“God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.
10 Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
– Psalm 46……………
Long before I became a committed Christ follower, I heard tossed around the verse, “Be still and know that I am God.” I still hear the verse all these years later on a fairly regular basis. And I of all people need to hear this verse given I have an enormously hard time being still. I am almost constantly moving, even when I sleep, and even when I physically sit still, my mind is almost constantly moving. I’m just an on-the-go kind of a person, and a predisposition to worry when I’m not careful to focus on the Lord and His Word makes me highly vulnerable to a seemingly ever struggle with being still – and resting in the Lord.
Therein lies the key. See, being still is NOT enough. It’s not the ultimate goal for Christ’s followers. In the just over a week since I’ve moved into New York City, several times I have seen people meditating in the nearby park with their palms facing upward, looking from the outside anyway as though they are being entirely still. But being still – physically, and even mentally – is NOT enough.
Please read the scripture about being still in the context of Psalm 46 in its entirety. No matter what we face, the psalmist shows us, we can find refuge, and strength, and rest, and quiet, and peace, in what? In being still? In meditating with our palms facing upward? In sitting physically still? In taking a nap? In quieting our minds and trying to think of nothing at all? In what? IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST! IN REALIZING AND REMEMBERING AND ACKNOWLEDGING AND LOOKING TO THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY AS WHO HE IS. As greatest, highest, best, most magnificent, most wonderful, sovereign, holy, righteous, perfect, all knowing, as Creator, as redeemer, healer, provider, restorer, forgiver, as love, as merciful, as being everlasting, as sending Jesus Christ to the cross to die in place of all of us humans who are all sinners headed for hell and the lake of fire forever apart from God unless we turn away from our sins and place our faith in and devote our lives to Jesus Christ who died for us and was raised from the dead, placing our belief in and turning ourselves over to God and His ways, to God as glorious, as more beautiful and fabulous and splendorous than anything and anyone in the entire universe.
God doesn’t want us to simply be physically and mentally still. He wants us to learn to REST IN HIM, to TRUST IN HIM, to LOOK TO HIM, to HAVE FAITH IN HIM, TO LIVE FOR HIM, to TURN TO HIM, to SEEK HIM, to PRAY TO HIM, to LISTEN TO HIM, to be IN FELLOWSHIP WITH HIM, to COMMUNE WITH HIM, to PRAISE HIM, to WORSHIP HIM, to be LOVED BY HIM, to LOVE HIM, to BECOME LIKE HIM, and on and on and on.
He wants to be our REFUGE, our SHELTER, our HIDING PLACE, our SECRET PLACE, our STRENGTH, OUR TEACHER, our COUNSELOR, our GUIDE, and, most of all, Jesus Christ who is LORD OF ALL forever wants us to humble ourselves and bow down to and surrender ourselves to HIM AS LORD!
Let us learn to BE STILL IN CHRIST JESUS WHO IS LORD! And let us learn to be still in such a way that even when we are busy, even when we face challenges galore, even when we are on the go, even when we are moving around in our everyday lives, that we are STILL IN JESUS, MAGNIFYING, RAISING UP, LIFTING UP, EXALTING, CELEBRATING, THAT JESUS CHRIST IS LORD FOREVERMORE!