Be Still and Know

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!"

If you are anything like me, you have heard this verse many times. And you have probably heard it used to convey the idea that when we are still and quiet, we can "hear from God." Or maybe it was used to encourage you to go to a quiet, still place to pray.

Would you be shocked if I told you that the verse has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with getting still, peaceful and quiet so you could hear from God?

The first time I read Psalm 46 in its entirety, I suspected that somehow verse 10 tended to be misapplied. You see, Psalm 46 is about God's strength and His glory and His power. It is a picture of His ability to totally vanquish His enemies. It also illustrates His sovereignty over the outcome of situations that are frightening to us.

We should see this from the way the Psalm starts out in verse 1:

"God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in time of trouble."

The focus is on God and His strength, His ability to provide refuge for us in times of trouble. In verses 2 and 3, great turmoil is described, with images of mountains falling into the sea, the earth being moved and the oceans roaring and troubled. And even in all of that, we are not to fear.

In verse 6, entire nations are raging, and kingdoms are rising and falling, and against all of this, God simply utters His voice. That small act of uttering the voice is so powerful that the earth melts in response. Whoa. All of the fury and power of the kingdoms of earth cannot even begin to withstand the power of God when He only opens His mouth and utters.

In verse 7 we are reminded that this same God, whose utterance of voice can melt the earth, is with us. He is our refuge. So what on earth should we be afraid of? If such a holy, consuming fire is on our side, what can possibly bring us harm?

Verses 8 and 9 again display God's mighty power. He makes desolations in the earth. He causes wars to cease. He is the one who thwarts all the weapons that man can create-bows and spears and chariots. They are all completely useless against God!

So why, then, does it make any sense at all, that suddenly in verse 10, we should associate the words "Be still and know that I am God," with quietness and meditation? That would be taking the verse totally out of the context of the rest of the Psalm.

Even the rest of the verse, "I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth," is all about God's awesome power and glory. Not at all about us. And certainly not at all about us praying and "hearing from God."

I thought we should understand it to mean something more along the lines of: I am all-powerful! I am all-glorious! I will make myself known and exalted! Therefore, you small person without power and without glory, you be still and see ME in all of my power and all of my glory. THEN, remember that I am for you and against your enemies, and have NO fear. I can defeat them with only the power of my voice.

That's what I thought anyway. But then I read some commentary. And almost every single commentary I read said that we should understand the words, be still, as addressed to God's enemies, not God's people. Huh. That makes even my initial interpretation way off the mark.

It makes the sense of the verse more like this: All of you enemies of Me and My people, just be still, stop resisting. The outcome is certain. I will be victorious, I will be the one exalted. You will be defeated, and My children will be safe.

Who knew? I guess that is the trouble we can get ourselves into when we hear verses over and over again out of their context and start assigning meaning to them based on what they seem to be saying. It makes a strong case for opening up our Bibles and reading passages in the context in which they were meant to be understood. I've always known that, but even I was surprised at how off base the common understanding of this verse was.

Or maybe it was just me? Did all of you already know this?

By the way, this Psalm is the inspiration for the hymn, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God." It's one of my favorites.

It Shall Not Come Near You

Psalm 91:7

"A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you."

This verse immediately sprung to mind a few weeks ago while I was watching the movie Letters From Iwo Jima with my Dad. Normally, I avoid war movies like the plague, but I love my Dad, and I will usually watch whatever he is watching. I was visiting my parents with the kids, and he said it was a good movie, which it was, but much, much, much too gory and tragic for my usual taste.

There are a few scenes in which soldiers must run across open areas that are being riddled with bullets and explosives. Most of them never get to the other side, but are struck and killed as they attempt to make the crossing. Really, with all of those bullets flying around, it's almost impossible to imagine that any of them would make it across. The scenes were very similar to that scene at the beginning of the movie Saving Private Ryan. Again, a movie I did not particularly want to watch, but this time it was my husband who did.

Look at that verse at the beginning again, "it shall not come near you." What exactly is it that won't come near us? In verses 3-6 it is described this way:

"Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler
And from the perilous pestilence.
He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.
You shall not be afraid of the terror by night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day,
Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness,
Nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday."

