Be Still and Know

Happy Sunday. Many of you watch these sermons on my website, davidshivers.com. Last week we added the podcast option, so today, thank you for watching or for listening. You can listen on Spotify, Apple, or Google.

The old story goes, there was a big oil fire in Texas. A million dollar was reward was offered to the crew who could extinguish the inferno. The man known for this, Red Adair, and his crew flew in to assess the situation. While they were planning on how to attack the fire, they watched a cloud of dust coming across the Texas flatland.

Then they could hear a siren. Next they saw an old, dilapidated fire truck. The truck passed them by and headed straight for the blaze. They watched and wonder as the little truck went into harm's way.

Their mouths dropped as the truck parked right on top of the fire and immediately put the fire out. These boys had done it. Amateurs who had never dealt with an oil fire had won the million dollars. When asked what they planned to do with the money, they all agreed first thing they were going to do was have the brakes on the truck fixed.

Knowing how to stop is important. When Genie and I were first married, we took a youth group to an amusement park in Florida. We got on a ride that made me sick. It was going round and round, and lights were flashing, and music was blaring, and I didn't want my bride to think I wasn't manly, but I wanted it to stop. I remember the feeling of helplessness waiting for the ride to be over with.

Stopping is a good thing. Today we're going to continue in our study of Great Expectations. Two weeks ago we talked about being fruitful. Last week our lesson was on being imitators of God, and today, be still and know that I am God is another one of God's great expectations.

Psalms 46 begins with these words: "God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help in time of trouble." As the psalm continues, we are told that we should never fear. We're told that God is with us. We're also told to look around at all that God does.

In verse 10 we are given a great expectation that God has for us, and if we follow these words, we reap wonderful benefits. Psalm 46:10: "Be still and know that I am God. I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth."

One definition of the Hebrew word for still pictures two people fighting until someone separates them and makes them drop their weapons. The phrase be still means to stop frantic activity. For God's people, being still would involve looking to God for help.

One day the children of Israel stood beside the Red Sea as the chariots of Pharaoh's army advanced towards them. They were trapped, and they were no match for the army. There's no way out. They were goners in their mind, no hope. Let me read to you what happened from Exodus 14, beginning of verse 10.

"As Pharaoh junior, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord, and they said to Moses, was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness."

Now Moses responds, and he tells the complainers the strangest thing. It's found in verse 13 and 14 of Exodus 14. "Moses said to the people, do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to keep still."

Now the complaining children of Israel have some questions mulling around in their minds, no doubt. Do we keep the faith, or do we fight? Should we be still, or should we run as fast as we can? You, of course, know what happened.

God split the Red Sea in half, and Moses and the children of Israel walked across on dry land. When the Egyptians pursued them, God restored the water, and they were drowned. What would you have thought had you been there? Being still is hard, isn't it? It can go against every grain in our busy bodies.

Yet we learn in the stillness. We see God in the stillness. We trust in the stillness. We know that he is God in the stillness.

Being still is so important that God made it the fourth commandment: "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy." In verse 10 of Exodus 20, we're told not to work on the Sabbath but to be still. Joy Davidman, the wife of C.S. Lewis, said this about the Sabbath: "On this day man returns to the Garden of Eden. The curse of Adam is lifted somewhat, and we are allowed to catch a glimpse of the garden of paradise, where everything God made was very good. On this day we are commanded to enjoy."

Martin Luther once said that he was so busy every day that if he prayed less than three hours, he wouldn't get everything done. His priority for a fruitful life was to be still and no. Today I pray you are in the obedient habit of being still, not simply leisure, but communion with God.

Thanks for watching and for listening. Be still and pray with me. Lord, be close to us and help us to find you. You've promised that those who seek will find. In the stillness, let us look for you. Let us slow down, let us trust, let us meet that expectation. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

God bless. Have a great week.