Special Encouragement from God’s Word Day 6
Be Still
By Major Beth Desplancke
Territorial Women’s Ministries Program Secretary
Read Psalm 46.
Fear and panic are normal human emotions. But we all know that fear and anxiety can paralyze us, and even hurt us. Despite these common feelings of fear and anxiety, God’s Word tells us in Psalm 46:10, Be still and know that I am God.
How can we be still when life is spinning in control? When anxiety or fear make our bodies anything but still – our heart beats faster, our hands may sweat, our mind swims. This Psalm is the meditation of a man holding back fear with faith, and the psalmist focuses on what he knows to be true about God. Psalm 46 teaches us how we can be still when life is not.
1. We will be… Confident, Not Fearful.
Our natural response to when difficulty or uncertainty hits is to be fearful. But instead, we can be confident according to verses 1-3. How can we be confident? It isn’t a confidence in ourselves, but a confidence in who God is and what He does. Verse 1 tells us why we can be confident and not fearful. It is because of who God is to us. He is our refuge. A refuge is a tower, a fortress, a place of safety and a place to hide. During times of trouble, fear and anxiety, we need to admit that God is our refuge and we must admit that we can’t cope. As a refuge, we can flee to God and find relief and comfort.
Verse 1 also says that God is our strength; He is omnipotent. There is a chorus that says: My God is so great, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do! God is the God of the impossible – there is nothing too hard or too difficult for Him to do. There is no way trouble can come into a person’s life – however overwhelming it might be – there is no way it can come and be greater than the strength of God to enable you to survive it. It’s His strength, not ours. He gives His strength so we can face it.
Thirdly in verse 1, we see that God is an ever-present help in trouble. Ever-present means He is always there; God is omnipresent. No matter what you face, you can be assured God is right by your side and is ready to help.
2. We Will Be… Joyful, Not Fretful.
In verses 4-7, the psalmist begins talking about the city of God – Jerusalem or Zion. The psalmist is referring to a place where God is seated on His throne and He is in charge. We too can rejoice no matter what happens, because if we are God’s children, we have received Christ as our personal Savior, we know that His Holy Spirit lives inside of us. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. The river the psalmist is talking about refers to the Holy Spirit.
Verse 5 can be claimed as a personal promise as a believer: God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. You can put your name in place of her.
Verse 6 tells us that God’s voice transcends our troubles. The nations are raging but the city of God is calm! In the midst of trouble you know what it is to have a God alive and alert within you. God is seated on the throne. We can be joyful knowing He has power and purpose, and whatever the trouble that has come our way, has not usurped God from His throne.
Verse 7 once again speaks of God’s presence. The Lord Almighty is with us.
3. We Will Be… Still, Not Frantic.
Verses 8-9 tells us to come and see what the Lord has done. Look to God; don’t look at your circumstances. Never forget that God is at work, even when our world is shaking. God is not feared or fazed; He is in total and absolute control. God brings desolation on the earth, makes wars cease and shatters and destroys all weapons, so we can relax.
Verse 10 declares that we are to be still, which literally means relax. It is a call to us to do nothing and let God do everything. Be still means to cease striving, to stop and consider, to ponder, to cease and desist!
Being still means we are going to have to resist the natural impulses that rage in our hearts and minds. Being still means we differ to Him as our ruler; we bow to His ways. He is God; we are not. When trouble hits don’t strive against God. Know that He is the Sovereign God, even over the crisis.
Notice the verse says Be still and know that I am God. It does not say “be still and know the details” or “be still and know the reasons.” As important as those things are, they pale before the knowledge of God Himself.
Verse 11 is a repeat of verse 7. This is the third time that we are reminded that God is with us; we are not alone. Verse 11 also ends with the focus on God being our fortress. We began the psalm with focusing on God being our refuge. The psalm begins and ends with focusing on God and not our circumstances, that is the secret to being still.
How is your earth giving way today? What mountains are quaking in your life today? What storms are surging around you? Whatever you face, whatever the storm, difficulty, struggle or trial it is, you and I can be still as the word commands in Psalm 46:10. We can choose to be still. We can declare: “I will be… confident, not fearful; joyful, not fretful; still, not frantic.”
Download the PRINTABLE VERSION of this devotion.
