With my thanks to a wise internet sage named Amy, who shared this insight. She is struggling to stand for her marriage, and is weary.
Here is the irony in this term "be still." While we must take the initiative to fulfill our responsibilities and live our lives, the uncertainties of living in a world of sin and woe will continually challenge us. Personal initiative is no substitute for reliance upon God (cf. James 4:13-17).
This command -"be still"- forces us to think on two things: that we are finite, and that God is infinite. That being the case, we need to drop our hands, go limp, relax, and "chill out." Christian people ought to "come, behold the works of Jehovah," (v. 8) that we may enjoy a calm confidence in him who gave us his Son.
"Shall he not also with him freely give us all things?" Paul reasoned (Romans 8:32). Psalm 46:10 encourages us to reflect on what God can do in the face of what we are unable to do.
Spiritual serenity, the psalmist admits, ought to be cultivated in spite of the shaking mountains and agitated waters (vv. 2-3; i.e., figures for the difficulties we face in life). This spiritual calm, that God commands, does not come from a lack of troubles; it derives from a steady, deep reflection on the ways God has intervened in history on behalf of his people (cf. Romans 15:4).
So as your world crumbles around you, the call from Scripture is: don't flinch in faith in God. Stand still -not because of a self-made confidence, not because you are the most composed person in the face of disaster, not because "you've seen it all."
Be still because of what you know about God. Oh now THAT will preach.Labels: other people's words |
