Psalm 46:10 – Stop Fighting

Like many people on September 11, my thoughts turned to the Scriptures.

In particular, I wondered what I should read to our congregations, since the ten year anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington occurred on a Sunday.

I picked Psalm 46. Like some of you, possibly.

And like Barack Obama, as I discovered almost a day later (since Wollongong, Australia is 16 hours ahead of New York).

Apparently the current Mayor of New York wanted to keep the opening of new memorial at the World Trade Centre’s Ground Zero free of religion. But how good it was that ten years on, the Bible was read aloud.

President Obama read the whole of Psalm 46, beginning with vv1-2…

God is our refuge and strength,

A very present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,

Even though the earth be removed,

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.

What a comforting image when we remember the terrifying tragedy of towers falling. And how appropriate not to censor the most important book in the Western world from such a solemn occasion.

The President read, I think, from the New King James Version. At our church, I read from the Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), because we have been trialing it (along with the NIV 2011) at church.

And I reckon the HCSB gets Psalm 46:10 right…

Stop |your fighting|—and know that I am God,

exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.

Famously, most versions translate the first phrase (just a word in Hebrew) as “Be still!” (KJV, ESV, NIV)

And it’s a favourite verse for many people.

But it’s one of the most-quoted-out-of-context verses of all time! Many people read wrong ideas into it as a result.

Let me assure you. “Be still” does not refer to inner prayer or contemplation. It does not refer to meditating on a beautiful sunset and realising God made it. It is not even God’s therapy for telling stressheads or workaholics to slow down. All those things may be worthwhile.

But it’s not what Psalm 46:10 means.

According to the Hebrew lexicon, BDB, the word translated “be still” has dictionary meanings like ‘sink’, ‘relax’, ‘refrain’, ‘let go’.

And in context, the command is addressed to the warring nations. Verse 9 says,

He makes wars cease throughout the earth.

He shatters bows and cuts spears to pieces;

He burns up the chariots.

I think the Good News Bible also (like HCSB) captures the sense correctly when it paraphrases v.10 this way. “Stop fighting and know that I am God supreme among the nations.” It’s an occasion when a slightly more literal translation is potentially misleading, at least as it’s taken in the popular, context-ignoring mindset!

It’s not unlike a teacher returning to a classroom full of kids mucking up and saying, “Shut up, sit down and know that I am the teacher.” “Be still” means to settle down, to stop all the striving and fighting and realise that God is in charge.

So for us to be still means to stop striving. It’s to stop being an activist, to stop believing that your own efforts can somehow bring security or advancement. Our strength is but weakness in the eyes of God.

Now former Mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani, also read from the Bible at that memorial service, in his case from Ecclesiastes 3,

To everything there is a season,

A time for every purpose under heaven:

A time to be born, And a time to die; […]

A time of war, And a time of peace.

So there is, sadly, in the Bible, a time for governments to take their nations to war.

But Psalm 46 tells us that in particular, in a militarily violent world, only in God will true peace be restored. Only in him is real security found. Not in personal achievement, not in politics, not in finance. And not in military might.

Stop your fighting and know that God is still on the throne.

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