According to those trusty footnotes in my Bible, this Psalm was probably written to describe the realities of life for a soldier at war, who would be in fear of literal arrows and pestilence that might sweep through the camp. But most of us are not in a literal, physical war. We are however, faced with a very real war every day of our lives. A spiritual war.

We are constantly surrounded by arrows and threats of destruction and pestilence. Some of the wars we deal with might seem quite harmless on the surface. That television show that glorifies adultery. That magazine that worships beauty. The music that romanticizes things we should view as evil and corrupt. There are also the threats that we know are dangerous, the kind of thing that catches us off guard and threatens our safety and well being. An unexpected attack of some kind, a loss of job, an illness, the threat of financial ruin. You get the idea.

All of those arrows carry the threat of danger to our spiritual well-being, and in some cases our physical well-being. They are very real.

I Peter 5:8

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour."

But again, back to my original question. What does the scripture mean when it says that "it will not come near you?" This is just my opinion, but I think that scripture taken as a whole bears me out. It does NOT mean that bad things won't happen to you. I know there are people who believe that and even preach that. But, don't they live in the same world that I do? Don't they see very real tragedy and pain in the lives of people around them? Don't they read verses like James 1:2, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,?" What about verses like 1 Peter 4:12, "Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;?"

So, I don't think that "it shall not come near you" means we will have a pain and trial-free life. But there are some things that it does mean. In the midst of our spiritual warfare, we are assured of very real help and comfort. God is described as a refuge and fortress in verses 2 and 9. We are told that He will be with us, deliver us and honor us in verse 15. In verse 11 we are told that He will give His angels charge over us, that these angels will keep us and bear us up. All of it is a very descriptive way of saying: We are not alone! God goes with us! He will take care of us! We do not need to be afraid!

The very best of all these victorious promises comes in the last verse, verse 16:

"With long life I will satisfy him,
And show him My salvation."

The greatest hope of all, eternal salvation. I believe that is ultimately what is meant when verse 7 says, "it shall not come near you." Eternal death and destruction will not come near us. It won't even get close.

So picture with me that battlefield full of flying bullets and bombs. In a sense, our lives are like a dash across that open field so full of peril. There are trials to endure, temptations to avoid, and even a roaring lion stalking about. (Interestingly, in verse 13, we are told that we will tread upon and trample underfoot the lion. How cool is that little tidbit?) But we can walk through it all with a head held high and a confident stride. We have no doubt about getting safely to the other side. We know that despite the dangers, it will not come near to us who have known the name of the LORD.

Even when the fighting is fierce, when the shrapnel is flying and bullets seem to be grazing our ears, we have the shield of God's truth. We know truth! We do not need to be vulnerable to lies about God, that He doesn't love us, that He won't take care of us, that He will let us slip away from Him in the heat of battle. No, the truth is that we are tucked up under the downy feathers of His all-powerful wing. (verse 4)

Psalm 91:2

"I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress;
My God, in Him I will trust.""

And the Peace of God....

Philippians 4:6-7

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present you requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

I said that verse at least 217 times to myself on Friday. It began to rain, very heavily, for a many hours on end. And the weather radar showed only more heavy rain headed straight for my area. To understand why this distressed me, you must realize that my house is only a few feet away from a small creek.

Well, it is only small when the weather is normal. When we get a lot of rain, all bets are off. By Friday night, I had white water rapids about 10 feet from where I sit and post all of these entries to my blog.

At several points during the evening, I seriously asked God what the difference was between being anxious and having a healthy dose of panic when confronted with a potentially dangerous situation. Because the only way I felt anything like the "peace that transcends all understanding" was when I remembered that everything in my home, all that I have, all my stuff, all my treasures--were just things. And they didn't really matter all that much. Even if my whole house was swept away by a flood, God would take care of me.

