Psalm 46:7

“The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah.”

I was meditating on this verse one morning and I started to ponder on this statement and what it could mean. “The God of Jacob is our fortress.” Then comes the word “Selah”, which is to pause and calmly think about what has just been said or sung. And so I asked myself why the God of Jacob? Why not the God of Israel? Remember Jacob? He lived his life as a deceiver, manipulator, stole his brother’s birthright and lived most of his life running from God. It wasn’t until God had to finally wrestle with Jacob that he finally got his attention and that’s when he got the name Israel. So why not use that name Israel instead of Jacob? Well, I thought I’d do some more studying on the author of this Psalm.  I found out, it was not David.  No in fact, this is one of the eleven Psalms written by the sons of Korah. So, who were the sons of Korah? What’s interesting is that back when Moses and Aaron led the Israelites, there was a man named Korah who led a revolt of 250 men against Moses and Aaron to take over the priesthood by force. Moses stood in front of the people and declared if God was on His side, than let the earth open up and swallow Korah and his men, but if God was on Korah’s side, then let Korah and his men have success. Well, sure enough God opened up the earth and Korah and his men were engulfed that day wiping them all out. Yet, despite Korah’s wickedness, God out of His great mercy, spared the sons of Korah. The descendants of Korah eventually through the years became the door keepers of the tabernacle and then were shown great love and compassion by King David, that he eventually gave them a place in the tabernacle to lead the people in worship. The sons of Korah have written some of the most beautiful Psalms including “as the deer pants for water”. In all of their songs, there is a deep longing to be with God and a gratefulness for God’s love. And then as I discovered this, it all made perfect sense. Perhaps, the descendants of Korah knew that God should’ve never have spared them in the first place. Perhaps, they were so touched by the thought that God loved them so much, they called Him, the God of Jacob for this very reason. Perhaps, they wanted us to know that our God is the fortress for the SINNER! Not for the one who cleans up his act and does good and earns it but for the one who messes up more than gets it right, for the one who sins and doesn’t deserve it. How comforting it is to know that salvation is not based on what we do but on what He’s done out of love for us. He is our Savior and died for us the sinner to save us from an eternity apart from Him. Like Jacob, He loves us despite our tendencies to run from him and He reminds us, that He’s always there for us to run back to Him, where we can be safe and secure and loved forever.  Hallelujah! He loves to save imperfect us! All praise to the God of Jacob! SELAH!!!!!!

Psalm 84:1 “How lovely is your dwelling place, O God.”

Psalm 46:1–3
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”