“Be still and know that I am God” is a Bible verse we see and hear often. It’s used in meditation, we see it on Instagram captions, and it’s beautifully displayed on our walls, adorning the mantle, framed, written in elaborate cursive.
Have you ever considered the incredible gift that is “Be still and know that I am God”?
The God of the Universe–who created all things by speaking them into existence and Who holds the galaxies in His hand–is telling us to know who He is and to trust Him. To pause and remember that He alone is God.
Realize that this is not for His sake. He will be glorified because He is the Almighty. Nations will bow and His name will be praised. All glory and honor and power already belong to Him. This is for us. And it is a gift.
Think of what He is giving us in these verses. The command to “be still.” Be still in your anxious heart and in your fretting mind. You’ve got things to do and work to accomplish and errands to run and you’ve got items to check off your list. But BE STILL in your soul. “KNOW in the depths of your being,” He is saying, “that I am the God Who sustains You.” This is the God who clothes the grass of the field and feeds the birds and considers us worth more, even, than them.
Sometimes I read these verses that are so familiar and I forget just what this is…this is GOD leaning down and giving us His peace. He is being gracious to us. And I think in his gentle and loving way He is scolding us. He is giving us a reality check. Because He knows us, He knows our hearts, and He knows our tendency to think that this is our world and He is just living in it.
He reminded me this morning as I began to go down the rabbit hole of worrying and wondering “what would happen if this?” and, “I don’t think I’d survive if that happened.”
Remember what Jesus told His disciples: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid, you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:29-31)
Firstly notice that he tells them, “your Father.” Because of the life Jesus lived for us and the penalty He took on our behalf on the cross, God is OUR FATHER (Romans 8:15). He has adopted us into His kingdom, we have become heirs and children (Galatians 3:26). Jesus has such authority when He says this to us, because He and the Father are one. (!!!) (John 10:30)
In all my overthinking and breath-holding and tense worrying He reminds me to BE STILL and tells me – “remember just who you are, loved one. You are created: I am Creator. You are dust: I am the Rock. Your life is but a vapor but I am the Alpha and Omega. You are not in control but I am in control of all things. You are a child and I am your Father.”
I know that I can take anything that comes my way because He is over all things, allowing all things, and He is our ever-present help, as close as the breath in our lungs. He is inviting us to rest in Him, come what may.
Thank you, God.
PSALM 46 NIV
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 and 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.
“Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
The Lord Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
My Heart's Overflow 