Be Still and Know That He Is God
Psalm 46:10 reads “Be Still, and know that I am God.” I love this verse. It says so much in just one sentence. I chuckle to myself when I see this verse because my first thought is always of this young twenty something year old girl you was in a bible study called Experiencing God by Henry Blackaby. I remember the assignment was to spend one hour in prayer. You could be in the quiet of your home(haha), the park or wherever you wanted as long as you were alone with God. I didn’t know what to think about this. Most everyone else seemed excited about this, they acted as if an hour wasn’t enough while I was trying to figure out what I would do after 10 minutes. I decided to walk around the path at a local park. Sure enough barely 10 minutes in I was like well what can I pray about now, when am I going to hear God say something. I was clueless! Finally after 15 minutes I just stopped in my tracks and was like okay God, I’m going to be still and I know you are God and so do something to let me know you are here. Oh and of course I made sure nobody was around so they wouldn’t call the cops to report a psycho on the loose. I waited a few minutes and then it happened, a small burst of wind blew one leaf out of a dozen leaves on a branch on a tree. I took that as assignment completed and went home. Yep, less than 20 minutes and I was done. So much I didn’t know as I look back and think about that young girl. So much she thought she knew and now she could spend an hour easily in prayer. My thoughts now on this verse.
Be Still – don’t worry. Don’t worry about what was said, has been said or is being said. Don’t worry about what was done, has been done or is being done. We all worry. For example, once a month when I have to get my INR check I worry that it may not be in the normal range. I might think about it once or twice that day but my day is not consumed in worry over it. However, we all know someone that is consumed with worry. They worry about what someone is going to say, what someone is going to do or what someone might think. They worry about how something might turn out, about how something might effect someone or something might not take place. There are many, many things people worry about. And Know – that God has a plan. He has a plan for everyone and everything! Not only does He have a plan, His plan is far better than any plan we could ever come up with through countless hours of worry. In fact, He has been working His plan a lot longer than before we ever even knew we needed a plan.
Be Still – let go of the anger. We all get angry. There are times we have valid reasons for being angry. Life happens and we don’t always like it. We get angry with family members, friends, co workers and people we don’t know. As a teacher I have seen parents in separation or divorce with so much anger that they can’t communicate with each other concerning their child. Anger can get buried and we never realize it and we think we have let it go. I recently saw someone and from the back it looked like a former principal. I was shocked at the almost instant feeling of anger that sprang up inside of me and when this individual turned around the feeling left as fast as it sprung up realizing it was not who I thought. And Know – that God is a God of calm. He can and will calm the anger inside of us. He has given us the ability to recognize our anger and the ability to control our anger. He knows that sometimes we will be angry with him. He is ready to listen, yell it out to him.
Be Still – Loss, it sucks! Face it and embrace it. Loss of a job, loss of a parent, loss of a spouse, loss of a friend, loss of a home, loss of a car, loss of a savings for retirement, loss of a child, etc. At some point in our lives we will come across a loss of some type. No one is ever ready. There is no class that you can take in school that prepares you for the emotional component that accompanies loss. Loss can be crippling. When it happens face it head on. When we lost Brook it was moment by moment some days and some days it was a combination of moment to moment, moment to minute, minute to hour and back to moment by moment. It can be a roller coaster. And Know – He is peace. Embrace Him. Cry to Him. He knew the loss was coming way before you ever did. Surely if our God knows the loss that is coming in our lives, than He has also planned our recovery and our healing. His plan is far better than anything we could ever come up with for ourselves.
I will end this post with a quote that I found and a song that I love by Steven Curtis Chapman. https://youtu.be/BgaHaioAjyg
