Be Still I've Got it From Here!

Psalms 46:1-10

 

There are times when the vicissitudes of life are rolling in like the tides of a tsunami; there are times when the dark clouds of depression have settled overhead; and there are those times when your house just does not seem like a home. In those times when the problem seems to be much larger than you. It is in this moment that God simply says, "BE STILL, I've got it from here!"

As Christians, we are not promised that there will not be botherations, complications, and enigmatic conundrums that are sometimes stiffling. We are not given a guarantee of effortless progression; on the contrary, we are told that without question, trials are going to come. In John 16:33, Jesus says, "These things have I spoken unto you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulations; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

The joy and peace does not come in the absence of struggle, but despite it.

Paul tells us that we are to "glory in our tribulations", and James admonishes us to "count it all Joy when we fall into vairous trials.' Each of these passages are written under the postulation that the trials are inevitable. There is no circumvention of the trials of this life. There is never a question as to if, just when.

The writer of Psalm 46 gets right to the point in verse one; "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." There is a wealth of doctrinal truth embedded in this one scripture.

First, we find that God is our refuge. This means he provides shelter from the dangers that surround us. He is our covering and comforter.

Next, we see that he is the source of our strength. It is in God that we live, move, and have our being. No matter how weak we may seem at any given moment of difficulty, we know that in God our weakness is the means by which God's strength is revealed and released. God shows up in the midst of our weaknesses and provides the strength necessary to emerge triumphantly.

The next couple of verses point to the fact that the writer is not willing to be moved by his circumstances. Though the enemy may be closing in, though the economy may be in decline, though relational situations are in flux, my unerstanding of who God is and who I am in Him, will not allow me to waver. I cannot be shaken by the outward circumstance because the inward man has been fed by the Spirit. The inward man (my spirit) is in constant communication with the Holy Spirit that resides within me and the Holy Spirit speaks to my spirit and says peace. 

Dr. Rick Wallace

Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would bring to remembrance all that we had been taught. So, when the burdens of life begin to press us down, there should be something in our spirit that reminds us that NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST US SHALL PROSPER, it should bring to our remembrance that WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS, it should remind us that GOD WILL NEVER LEAVE US NOR FORSAKE US. There should be something in our spirit that disagrees with our circumstances.

To close things out, the writer speaks God's admonishment, "Be still". Sometimes the battle has worn you down. Sometimes you look up and there is nothing left. No matter how hard you try, you can't press forward. By all accounts, it seems as if the enemy has finally won.

You try to pray, but the words don't flow forward with any fluency. You turn to friends, but you find them complaining too. You turn to mother, but mother is incapable of producing any relief. At this moment of coliginous despair, God steps in and simply says, "BE STILL, I've got it from here.  Dr. Rick Wallace

God Know What You're Going Through

God Knows

I will be still, and I will behold in my dwelling place (Isaiah 18:4, RV).

Assyria was marching against Ethiopia, the people of which are described as tall and smooth. And as the armies advance, God makes no effort to arrest them; it seems as though they will be allowed to work their will. He is still watching them from His dwelling place, the sun still shines on them; but before the harvest, the whole of the proud army of Assyria is smitten as easily as when sprigs are cut off by the pruning hook of the husbandman.

Is not this a marvelous conception of God--being still and watching? His stillness is not acquiescence. His silence is not consent. He is only biding His time, and will arise, in the most opportune moment, and when the designs of the wicked seem on the point of success, to overwhelm them with disaster. As we look out on the evil of the world; as we think of the apparent success of wrong-doing; as we wince beneath the oppression of those that hate us, let us remember these marvelous words about God being still and beholding.

There is another side to this. Jesus beheld His disciples toiling at the oars through the stormy night; and watched though unseen, the successive steps of the anguish of Bethany, when Lazarus slowly passed through the stages of mortal sickness, until he succumbed and was borne to the rocky tomb. But He was only waiting the moment when He could interpose most effectually.

Is He still to thee? He is not unobservant; He is beholding all things; He has His finger on thy pulse, keenly sensitive to all its fluctuations. He will come to save thee when the precise moment has arrived.
--Daily Devotional Commentary

It may seem that you are standing alone and that God has forgotten about you. You may be facing the most troubling of times and the clock is rapidly approaching the midnight hour. This is the point in which you must remember that God is the author of time, but He is never bound by it. God is not blind to your struggle. He is not unsympathetic to your pain. He is the master of perfect timing. He knows the exact moment in which to bring you out so that you get the complete victory and He gets the ultimate glory.

Dr. Rick Wallace

The walls may be closing in all around you and all of the evidence points to your demise, but God is a show up God and the moment that your storm began, the “show-up” process was initiated. The enemy is pointing at the clock. He is continually whispering sweet nothings of negativity and doubt. Cast your eyes not on the physical evidence of your circumstance, but look unto the Hills of Heaven, from which comes your help. Gaze into the spiritual realm to see the truth unfold through faith.