But I'll be honest, I was having a hard time reminding myself that all my "things" didn't really matter when my husband's car was about to be swamped by the river that had once been my driveway. Sigh. I just want all of you to know that I am not perfect. I am a normal person just like you. I am susceptible to the normal ups and downs of any relationship, including my relationship to God. That does not mean I am defeated in anything, it just means I have to work harder sometimes to get the desired result.

One of my worst nightmares is for someone to read this blog, or even just know me as a person, and credit my happiness and joy to having some kind of perfect life. Believe me, I don't. But I have grace, and I have Christ, and they are much better than a perfect life (or in this particular example, perfectly unruffled trust.)




This is normally my driveway. Don't miss those plastic buckets and tubs floating away. You can't get a sense of it from this picture, but the water was flowing very quickly through here. It was also just starting to rain heavily again, as you can see by the raindrops.

The back garage, which my husband uses as a woodworking shop, underwater. And that small vegetable garden you see on the left, with the plastic tarp behind it, is usually about a foot above the ground.

I know this picture is kind of dim, but this is my backyard, completely level with the creek that runs next to our house. Yes, that is whitewater you see in the middle of the picture, right between my camellias.




See my nice outdoor furniture cushions floating toward the back of this pond/backyard? And don't miss the garden hose floating through the center of the picture.



Before my husband came home and opened up this back gate, clearing away a bunch of debris, the hinge at the top was bent by the pressure of the water trying to push through.


Oh, we are all fine and dried out by the way. Thanks for asking! And despite the ominous predictions of the weather radar, it did stop raining before my actual house was flooded. Whew! Believe me, we were praying really hard.

Old Like A Garment

Isaiah 51:6

"Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look on the earth beneath.
For the heavens will vanish away like smoke,
The earth will grow old like a garment
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be forever,
And My righteousness will not be abolished."


Psalm 102:25-26

"Of old You laid the foundations of the earth,
And the heavens are the work of you hands.
They will perish, but You will endure;
Yes, they will grow old like a garment;
Like a cloak You will change them,
And they will be changed."

Hebrews 1:1-12 quotes Psalm 102:25-27

2 Peter 3:10

"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up."

This post is not going to be about the "End Times." There is no doubt that we are currently living in the end times. I can say that with certainty, not because I get carried away with trying to figure out the "signs" and "disasters" that happen. But because we know that Christ was sent to Earth in the "fullness of time." (See Galatians 4:4) Everything after His death IS the end times. But they might go on for another thousand years. I don't think we need to worry about it. That is God's business. What we do need to worry about is living each day we have in this life to the glory of our Father in Heaven. And living it in obedience to His commands.

Rather, this post is intended to counter all of the cultural hysteria we are constantly subjected to on the subject of global warming, from a Christian perspective. Now, I don't really have an opinion about whether global warming is scientific fact, or a big hoax. And if it is occurring, which I am willing to admit that it might be, I don't particularly get passionate about whether it is man made or a naturally occurring cycle of nature. I don't think it matters.

Sure, we should be good stewards of our natural resources. Being wasteful is foolishness. I think all of us should do our part to take care of this planet. But I KNOW that all of our best efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle are going to be pointless in the end. Let me reveal the surprise ending here......(drum roll please)....this earth is going to get old and worn out. And at some point, the time of which only the Father knows, it will be totally destroyed.

I'm sorry if you find that shocking, but it is plain old Biblical truth. Just read those scriptures at the top of the page. The end has been revealed. Earth will grow old like a garment. Picture that old worn out sweatshirt at the back of your closet. The neck is probably stretched out. It might have a few stains, a couple of loose seams. The fabric might be getting a bit thin in places. Then again, considering the affluence that most of us are surrounded by, we might not really have a good idea of what a worn out garment is like.

But God has already told us that our Earth is going to get old and worn out. In Isaiah 34:4 the heavens are described as "being rolled up like a scroll" in the end. We shouldn't be surprised by the deterioration of this planet. But more importantly, we should never live in fear of the future. I think that is what the basis of all this global warming hysteria really is. All of those doomsday predictions are designed to scare us half to death.

There is absolutely no reason that we should let ourselves get carried away by fear over global warming, or any other future disaster for that matter. All of it is completely under God's control. He planned all of it from the very beginning. He is not shocked or dismayed by any of it. All of it is part of His plan, and will ultimately bring about His glory.

