Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! Psalm 46:10
Most of us can quote this scripture by heart, like so many others that have become a catchphrase. But do we understand what these scriptures really mean?
We will start today with this one.
Here the Lord is asking us to be still. In today’s busy society, it is a concept that is rather foreign. We are always going here or there, trying to achieve things or simply cope with life and its busyness. People don’t know how to be still. Some are scared of what they would be confronted with if they had time to spend with their thoughts. In today’s world, full of insecurities and fears, it would be quite understandable. The lockdown forced us to be isolated. And it has not been a good memory.
Yet God tells us to be still. What does He mean?
Earlier on in the Psalm this scripture comes from, we read about the world being in chaos, waters roaring, mountains shaking, heathen raging, not unlike our circumstances today but the main message repeated is ‘God is our refuge, our strength, our very present help in trouble. The Lord of Hosts is with us.”
So, in the midst of tumult, we are to be still, to force ourselves to stop and focus on the One who is our refuge, our help in trouble. Does this mean that we should stop living and let God do everything: (let go and let God). Not at all. God is asking us to stop AND know that He is God. While we are still, our job is to discover who God is, and what He means when He says He is our help in trouble, our strength… It’s not a theological exercise only opened to Bible students. It is much more practical than that. God wants you to have revelations (which He gives to you) of who He is and what it means for you. He wants us to experience His love, His strength, His grace.
This word “to know”, was first used in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve had been walking around the garden naked. When they partook of the fruit of the tree of good and evil, against God’s command, they knew then that they were naked and covered themselves up with leaves, if you recall. Before that they had had no idea, but from then on, they knew it undeniably.
God is asking us here to be sure we know who He is, in contrast to having a vague idea or no idea at all of Him. Why is that?
It is only when we are sure that we are loved by Him, that He is our Father, that we are eternally secured in Him through Christ’s sacrifice, that we will be firmly grounded and established in Him.
Before that deeper understanding, singing “Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so” will not cut it, if we don’t know what it means. They will only be empty words.
Mary is an example of what this scripture means. She sat at Jesus’ feet while her sister Martha was so busy doing things that she worked herself into a tether. Mary had chosen to sit still and to learn all she could from Jesus. That’s the reason she knew what was happening to Jesus when His time came to go to the Cross for the redemption of men’s sin. When Jesus was confronted by His impending death, she was the only one who came with precious ointment, washed His feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. She had understood that Jesus had to die on the Cross to conquer sin on our behalf. She knew what was coming. If you recall, many of the others didn’t have a clue even though Jesus had told them. She was equipped and ready for what was to come and could offer Jesus her love.
If we are not established in our understanding of who God is, we can be tossed to and fro, and carried about with the winds of men’s doctrines. (Ephesians 4:14) We can despair like the disciples after the crucifixion, because we don’t understand what is happening.
Paul wrote all his epistles with that in mind. He always wanted to make sure that people were taught the truth about the Gospel, so that they could be firmly grounded in their knowledge of God and what this meant for them in particular.
When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he said this:
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (of the flesh) but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
This is another one of these scriptures we can quote by heart but do we really understand its meaning? If you were a legalist like I was, you would have embarked on a fight against your own thoughts and failures, trying to overcome them only to realise that most of your efforts were in vain.
We quoted scriptures to try and bend our mind into submission. We tried to do better works. We read, prayed and fasted…
I did that faithfully until the day I was presented with the truth. Jesus did it all for me at the Cross. He has deposited His Spirit in me and it is the Holy Spirit in me who teaches me to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. My flesh, my resolve, my efforts could never do it. The weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh. They come from God through His Spirit in me so that I can understand the treasures He has deposited in me. I am no longer condemned. I am a child of God, no matter what. I am eternally secure in Christ. He holds me in the palm of His hand. Until I know that for a certainty, beyond the shadow of a doubt, I will not be established in His grace. I need to stay at Jesus’ feet and learn of Him until I am firmly grounded in His love.
This is what God meant when He said: “Be still – Stop running around like a chook with its head cut off as we say here in Australia. Stop AND learn who I am and who you are in Me. You are loved, way more than you could ever know. You are My child now. Jesus is seated next to Me talking fondly about you. He paid the price for your sins. I remember them no more. I delight in you.”
The more we come to understand this in our hearts, the more we fall in love with Him, the more thankful we become, the more we want to serve Him.
I can only encourage you to be still and learn of Him. Let the Holy Spirit reveal these treasures in your heart. Christ has truly set you free. So, make sure that you stay free.
Paul’s prayer was:
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. Ephesians 1:17-21