John Calvin Commentary Psalms 46:7

"Jehovah of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah" — Psalms 46:7 (ASV)

Jehovah of armies is with us. In this verse we are taught how we will be able to apply to our own use the things that the Scriptures everywhere record concerning the infinite power of God. We will be able to do this when we believe ourselves to be among those whom God has embraced with his fatherly love, and whom he will cherish.

The Psalmist again alludes, in terms of commendation, to the adoption by which Israel was separated from the common condition of all the other nations of the earth. And, indeed, apart from this, the description of the power of God would only inspire us with dread. Confident boasting, then, arises from this: that God has chosen us for his peculiar people, to show forth his power in preserving and defending us.

For this reason, the prophet, after celebrating the power of God by calling him the God of armies, immediately adds another epithet, the God of Jacob, by which he confirms the covenant made long ago with Abraham, that his posterity, to whom the inheritance of the promised grace belongs, should not doubt that God was favorable to them also.

So that our faith may rest truly and firmly in God, we must simultaneously consider these two aspects of his character—his immeasurable power, by which he is able to subdue the whole world under him, and his fatherly love which he has manifested in his word.

When these two things are joined together, there is nothing that can hinder our faith from defying all the enemies that may rise up against us, nor must we doubt that God will help us, since he has promised to do it. And as for power, he is also sufficiently able to fulfill his promise, for he is the God of armies.

From this we learn that those people err egregiously in the interpretation of Scripture who leave in entire suspense the application of all that is said concerning the power of God, and do not rest assured that he will be a Father to them, since they are of his flock and partakers of the adoption.