How do I know? Because I read the Bible. Take a look at Psalm 46. I am going to quote a few excerpts, but you really should look it up and read the whole Psalm.

Psalm 46: 2-3,7,10

"Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling."

"The LORD of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge."

"Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!"

There you have it. Does the part about the mountains being carried into the midst of the sea sound familiar? Sounds an awful lot like some of those scary global warming predictions to me. I'm not saying that those predictions are going to happen, what I am saying is that even if they do, those of us who have been redeemed and called on by name shouldn't be scared about it.

Isaiah 43:1

"But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name;
You are Mine."

The Terrifying Vacuum Cleaner

OK, the terrifying vacuum cleaner is an inside joke around here. My 3 1/2 year old is terrified of our vacuum cleaner. When she was younger I could only take it out of the closet when she was sleeping because she would immediately start wailing at the sight of it. As she has grown older, she can tolerate looking at it. But the instant I turn it on, she hightails it to her room and yells "Are you finished yet, mommy" the entire time I am cleaning the rugs. I keep trying to tell her that it only makes a scary noise but it can't possibly hurt her. Despite my many attempts to reason with and reassure her, she just won't believe me. Aren't we just like that? God keeps telling us to trust in Him, and not to be afraid. But we insist on running every time the "vacuum" comes our way.

I wrote an entry on the LPM blog that said God had delivered me from all of my fears. And that is true, but I got to thinking that it was a pretty big statement. So if you have found your way over here, allow me to elaborate a bit. I don't mean to sound trite about this, because I know that there are things in this life that can, and will, cause us a great deal of pain. Pain is not fear, and it is not a failure to trust or believe God. Just read Psalms. David had plenty of pain. He cried out to God in painful moments. I have too. It's part of what God used to tender my heart to other people's pain.

But I really don't have fear. Even when I allow my imagination to to run rampant and think of all the most horrible things that could happen to me, I don't fear them. I certainly don't wish for them. I hope they don't come to pass. But suppose they did? Would that mean that God is not who He says He is? No. Would that mean that God does not love me? No. Would that mean that God is not good, and sovereign, and holy, and magnificent, and compassionate, and merciful? No, no, no, no, no, no.

Here's the secret: it ain't about me. That is it. Get that and you don't have to live in fear. It's about God; His purposes, His glory, and His perfect plan.

I have been thinking about some of the fears that God has delivered me from. I'm sure that this list is not comprehensive. It's just the things I can think of right now.

1. I'm not really good enough
2. People might find out what I am really like
3. Nobody really likes me, even if they act like they do
4. My family will be disappointed in me
5. I won't ever be loved as much as I need to be loved
6. I'll go through my whole life and nobody will ever give me the credit I deserve for being so great. (Let me tell you, pride and selfishness have been big obstacles for me to overcome)
7. I will only be loved by a man if I am sexy or beautiful
8. I will never have enough money or "stuff"
9. I will never be truly happy

Do you see any common threads here? All of those fears revolve around me, me, me. Serving my own ego was extremely scary.

But God has changed my heart. He has poured His love and grace into me. He took away my heart of stone and replaced it with a heart of flesh. When I really began to understand that God, the holy God who created every particle in the universe and holds them together by His good will, loved me enough to overlook my offenses and even pay the price for my sins, I became free from fear. What is there left to be scared of? Sure, pain may come my way. But God will still love me. It is really that simple.

And as much as I am amused (and sometimes annoyed) when my child runs and hides from that scary old vacuum cleaner, it is a good reminder for me. I don't have to live in fear. I really can trust God when He tells me in His Word that He will never leave me or forsake me. I just wish I could get my little one to have as much faith in mommy!

Isaiah 43:1

"But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Isreal:
Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name;
You are Mine."

Joshua 1:9

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

Psalm 56:3-4

"Whenever I am afraid,
I will trust in You.
In God (I will praise His word),
In God I have put my trust;
I will not fear.
What can flesh do to me?"