¹² O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

¹³ Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord.

¹⁴ Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. ¹⁵ And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s. ¹⁶ Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel. ¹⁷ You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

¹⁸ And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. ¹⁹ Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high.

²⁰ So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.” 

²¹ And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:

“Praise the Lord, for His mercy endures forever.”

²² Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. ²³ For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.

²⁴ So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.

²⁵ When Jehoshaphat and his people came to take away their spoil, they found among them an abundance of valuables on the dead bodies, and precious jewelry, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they could carry away; and they were three days gathering the spoil because there was so much. ²⁶ And on the fourth day they assembled in the Valley of Berachah, for there they blessed the Lord; therefore the name of that place was called The Valley of Berachah until this day. ²⁷ Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. ²⁸ So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the Lord. ²⁹ And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. ³⁰ Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.

Now let’s look at a brief summary of what happened in the battle that day:

What it looks like – trouble was brewing (raging) all around God’s people (on every side)

Great multitude – God is the Lord of hosts, (great multitude)

Who God is – Our refuge, strength, help in trouble and quick to come to our aid

From verse 4 of Psalm 46 – He is our sanctuary, a place where we can go and be glad in His presence

He hears and will save us

The big army of enemies = A much bigger God!

Looking to God in the situation

God commands His people - Do not fear – Do not be dismayed

The Lord is with us – He is in our midst

We are not to be moved by what we see coming against us – we act just like everything is going to be fine and firmly believe that it will

The Lord broke the weapons of the enemy and utterly destroyed (brought to ruin) their position

People were made glad and even given abundant provisions

There was joy for the people of God in the house of the Lord – in His presence is fullness of joy

All the kingdoms of the earth were moved with fear of the Lord God of Jacob – they were shaken

Now let’s stop and ponder these great promises from our awesome God. When He says to stand still and not fight this battle, what should we do? Stand back, that’s what! When He says He will fight this battle, He means it. When He told Moses to lift up his rod, the mighty waters parted. When He told the Israelites to stand back and away from Korah and his followers, the earth parted and consumed them alive. When God speaks – things happen. We just have to trust Him.

Also, this chapter in 2 Chronicles is an excellent example of prayer! The people set everything else aside, (fasting) and went to the Lord. They told Him what was happening and they stated all the things they knew He had done in the past. They also reminded the Lord that He was one who would listen and hear their prayers. They said their eyes were on Him. Right there they were placing their full confidence in the Lord to do something. It was plain to see that what was coming against them was way too big for them. That’s the way the enemy fights. It is never a “fair fight.”

But God is far bigger than any enemy that is coming against us. He is much stronger than the flood waters that seem to rise, almost covering our heads. He is bigger than every obstacle that forms or any war that rises up. The big question for you and me is this: Do we believe it – really? Because if we do saints, we will never be moved by what is going on around us…

Psalm 16:8

I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

Psalm 21:7

For the king trusts in the Lord, And through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved. 

There was another battle going on between good and evil that we will look at today in the New Testament. It is about Jesus and the people of Israel who rejected Him. Let’s look at another example of God’s mighty power…

Mark 12: 1-12

12 Then He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. ² Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. ³ And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴ Again he sent them another servant, and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. ⁵ And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, beating some and killing some. ⁶ Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’⁷ But those vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸ So they took him and killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.

⁹ “Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others.¹⁰ Have you not even read this Scripture:

‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.
¹¹ This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

¹² And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and went away.

What do you see here? When the Lord sent His prophets to the people of Israel, like Jeremiah for example, the people of Israel rejected them and either beat them and sent them away, or they killed them. Whenever the Lord sent another one to them to try to get them to turn from their evil ways, they did the same thing – rejected them, thereby rejecting the Lord. Finally, in the fullness of time, the Lord sent His one and only Son Jesus to the people of Israel to save them from their sins. But many rejected Him and even took Him outside of the city gates and crucified Him on a cross at Calvary – the place of the skull.

