Be still, and know that I am God

.... I will be exalted among the nations (Psalm 46:10).  The Psalmist had just invited us to behold the works of the Lord, the desolation of Israel's Assyrian enemies.  He declares that the Lord makes wars cease to the ends of the earth,  and destroys the weapons of war (verses 8, 9). The Lord then speaks through him in this morning's verse telling them and us,  to be still and to know that He is God.   You have to take the long view, to see the truth of verses 8 and 9 in the here and now. Kingdoms, empires come and go, but in the end they all end in destruction. The full truth of these verses however will only come to fruition in eternity (Ezekiel  37:26).

You have to take the long view, the eternal view, to make any sense of truth, justice and righteousness, indeed of life itself. Ecclesiastes (another part of this morning's daily readings) speaks about the vanity and the futility of the endless, seemingly meaningless cycles of life, of life “under the sun.” There is so much pain, so much injustice, so much that is not if the Lord. And we need to hear that God is on the throne, that He is God and that He will be exalted in the nations and in the earth. He will come out on top. It is not enough however to have intellectual knowledge that when we side with God that we win in the end! We need to know God in the way that we truly know people. That is we experience them in encounter, and in relationship with them.

But we cannot truly know God by rushing into His presence and then out again. The value we place on a relationship can be measured by the amount of time we are willing to give to it.  And in the business of modern life, it takes time to quiet ourselves down and be still.  But it is only when we are still that we can hear the still small voice of God (1Kings 19:12).  And if we are not willing to quiet ourselves down and be still, we will miss it. It is in the stillness that we know that He is God. And when we know that He is God, we also know that He is good. And we know that He can be trusted, that no matter what happens He is truly working behind the scenes for our good (Romans 8:28). This does not mean that bad things don't happen, but when they do, and we also know that He is God,  we also have verse 11 that “the LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.”

Father, I confess my sin,  and the sin of Your people,  that over and over we fill our lives with business, and empty and meaningless things.  Help us Lord, help me, to get my priorities right, to learn to quiet myself down and take time to simply sit in Your presence. As a father who wants the attention of his adult children, I know that You want this more than we do. We thank You Lord for Your patience and Your love. And we give You praise and glory again this morning in Jesus Name Amen