Be Still!
Psalm
46:1-8 - "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in
trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the
mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and
foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose
streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High
dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break
of day. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the
earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our
fortress. Come see the works of the Lord, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear, he burns the shields with fire."
Psalm 46:9 - "Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
The hardest thing in all the world?
In
seasons of distress, we find it almost impossible to be calm and
peaceful. Our hearts are too easily agitated and even overwhelmed.
It's
much the same in times of uncertainity, when we find ourselves in
limbo-land with the 'sword of Damocles' hanging over our heads. Nothing
bad has (yet) happened to us, but we fear the possibility. There is
something about not-knowing-the-future that brings out the worst
anxieties in we frail-as-dust creatures.
Not
knowing the future is difficult because, unlike the beasts that run on
instinct, we are powered by hope. You and I cannot function with just
the bare necessities of life today, we also need to know that tomorrow
will be OK too. The shadow of tomorrow - real or imagined, for good or
ill - falls upon us today.
Yesterday
I skim-read this week's "The Economist" - an influential weekly news
magazine. And guess what? Almost every article was coloured by Covid-19
talk. The statistics. The lockdowns. The markets. And especially The
Future Predictions.
Even
the political cartoon was about Covid-19: Trump and Xi are playing a
tennis match called "The Blame Game" with Xi shouting across the net
"You dropped the Ball!" (the ball is a virus shaped tennis ball).
No-one, it seems, can be still today.
A Command: Be Still
But
in our travels through Psalm 46 we now come across a command: Be Still!
All of a sudden God is speaking. Elsewhere in the Psalm, the psalmist
has been speaking, but now, the Spirit of God interjects, "Psalmist I
want you to write this down, give your readers this message from me: "Be
Still!"!"
God is not suggesting, he is commanding!
Be Still!
The
Health Secretary gave the nation some instructions the other day and
ended by saying that they were not guidelines they were rules.
God is not saying, "Be still if you please", he is saying "Be still fullstop."
The
word "still" can mean relax, become limp (loosen your muscles) and
sometimes it is even used to describe laziness - you get the jist of the
word: cease your strivings and rest. Let your heart be at rest. Let
your mind be at rest. Let your body be at rest.
We might have said, "Chill!"
Is
this a word for some reader today? You are apprehensive, fidgety,
jittery, or as we used to describe our little ones on occasion, "up on
the ceiling."
Over Covid-19, or something else in your life?
God
commands us to calm down and be still. Relax. The word can even mean
"sink" which evokes the image of us lowering ourselves into a soft
mattress of downy feathers and giving in to rest. There's an art to
relaxing.
But the psalmist is not urging us to become Buddhists and empty our minds in this new stillness. He says "Be still and know that I am God." That word "know" can also mean "investigate", and it implies an active mind as well as a peaceful heart.
The
psalmist says, if I might paraphrase, "Quiet yourself down and fill
your mind - actively - with the knowledge, the assurance, the
conviction, that God is God."
The reason we are so anxious is
that we are failing to remember that God is God. The Almighty God -
remember all the truths he has taught us so far about Himself? - this
God is our God. He's our refuge and strength, he's our LORD, our loving
and compassionate Father in heaven, he's the God who controls all
things, including desolations on the earth.
God is in supreme control - that's why we can be - we must be - still.
Say
it to one another "God is God so be still!" say it to your kids, "God
is God so be still!" say it to your home group "God is God so be still!"
say it to your family "God is God so be still!"
Everywhere you
go today, every moment of every day, let these words ring through your
mind and leap about in your heart, "Be still and know that I am God!"
The Exalted One
Who
posesses the most power in this present world? I mean who could, with a
word or deed, perform the most powerful acts? Nations and their
leaders, of course, we think. Trump is technically the most powerful man
in the world with Xi and Putin probably not far behind.
But verse 9 - God's direct interjection into the Psalm - says something different. "Tell them" continues the voice from heaven:
"I will be exalted among the nations
I will be exalted in the earth"
God
rises above all leaders, all nations, all pandemics, all floods, all
forest fires, all wars, all nations. He alone is the exalted, high up
one.
Coronaviurs is not God, God is God.
And God Almighty
has appointed his worthy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ to sit at his right
hand, and rule the cosmos for the good, of his people and the glory of
his Father.
A SONG FOR THE DAY
There are times when a
simple song is just as good as a complicated one. Our simple song for
today reminds us that God is exalted.
That's it.
He Is Exalted, The King Is Exalted On High
I Will Praise You
He Is Exalted, Forever Exalted
And I Will Praise His Name
He Is The Lord
Forever His Truth Shall Reign
Heaven And Earth
Rejoice In His Holy Name
He Is Exalted,
The King Is Exalted On High
Twila Paris
You can find it here:
A PRAYER FOR THE DAY
Our loving Father in heaven,
We
confess that in days of uncertainty our hearts are too often flustered
and uptight. We fail to cast our burdens on you, we fail to remember
that you care for us.
Help us to respond to your command from
heaven, and help us to Be Still! in the sure and certain knowledge that
you alone are exalted above all nations and indeed above the whole
earth.
Help us to remember that your Son, who has lived our frail
human life as a real man, sits at your right hand, and has been
entrusted with your divine power to protect his blood-bought people.
Help us today to be still and know that you are God.
We ask this in Jesus' Name,
Amen
