Be Still

 

                                “Be still, and know that I am God…” – Psalm 46:10

Introduction

You and I know that it is difficult to be still when your world is falling apart. It is impossible to be still when we find ourselves facing a threat to our survival or security. We simply cannot be still when that which we are expecting, which we think we deserve, seems to be slipping out of our grasp and we are helpless to do anything about it. Simply put: being still is difficult because it takes practice, patience, and self-discipline to actually be still.

To be still requires us to switch out and switch off from anything that distracts us from paying attention to what God is saying about our situation. To be still requires us to be deliberate and unyielding in our determination to stay hooked to God no matter how scary the journey looks. To be still involves a decision to remain unwavering in our faith that God will come through even at the last minute.

To be still is to consciously leave the results in God’s hands even when there is the temptation to manipulate the situation in our favour through our strength, our contacts or associations and any other resources at our disposal. To be still is an act of faith that may feel and look stupid to us and to onlookers until the moment God comes through.

To be still is to act (or to refrain from acting) contrary to what is expected in the situation. To be still involves behaving in a manner that is contradictory to our human instincts and inclinations, not because we want to, but because that is what God requires of us at that point in time.

Sometimes, in our holier-than-thou moments, we are tempted to be judgmental and indignant about the Peters, the Judases, and the Esaus in the Bible. We question their unbelief, their impatience, their audacity and their supposed irreverence for the things of God while we tell ourselves that we would have done better if we were in their shoes.

Is that really so? We can only answer this question truthfully to ourselves when we find ourselves in a place where we have to choose between being still before God or choosing convenience and doing things our way no matter what God says.

Let’s face it – it is simply not easy to sit still, to be still, when you know you have it within your means to act or react in order to intervene in a situation that is getting out of control. Yet if we truly want God to intervene we must be willing to sit still. Only then will He step in and make Himself, His name and His power known to everyone involved in that situation.

I love Peter – the brash, impulsive, and adventurous Peter who walked with Jesus. He was always testing the limits, always trying to prove to himself and to others that he was in control, that he wasn’t taking any ‘nonsense’ from anyone. Sure, he wasn’t taking any ‘nonsense’ and if he had to cut someone’s ear to prove it (Luke 22:50), I’m sure nothing would have stopped him from doing just that.

He was full of himself but didn’t know it. He was unbelieving even if he didn’t believe that of himself. He was obsessed with results – meeting targets, meeting deadlines, working within his own man-made schedules and he didn’t even try to hide it. He was used to taking charge and so during the storm he and his friends couldn’t help blurting out to Jesus ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ (Mark 4:38).

In my mind’s eye, I can already see Peter looking at Jesus in impatience and annoyance wondering why He wasn’t acting sooner to stop this storm. In fact, judging from their question, they were indirectly rebuking Jesus for sleeping while they were worried about the imminent danger they faced from the storm. However, in His usual composure, Jesus simply woke up and commanded the wind to “… be still” (Mark 4:39). And the hushing beauty of it all is that the wind actually obeyed the voice and the words of the Lord! We are told in this Scripture that the wind quieted down; and that is not all –a great calm followed.

Oh, how I wish we could be like the wind that easily obeys God’s command to be still. Oh, how I wish that during our most terrifying moments, our faith would still be strong enough to hear and obey the Word of the Lord:

“Be still and know that I am God”. For when we are still, we will surely know Him as God. We will see His interventions in ways and measures beyond our wildest imaginations. We will see Him work things out in ways that we could never have done in our own strength or wisdom.

We will know His peace in the midst of the trials and the turbulence of life. We will live to experience the testimonies and miracles that we read about in the Bible. We will know that He is God, the All-Sufficient One, the One who teaches us to profit (Isaiah 48:14), the One who speaks and it is done, the Lord of Hosts.

But first we must be still. We must still those thoughts of unbelief, those thoughts of inadequacy, the thoughts that frighten us and cause us to stay up at night. First, we must be still.

We must still those emotions of anxiety, and frenzy, and panic. We must still the voices that project discouragement, fear, and limitation to us through the wrong people around us, through sensational media reportage, through unpredictable economic crunches and whatever else the world tries to throw at us. First, we must be still.

And when we are still, we too, shall see and experience great calm like the disciples of Jesus Christ did in Mark 8:39. We shall experience the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.

We shall experience the peace of God that gives us protection and immunity from depression, and heartache and any other thing that is detrimental to our physical and spiritual health and wellbeing. When we are still, Jesus Christ shall be exalted among our peers, above our enemies, above our challenges, in our businesses, in our marriages, and in our lives. And God will be known and glorified in all nations. Selah.

 

• Authored by: Hannah Arabella

 

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