Be Still and Trust His Strength

"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

We often lift the first part of this verse out of the Scriptures and give it independent meaning. That’s not a bad thing, but it just wasn’t its intended use.

Be still, and know that I am God.

That’s like “wait on the Lord” without “and he will renew your strength.”

The message is clear from these extractions. Stop your own stuff and wait for God’s stuff. He’s going to direct your paths.

Good preaching, but not the psalmist’s intent.

Psalm 46 is a psalm of the worthiness of God in power and might and strength and protection.

It is acknowledgement and foundation for our trust in God no matter what happens.

My life is full and busy and my mind is attached to the things of the day. Didn’t used to be that way. My mind used to be full and busy as my body was busy handling the things of the day. I questioned and wondered and mused and imagined and dreamed.

Lately I’ve been missing that. It seems as though I’ve allowed my mind to take a vacation. I’ve put it on auto-pilot, letting it just cruise through the days without engaging it. It’s not that there aren’t opportunities, but somehow I don’t seem to trust it as I once did.

Not trusting your mind is a dangerous game to play. The only way to be creative is to let your mind go, to let it wander and dream and fly without any concern for where it may take you. Once you start worrying about where it might go, you ground it. Once you get concerned that what it produces might make you look bad, or embarrass you or get you in trouble, your wings are clipped. You’re stuck. You can’t soar.

It’s only when you don’t care, because wherever it takes you is simply a place to visit, a thing to see, an idea to consider, that you are truly free, and truly creative.

That’s not to say that you won’t get bad ideas or go in wrong directions. Even the most saintly mind is still capable of imagining sin. But, just like any other time in life, sin is something to turn away from, and when sinful thoughts come to the creative mind, that mind simply turns to the next thought.

Be still, and know that I am God.

Trust in the one who rules the universe. Exalt him. Hide in him. Rely on his strength. Fear nothing. Whatever is facing you, whatever has happened to you, whatever causes you to shut down and hide who you are and stop thinking and dreaming and wondering. Stop. And be still. Know that I am God.

That should be enough.

1 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 [b] 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