Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”
As we approach the Christmas season, I can’t think of a more needed time than this to be reminded of this biblical truth. Be still. Those were words I heard often as a child. I have always had an abundance of energy and find it difficult to sit anywhere for very long. Yet, this verse has meant much to me through the years. It has challenged me greatly. By nature, I’m a fixer. I want to identify the problem, find a solution, and implement a plan. Done! I’m not very good at sitting and mulling things over. I want action!
Now, can you see why I am convicted by this verse? As I have grown in my faith, I have learned to trust, and that is what it takes to be still. This “be still” is used in the Old Testament and Jesus used it in the New Testament.
In Psalm 46:10, God is defending His city and His people. In Hebrew, it literally means to let go or stop striving. We are to rest in Him. In this chapter, we are reminded that he is our “refuge” in verses 1 and 11. A refuge is where you go for protection. It is somewhere you feel safe and secure. It’s where you surrender to someone for your needs to be met.
While this may sound easy, it is not. We live in a world where we are constantly busy. Sometimes, our busyness is working for the Lord, but it cannot take the place of our alone time of meditation, study, and prayer. If we do, we will burn out! When we don’t have our “be still” time we start depending on our own thoughts and abilities, We take our eyes off Jesus and this is when burnout out occurs. Without alone time our attitudes change and it affects everything. Our service must spring from our “be still” time. The more we surrender to the “be still” time, the deeper the well will become from which our service springs.
In Psalm 119:97, David says, “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.” Notice David’s meditation did not revolve around him. It was a desperate cry to hear from God through His word. He knew that God’s word would cleanse his mind of wrong thoughts and replace it with God’s thoughts.
In Mark 4:39, Jesus uses the words, “Be still.” This time he is using it in a different way. He and His disciples are in a boat and the storm is raging around them. They are fearful and wake him to ask him, “do you not care if we perish?” His answer to the troubled sea and to his disciples: “Peace, be still.” The New Testament was written in Greek, and the words “be still” mean “to be muzzled or silent.” We must be silent to listen. We must quiet our minds and meditate on his words. We need to tell our fearful and anxious thoughts to be quiet. To listen to what Jesus has already spoken to our hearts and our minds. He said to His disciples in the very next verse, “Why are ye so fearful, how is it that ye have no faith?”
The disciples had been with Jesus, and they knew he was capable of miracles, but they still doubted. This should be a lesson to us. To calm our fears, to strengthen us, to shut up the anxious draining thoughts, we must “be still.”
For a Christian to meditate is to think deeply, or focus one’s mind in silence on the word of God. The word is synonymous with contemplating, thinking, considering, pondering, reflecting, deliberating, mulling something over, or chewing the cud. Meditation is not an emptying of the mind, as some eastern religions promote. The biblical concept of meditation is to empty our minds of ungodly or unbiblical thoughts or desires for sin. It does not involve an empty mind, but a renewing of the mind, with the truth of scripture. (Romans 12:2) Meditation is more about learning to focus on God and His word and then making an application.
We study a verse or passage and then take time to quietly bring it before the Lord. As we think about it, we need to ask ourselves these questions. What does it mean? How can I live out what God is teaching me? This may also lead to a desire to repent as you become aware of how you have violated the passage. The more you do this, the more you will want to do it. You will experience a sense of God’s presence like never before. You can then say as David, “Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.”
