“God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! Interlude A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High. God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed. From the very break of day, God will protect it. The nations are in chaos, and their kingdoms crumble! God’s voice thunders, and the earth melts! The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress. Interlude Come, see the glorious works of the Lord: See how he brings destruction upon the world. He causes wars to end throughout the earth. He breaks the bow and snaps the spear; he burns the shields with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress. Interlude”
‭‭‬

Psalms‬ ‭46‬:‭1‬-‭11‬ ‭NLT‬

In the way that only Satan could orchestrate, this passage has been interpreted by many well meaning believers to be a pseudo zen mantra wherein the believer let’s go of his chaos and finds God in the quiet. This is tacitly false. The descendants of Korah were not making a statement about where and how to find God. Instead the statement is to place God into chaos and then to activate proper thinking. It is an intellectual exercise. The best story of this at play is when the disciples awoke Jesus in the storm. He chastised them as having little faith. Notice that they chose, in that moment, to acknowledge God and call on him. But this alone was not a faithful act. They were to acknowledge and trust what they were acknowledging. This wasn’t done by frantically calling on him. Instead they should have sat calmly in the storm and waited upon him. They should’ve been still. They should’ve known that God was among them. These things are two halves of the equation of a faithful believer, that are reconciled in a mature believer. It is not zen. It is not a falsified understanding that danger is illusion, as is everything, until you are disengaged from reality and there find God. Being still is faithfully choosing to follow God’s timing, despite the inclination to take hold of your life in a frantic way.