PSALM 46:10 – “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
THEME OF THE DAY. STOP, BE STILL. It is a matter of “life and death”. Not literally. Nor eternally for the Christian. Eternal life, as defined by Jesus as “knowing God and Jesus Christ”, is never forfeited no matter what we do or don’t do in this life. Christians will never experience spiritual death (John 17:3). However, what we are about to explore is a matter of “life” and “death” when it comes to the spiritual quality, enjoyment, and influence our lives will have for Christ in this life. It is as simple as this . . . if we ignore the command, yes it is a command, to cultivate a meditative, reflective spiritual walk with the Lord by being still – unhurried and undistracted – before Him in Word, prayer, and worship, our spiritual lives will be “lifeless” and seem like spiritual death. With this introduction, even warning, let’s consider three consequences if we allow and choose to disobey the command to “Be still and know that I am God.”
First, disobeying the command to “Be still, and know that I am God” will force us to interpret the world through sight and sense. Never good to rely upon what we see and feel, but especially in the trying times we live. Refuse to be still and know that He is God, and we will take in too much world news, read too many internet articles, listen to too many opinions, and we will become worldly gripped in fear, anxiety, and stress. Choose not to be still and we won’t rely upon the rest of today’s scripture – the sovereign control of our God over everything including Covid-19.
Another consequence of disobeying the command to “Be still, and know that I am God” is we will not mature as Christians. Spiritual maturity is not measured by how long we have been Christians, but how far along we are in conforming to the Lord Jesus in His character traits of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). And that maturing process doesn’t come from being moral or doing Christian service. It comes from alone time with the Lord beholding His glorious Person in Word and prayer (2 Corinthians 3:18). That is God’s pattern for spiritual growth. Violate His only way to become like His Son by not being still before Him and spiritual maturity will not happen.
A final consequence of living busy, distracted, and lacking the self-control to be “Be still, and know that I am God”, is our witness for Christ suffers. Oh, we may be able to share a “canned” presentation of the Gospel, and quote some verses, and be faithful to church, but we won’t be able to represent the Lord Jesus as He really is. A failure to be still before Him to know Him, adore Him, and love Him will reduce our Christianity to mere form of knowing some facts about Jesus, but knowing Him in the spiritual reality the Bible describes is to be the Christian.
Friend, even in these trying and restricting times we live, we may still be too busy and disobey the command to “Be still, and know that I am God.” If this describes us, stop and be still. It really is a matter of life and death – the quality of our spiritual life in this world.
PRAYER: “Father, forgive me when I rush through days doing temporal things and neglect You, the most important thing.”
QUOTE: “Choose, yes, we choose, to be busy with the world and neglect the Word, and spiritual consequences follow.”