By Judith Cooley-
There is so much going on right now that volleys for our attention, our opinion, and our action. If we aren’t careful, we can easily become overwhelmed, anxious, and swept up in the torrents of the day. It seems like if we aren’t shouting from a soap box
We aren’t really engaged with the times. True, God has called us to advocate, to stand up and stand apart, but He has also called us to gain wisdom, to be patient, to be meek, and to be still knowing that He is God.
What does it mean to be still and know that He is God? It means accepting His word and trusting His plan even when we don’t
understand. It means pouring out our hearts to the King of Heaven in private prayer. It means clinging to Him in the good and the bad.
Knowing deep down that God is who He says He is requires us to meditate on His presence in our lives and work on our behalf.
Being still and knowing that God is Lord of all is binding our hearts and minds with truth of His everlasting goodness. Just some of the many wonderful things God is to us are: faithful, patient, loving, forgiving, trustworthy, just, powerful, creative, and good.
Reading, “Be still and know that I am God” might cause us to consider the many things God is to us as our Lord, our Father, our Shepherd, our Deliverer, our Encourager. The Big Daddy Weave song “I Know” comes to mind as we ponder this passage.
The lyrics are:
“You don’t answer all my questions, but You hear me when I speak. You don’t keep my heart from breakin’, but when it does,
You weep with me. You’re so close that I can feel You, when I’ve lost the words to pray. And though my eyes have never seen You,
I’ve seen enough to say: I know that You are good. I know that You are kind. I know that You are so much more than what I leave behind. I know that I am loved. I know that I am safe. ‘Cause even in the fire, to live is Christ, to die is gain. I know that You are good.”
“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” This quote by George Santayana also applies to our spiritual history. If we forget how God has moved on our behalf- delivering, forgiving, loving, and pursuing- we bound live a out of our own strength and resilience. Yet, when we live remembering the history of how God has shown up in our lives, we can live in the stillness of knowing that He is indeed God. We can know that not mountain is too high, no valley too low, no situation too daunting for God to move in a miraculous way.
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the
mountians fall into the heart of the sea, though it waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” Psalm 46:1-3