Be still

DEVOTION

PSALMS

BE STILL

Ps 46

46:1 For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth.  A song.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah 

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. 6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah 

8 Come and see the works of the LORD, the desolations he has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,he burns the shields with 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 Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

NIV

This psalm contains one of the more famous verses which has been used for pictures or plagues for ornamental hangings, verse ten. We have quoted it, looked at it every day and become so familiar with it, we might not consider just how important it is. But we get ahead of ourselves. This whole song is about verse ten, building up to that phrase about being still and knowing he is God. The whole of this song speaks about the power of God, the mightiness of even his voice. He can make the earth give way and the mountains fall in the heart of the sea. But what about the words of Jesus when he said if we have faith, we can tell the mountains to get up and move into the sea?

Mark 11:22-25

22 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23 "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." 

NIV

Some take all this out of context and think we should be doing great signs and wonders. 

It is still about having faith in God, but also about never holding a grudge, always be in the frame of mind that God is in, always forgiving, remember a sin no more. The power of God is completely awesome, able to make the water surge, the mountains move, his works are so powerful he can bring desolation upon the earth and he can make wars cease. He can either lift a nation up or break it apart, breaking the bow, shattering the spear, and burn the shields. Of course we do not use those types of weapons anymore, but the power of God is the same and he can melt a tank with his word. He can destroy a rocket, he can bend the long tubes, or barrel, of the artillery guns, and he can cause war planes to fall from the sky. He can bring an end to all war, if that is what he desires to do. Now it comes to this: “Be still and know I am God” He will be exalted among the nations, he will be exalted on the earth. He gives us abilities, yes to move mountains, if we have faith in him, for it is by his power, not ours that we can do anything. We are to be still. We are to be still in heart, in faith, in life. We are to still our hearts, fearing nothing, being anxious about nothing, not being envious, not being jealous, not being angry, or not being forgiving. We are not to hold a grudge, or even get upset when someone does something that offends us. In the first place, we would not be offended if we understood to be still and know that he is God. We would not always be thinking about ourselves, if we were still and know that he is God. Our whole life should be still. The Hebrew word is used to imply to be relax, to abate, to sink down, to withdraw, to let drop, to refrain. All that means is to be still, to not move, to keep ourselves from thinking we have to do. No, we have to have faith in God, he does, and we stay still. It is so easy to get swept up in exalting our efforts, our abilities, our intelligence, and our accomplishments. The pagans do that every day, they praise each other to the point of creating awards, the golden globes, the Emmy awards, the Oscars, and so many more the famous give themselves. Then we have our smaller lest important awards we receive at work for how many of whatever we have done or at school. We try to find any way we can to recognize some kind of our achievement. But that only fills us with pride, and pride comes before the fall. No, we are to be still and know he is God.