Lately, I have had a couple of days that have been a struggle for me, discouraging, full of inner conflict, deep reflection, and a whole variety of emotions.  I have asked several people in my life to pray for me in the midst of this trial.  As I shared with one this morning . . . the prayers are helping.  In this I have also been running to the Word of God in some new ways, focusing on some specifics to correct me in the midst of this season.

Psalm 46:10 is a Scripture that has arrested me.  You are probably familiar with it.  It reads, “Be still, and know that I am God.”  I have read it, quoted it, and thought about it often, but now the verse just wasn’t reading right to me though.  I don’t need mere stillness before the Lord, I have been still, I have been listening, I have been meditating.  I need something different.  I began to explore the Hebrew meaning of the verse.  Interestingly the word actually means, “to cease, to sink, fail, leave alone.”

Suddenly the Lord arrested me about the idea.  Being still and knowing He is God is certainly more than what I had thought before.  It encompasses a recognition of my failure to succeed on my own.  It excludes the murmuring I have done in the midst of the trials.   It includes a surrender of myself to the Lord when I think that I ought to be able to make a difference; for the difference is made at his hands, by his sovereign acts, and his acts alone.  The verse instructs me to cease from the striving that can be flesh powered.  It reminds me that the Spirit of God is the one who empowers.  It actually teaches me that failure is not only O.K. but the primary manner of God’s working.

I am not saying that stillness means that we do nothing.  I think stillness is really about the tuning of the heart, the soul of man and our acknowledgment of God’s authority, supremacy, and provision in our lives coupled with our recognition and admission of our weakness.  The new perspective I am wrestling through its this: when in our ceasing, failure, sinking, or stillness the Lord might providentially include us in the accomplishments of His acts.

Spurgeon wrote regarding Psalm 46:10, “A duty described, to be still before God, and under the dispensations of his providence; which implies that we must be still as to words; not speaking against the sovereign dispensations of providence, or complaining of them; not darkening counsel by words without knowledge, or justifying ourselves and speaking great swelling words of vanity.  We must be still as to actions and outward behavior, so as not to oppose God in his dispensations; and as to the inward frame of our hearts, cultivating a calm and quiet submission of soul to the sovereign pleasure of God, whatever it may be.”

Psalm 46 begins, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”  To realize this beyond rational truth, to understanding and experience comes by stillness.  Stillness is the surrendered trust of the child who recognizes their fallibility, weakness, inabilities and struggles, depending upon God for the accomplishment of His glory.  How is God speaking to you “Be still, and know that I am God?”

 

I leave you a final thought – Rend Collective has a song that includes this perspective –

All That I Am
Verse 1
Ev’rything’s on the altar now
No holding back no holding out
In view of Your matchless sacrifice
Take ev’ry treasure take this life
Chorus 1
All that I am for all that You are my Lord
All that I have for all that You are
You’re the pearl beyond price greater than life
All that I am for all that You are
Misc 1
(Interlude)
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
Verse 2
Selfish ambition and my pride
I’m giving up I’m letting die
In these empty hands I have it all have it all
The pure joy of knowing You my Lord
Misc 2
(Bridge)
It’s only in surrender that I’m free
It’s only in surrender that I’m truly free
It’s only in surrender that I’m free
(All I am is Yours my Lord)
It’s only in surrender that I’m truly free
I am free I am free indeed
I am free I am free indeed

CCLI Song # 7014650
Rend Collective
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For use solely with the SongSelect Terms of Use. All rights reserved. www.ccli.com
CCLI License # 1459214