God is not absent in your struggle, He sitting still, waiting on the perfect time to execute the perfect rescue. He has promised to never leave nor forsake you. He has promised that he would move over this entire earth to prove himself strong on your behalf. Has he ever failed in his word? Has he ever come short of a promise? Can you recall a moment where He has missed the mark? No. He has a perfect record. He has not missed your moment; He is simply setting you up for His supernatural movement. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace

Lie Still and Trust

Lie Still and Trust

"I had fainted unless…!(Ps. 27:13).

"FAINT NOT!"

How great is the temptation at this point! How the soul sinks, the heart grows sick, and the faith staggers under the keen trials and testings which come into our lives in times of special bereavement and suffering.

"I cannot bear up any longer, I am fainting under this providence. What shall I do? God tells me not to faint. But what can one do when he is fainting?"

What do you do when you are about to faint physically? You cannot do anything. You cease from your own doings. In your faintness, you fall upon the shoulder of some strong loved one. You lean hard. You rest. You lie still and trust.

It is so when we are tempted to faint under affliction. God's message to us is not, "Be strong and of good courage," for He knows our strength and courage have fled away. But it is that sweet word, "Be still, and know that I am God."

Hudson Taylor was so feeble in the closing months of his life that he wrote a dear friend: "I am so weak I cannot write; I cannot read my Bible; I cannot even pray. I can only lie still in God's arms like a little child, and trust."

This wondrous man of God with all his spiritual power came to a place of physical suffering and weakness where he could only lie still and trust.

And that is all God asks of you, His dear child, when you grow faint in the fierce fires of affliction. Do not try to be strong. Just be still and know that He is God, and will sustain you, and bring you through.

***

David said, "I would have fainted". This means he didn't faint. His soul called on him to faint, but the command "faint not" would not allow him to faint. His understanding that there was something better ahead would not allow him to lay down in the middle of the journey. He refused to faint.

When one is weary from the battle, how does he restrain from fainting? When there is no energy left in him, what keeps Him from letting go? Faith! David said, "I would have fainted if I had not believed..." It is faith that sustains the weary soul when in and of itself, it would have fainted. Faith believes the promises of God and validates the hope of a brighter tomorrow. When the soul grows weary, faith is all that we have left. At that moment when giving up seems the only course of action, we must simply lay our faith on top of our weariness and trust God to do the rest. It is in the moment of weariness that God's command to be of good courage is transformed into His imploration to "be still".

Dr. Rick Wallace

Be still and trust God. Besides faith, what more must be added to the weariness to resist fainting. Simply be still. You simply provide the faith and God will do the rest.

This faith that kept David from fainting was not centered on the afterlife. Many Christians have become fatalist, believing that life here on earth is doomed to defeat and the victory does not come until heaven. Yet, David said, "I would have fainted unless I believed that I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living." David believed that he would see the goodness of God while living. God has promised you victory in every situation here on earth. Keep believing and faint not.~ Dr. Rick Wallace

Sit Still

"Ye shall not go out with haste" (Isa. 52:12).
I do not believe that we have begun to understand the marvelous power there is in stillness. We are in such a hurry--we must be doing--so that we are in danger of not giving God a chance to work. You may depend upon it, God never says to us, "Stand still," or "Sit still," or "Be still," unless He is going to do something.

This is our trouble in regard to our Christian life; we want to do something to be Christians when we need to let Him work in us. Do you know how still you have to be when your likeness is being taken?

***

Now God has one eternal purpose concerning us, and that is that we should be like His Son; and in order that this may be so, we must be passive. We hear so much about activity, may be we need to know what it is to be quiet. --Crumbs

***

Sit still, my daughter! Just sit calmly still!
Nor deem these days--these waiting days--as ill!
The One who loves thee best, who plans thy way,
Hath not forgotten thy great need today!
And, if He waits, 'tis sure He waits to prove
To thee, His tender child, His heart's deep love.

Sit still, my daughter! Just sit calmly still!
Thou longest much to know thy dear Lord's will!
While anxious thoughts would almost steal their way
Corrodingly within, because of His delay
Persuade thyself in simple faith to rest
That He, who knows and loves, will do the best.

Sit still, my daughter! Just sit calmly still!
Nor move one step, not even one, until
His way hath opened. Then, ah then, how sweet!
How glad thy heart, and then how swift thy feet
Thy inner being then, ah then, how strong!
And waiting days not counted then too long.

Sit still, my daughter! Just sit calmly still!
What higher service could'st thou for Him fill?
'Tis hard! ah yes! But choicest things must cost!
For lack of losing all how much is lost!
'Tis hard, 'tis true! But then--He giveth grace
To count the hardest spot the sweetest place.
--J. D. Smith