be still and know
Psalm 46:10 says "Be still and know that I am God."
If we've been in a Christian circle of any kind for any amount of time, it's probably that we've heard that verse a time or twenty.
However, how often do we actually break it down?
The first part is "be still".
It's 2019 and I don't think any of us know how to actually be still. We've got to keep track of schoolwork, jobs, friendships, relationships, family, finances, cooking, grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, rent payments, bills, and the list just goes on.
I don't know about you, but it always seems like there is something on my to-do list. I can never seem to empty it completely and feel as if I can breathe easy and truly rest.
That is, until this past semester.
I was forced to be still.
Even in all of my reading, studying, writing, babysitting, cleaning, and cooking, I've found myself sitting on my couch with four hours until a normal time to go to sleep, wondering what I should do with my time. At first, I found myself catching up on Netflix or going down a YouTube rabbit hole.
However, I began to use that extra time to dive deep into the Word.
Margin is great, but many of us simply don't have hours on end to dive in the Word. But, we can rearrange schedules and sacrifice things in order to fight for time in the Word.
More than that, a part of being still is being physically still, while another part is to be mentally and emotionally still.
How many times are we in conversation with others while our mind is wandering off to where we're going to eat lunch? How many times during a prayer do our thoughts wander to something else and dwell there? How often to we sing a worship song, yet our brain has occupied itself with something other than the Lord?
To quiet those thoughts and truly be still is a hard task, yet a necessary one.
The second part of the verse has a lot more depth to it than I think many of us would like to admit.
Know that I am God.
Know.
We all want people in our lives who know us, but what does that look like? Knowing someone means understanding their stories, strengths, weaknesses, desires, dreams, fears, and everything about them. Even still, it doesn't mean knowing those things and abandoning the person at that point. It involves knowing those things, understanding that there's always more to know, and continuing to learn about them.
Does that take time? Yes. Does that take effort? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes.
So, we should KNOW that He is God.
We have to know what His role is.
To fully know what His role is, we need to better understand our role. We have to understand who He is in order that we might understand how our role changes in light of who He is and in light of His authority.
To know that, we have to know the Word. As my college pastor, Kevin Webb, beat into my brain, to know God, we have to know His Word. If we had the chance to get to know someone through a book that shows us what they did, who they claim to be, and shows us how others have poured their lives out in response to that knowledge, we'd read it. It would allow us to better understand that person.
So, why do we disregard the Bible?
Our knowledge of Him is limited to what we know about Him. That seems redundant, but it's true.
We cannot know that He is God if we do not know Him.
Plain and simple.
Our knowledge of Him will drive us to repentance and praise. That will drive us to desiring to know more. And the cycle continues on and on.
If we've been in a Christian circle of any kind for any amount of time, it's probably that we've heard that verse a time or twenty.
However, how often do we actually break it down?
The first part is "be still".
It's 2019 and I don't think any of us know how to actually be still. We've got to keep track of schoolwork, jobs, friendships, relationships, family, finances, cooking, grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning, rent payments, bills, and the list just goes on.
I don't know about you, but it always seems like there is something on my to-do list. I can never seem to empty it completely and feel as if I can breathe easy and truly rest.
That is, until this past semester.
I was forced to be still.
Even in all of my reading, studying, writing, babysitting, cleaning, and cooking, I've found myself sitting on my couch with four hours until a normal time to go to sleep, wondering what I should do with my time. At first, I found myself catching up on Netflix or going down a YouTube rabbit hole.
However, I began to use that extra time to dive deep into the Word.
Margin is great, but many of us simply don't have hours on end to dive in the Word. But, we can rearrange schedules and sacrifice things in order to fight for time in the Word.
More than that, a part of being still is being physically still, while another part is to be mentally and emotionally still.
How many times are we in conversation with others while our mind is wandering off to where we're going to eat lunch? How many times during a prayer do our thoughts wander to something else and dwell there? How often to we sing a worship song, yet our brain has occupied itself with something other than the Lord?
To quiet those thoughts and truly be still is a hard task, yet a necessary one.
The second part of the verse has a lot more depth to it than I think many of us would like to admit.
Know that I am God.
Know.
We all want people in our lives who know us, but what does that look like? Knowing someone means understanding their stories, strengths, weaknesses, desires, dreams, fears, and everything about them. Even still, it doesn't mean knowing those things and abandoning the person at that point. It involves knowing those things, understanding that there's always more to know, and continuing to learn about them.
Does that take time? Yes. Does that take effort? Yes. Is it worth it? Yes.
So, we should KNOW that He is God.
We have to know what His role is.
To fully know what His role is, we need to better understand our role. We have to understand who He is in order that we might understand how our role changes in light of who He is and in light of His authority.
To know that, we have to know the Word. As my college pastor, Kevin Webb, beat into my brain, to know God, we have to know His Word. If we had the chance to get to know someone through a book that shows us what they did, who they claim to be, and shows us how others have poured their lives out in response to that knowledge, we'd read it. It would allow us to better understand that person.
So, why do we disregard the Bible?
Our knowledge of Him is limited to what we know about Him. That seems redundant, but it's true.
We cannot know that He is God if we do not know Him.
Plain and simple.
Our knowledge of Him will drive us to repentance and praise. That will drive us to desiring to know more. And the cycle continues on and on.
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