The owner of the vineyard is God. What happened in the end is that the One the people rejected – the Son of God, became the Chief Cornerstone, the Rock of our salvation. He was and is the only One who could save God’s chosen people from their sins. Do you see that no matter what they did to eliminate the Lord of glory, God the Father was far bigger than them all? He raised Jesus up from the dead and made Him to be the only Way, Truth and Life.

In our passage it states, “This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?” People can make a lot of noise. They can threaten and even kill. But none on the earth can come close to the power of God. We have eyewitness testimonies that all the things written in the Bible really did happen. People saw the Lord part the Red Sea and the Jordan. They saw Him bring water from a rock.

They saw Him rain down manna from heaven (a type of Jesus to come) and even quail too numerous to handle. The also saw Him consume the burnt sacrifice, the wood, the stones, dust and water around the altar when the people were faltering between two “god’s.” Elijah placed his faith in God and after they realized that their “Baal god” was not responding to their request for a demonstration, the only true God showed up! He will never disappoint real faith! Hallelujah! There are too many events to list in this study to show the power of Almighty God.

1 Kings 18:38-39

Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood and the stones and the dust, and it licked up the water that was in the trench. Now when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”

The event with Elijah that day was another example of being still – knowing the God of Jacob would do the work and show Himself mighty. Friends, I came to Florida having no clue what God had in store for me back in 2007. As I began to really study His word, He would bring me my “verse for the day, or season” in my life. This one in Psalm 46, verse 10 meant so much more than I realized at the time. It took me awhile to understand what it really meant. But the Lord showed me in tangible ways in my family relationships, my work situation and in my finances.

When I took a concern to Him, He stepped in and dealt with it. I had to step back away from the situation and trust Him. Did it happen when my flesh wanted it to? Certainly not. But He came through each and every time I placed my trust in Him to help me. I had to learn to take my hands of the controls and allow Him to work things out through the people and circumstances I was facing. He does not control anyone, but He can change a heart and bring about a positive result in a seemingly hopeless situation…

Proverbs 21:1

The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.

We don’t have a clue how He does what He does, but we do know that He does everything the right way. Praise His name forever saints. Right now I am standing on His promises to bring even more restoration in my family, and I have had to sit back in my chair in faith and just give it to Him to handle. I wait in full assurance of faith that He will bring it to pass – glory to His name. I do not know when and I do not know how, but I do know it will happen. When He says something, it will come to pass for those of us who will trust Him fully.

What has the Lord done for you that has been marvelous in your eyes? In what ways have you seen Him step into your circumstances when you called on Him? How has He moved things in such a way that you were left in a state of awe? He will move heaven and earth to help His children when and if we will stand still and see the deliverance of the Lord. It takes discipline on our part. Many of us have not wanted to let go of the controls in our lives and circumstances; thereby tying the Lord’s hands behind His back. He does not want to see us try to do things on our own. The truth is, we need His help in everything we do. But we have to ask. Then we have to stand back and wait on Him while He works it out. Be still and know that He IS God!

Questions:

What helped you the most in this study?

What can you apply to your own circumstances at this time?

Do you believe that God will step in and help you if you ask Him to? Why or why not?

Who can you share this study with?

There are three main points to consider from today’s study…

No matter what is going on around us, we can go to God and know that we will be safe and joyful

Nothing is too hard for the Lord

We must never fear or let our circumstances move us

                        Let’s pray…

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for the many times that You have helped me by taking the enemy out of my way. Lord, You alone are mighty to save us from the enemy. Father, I ask You right now to help me with___________. According to Your word, if I am still, I can rely on the fact that You are God and You can do anything. I am placing my faith and trust in You today for help in this matter. I will step back and wait on You, knowing full well that at the proper time, things will work out for my good because I love You and trust You. Thank You in advance for the answer to this prayer Lord. I give You all the glory, honor and praise in Jesus name! Amen.

If everything seems to be shaking and roaring around you, will you still trust in Him?

And God Said… You fill in the blanks.

Psalm 32:7

You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. 

Psalm 73:25-26

Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.