God’s people can refuse fear because their refuge is not the earth’s stability but the living God who is present in trouble.
1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas;
3 though its waters roar and are troubled, though the mountains tremble with their swelling.
The city of God is glad and secure because God dwells in her midst and speaks with authority over raging nations.
4 There is a river, the streams of which make the city of God glad, the holy place of the tents of the Most High.
5 God is within her. She shall not be moved. God will help her at dawn.
6 The nations raged. The kingdoms were moved. He lifted his voice and the earth melted.
7 Yahweh of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.
The LORD’s works include judgment on violence and the dismantling of weapons, showing that peace comes by His victorious rule.
8 Come, see Yahweh’s works, what desolations he has made in the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire.
God commands the world to stop striving and acknowledge Him, and the congregation answers with the refrain of His covenant presence.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 Yahweh of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.