If you have any bible knowledge then there are probably a couple of verses that jump to mind when you hear those two words. The first for me is the passage in the book of Psalms where we are commanded by the Lord to 'Be still, and know that I am God". The second passage that comes to mind is when Jesus was asleep in the back of a boat having preached all day and a storm blows up. Jesus is sleeping, the storm is raging and the disciples are panicking - hmm, a common occurrence in the bible I think. The disciples are so afraid that they are going to die that they wake Jesus up so He can save them. I always found it interesting that fishermen would wake a carpenter up in the midst of a sailing crisis, but I digress.
So we join the story with Jesus, just being woken by a bunch of scaredy-cat fishermen whining about the wind and the waves. Mark tells us that Jesus, 'got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.' Then he shared a few harsh words with the disciples about their lack of faith and presumably went back to sleep - the story doesn't tell us that part.
Be still - two simple words, spoken as commands in two places in the bible - once by the Father in Psalm 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God" and then by the Son in Mark 4:39. When Jesus spoke the words there was an immediate threat to the safety and welfare of the disciples, at least as they perceived it. Have you ever considered that the same two words spoken by the Father in Psalm 46 were spoken with the same authority and command as those spoken by Jesus to the wind and the waves. Have you ever considered that the command given in Psalm 46:10 should be responded to by us in the same way that the wind and the waves responded to Jesus.
Is it possible that when the Lord says, "Be still ..." that we are actually supposed to BE STILL? Is it beyond the realm of possibility that when we read the rest of Psalm 46 and the trouble that the author describes the children of Israel being in, that this command to BE STILL was the LORD telling the children of Israel to quieten down, to stop thrashing about and causing a commotion and to allow Him to be God? Could the same be true for us today?
Next Wednesday I want to encourage our church to obey the command of Psalm 46:10 and to BE STILL. I want to encourage myself and our whole congregation to stop trying to come up with the solution to our problems, to stop getting all agitated about situations around us, to stop, to BE STILL.
That will be an interesting day of surrender.
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