A present-day man sits quietly on a park bench beside a busy city street. Passing pedestrians and traffic appear slightly blurred, while he remains sharply focused, eyes closed in prayer. A visual invitation to pause and acknowledge God amid everyday distractions. Image generated with ChatGPT by OpenAI.
“He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.””
Psalms 46:10 NIV
After Monday’s side trip into Creation, we’re exploring the Book of Psalms once again. Psalm 46 is titled “For the director of music. Of the sons of Korah. According to alamoth. A song.” The sons of Korah were Levites from the family of Korath, with the Levites being a tribe of Israel set aside for temple worship functions including music. The “According to alamoth” bit of the title is up for debate; the Hebrew word is עֲלָמוֹת (ʿălāmôṯ) meaning young woman or soprano.
Preacher and Biblical scholar Adam Clarke thought this meant that the psalm was written for a choir of singing girls, while the “Prince of Preachers” Charles Spurgeon thought the “alamoth” might be a high-pitched stringed instrument. I’m inclined to follow Spurgeon’s interpretation, since he pointed out that 1 Chronicles 15:20 lists eight male musicians who are to “play the lyres (a stringed instrument) according to alamoth.”
The beginning of Psalm 46 praises God for His protection from both natural and man-made disasters, and then we get to today’s verse where God commands His people to “Be still, and know that I am God.” That’s a command of reassurance, calling upon His people to stop relying on their own worried efforts and instead be calm and trust in His sovereignty.
Enduring Word provides commentary from both David Guzik and a number of other Biblical scholars:
i. “In this verse there is a change of person, and Jehovah himself is introduced, as commanding the world to cease its opposition, to own his power, and to acknowledge his sovereignty over all the kingdoms of the nations.” (Horne)
ii. The idea is something like this: “As you know the glory and greatness of God, stop your mouth from arguing with Him or opposing Him. Simply surrender.”
iii. “Be still...is not in the first place comfort for the harassed but a rebuke to a restless and turbulent world: ‘Quiet!’ – in fact, ‘Leave off!’” (Kidner)
iv. “In this setting, ‘be still and know that I am God’ is not advice to us to lead a contemplative life, however important that may be.... It means rather, ‘Lay down your arms. Surrender, and acknowledge that I am the one and only victorious God.’” (Boice)
v. Know that I am God: “Our submission is to be such as becomes rational creatures. God doth not require us to submit contrary to reason, but to submit as seeing the reason and ground of submission. Hence, the bare consideration that God is God may well be sufficient to still all objections and oppositions against the divine sovereign.” (Edwards, cited in Spurgeon)
This isn’t the only place in Scripture that we hear from the Lord to essentially “calm down and trust in Me”. In Exodus 14:14 at the shore of the Red Sea, Moses tells the people “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” In both cases, it’s a call to faith, resting in the presence of God and obeying His will while we wait for His deliverance.
The verse concludes with the phrase “I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” God, having given the command to “Be still,” emphasizes that His purpose is greater than just for Israel, extending to all peoples and kingdoms. This is apparent in the New Testament, where we read that:
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
God possesses absolute authority over all creation. As I write this on Election Day 2026 in the United States, the world is much the same as it has been for the thousands of years of recorded history. Humans rebel against authority, there are wars, and governments change… but nothing can overturn the rule of the Lord.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Father in Heaven, I pray to You today acknowledging Your greatness. Help me always to be still and know that You are God. I trust in Your strength, and seek Your refuge in times of personal or world turmoil. AMEN.