Shalom,
Please begin by reading Psalm 37:7.
To be still is to stop what you’re doing and be quiet before Yahweh. We must learn to wait patiently for his answer to our prayer requests or to hear his direction and guidance. This implies that we have some confidence that our heavenly Father will speak to us. This implies that we’re able to leave the matter in his hands without being overly anxious as we await his response. Patient waiting isn’t exactly a quality that we have in abundance. Most of us tend toward being impulsive and unwilling to wait for Yahweh’s timing. By trusting that our Father will always give us a sound answer we can overcome some of our tendency to move ahead without his direction.
Yahweh may seem to delay much too long in answering us at times, in acting upon whatever injustice or problem we face. We’re allowed to wonder about it, but we’re not to be filled with anxiety or fretting to the point of distraction. Being still before our Lord God Almighty means we know he’s working to improve our character. It means we’re aware that he’s helping us discipline our minds. Probably most importantly, we come to realize that being still can help us deal with our problems. Microwave answers, the hurry-up mode we want things to happen in, isn’t how our Lord works and we need to learn to wait on him.
A great advantage to being still before our Lord is that we’ll hear him better when he does speak. We need to learn that without Yahweh’s instructions, leadership, and guidance we can’t be successful Christians. When Pharaoh’s army was pressing in behind the Israelites, they found themselves squeezed between the mountains and the sea. Moses took his position of standing firm in the Lord and told the people, “Yahweh will fight for you, you need only to be still (Ex 14:14). This still means specifically to shut up and be quiet. It’s often very hard for us to hear what the Spirit is speaking to us because we’re so busy talking ourselves.
Right before this event the people were murmuring and complaining. When that type of activity begins among a group of people, we have the not so good tendency to continue and even to increase the grumbling. People echo complaints and begin to add their own gripes, then eventually we become an angry mob. The instruction of Yahweh was to tell them to stand firm in trusting him to deliver them. He also wanted them to quit their nattering, to just shut their mouths and see what he would do.
If they tried to go north they would have shortly come to the rocky crags of some mountains. Their forward movement would have been halted, leaving them as sitting ducks for the Egyptian army. If they tried to go south there were more mountains and villages filled with people loyal to the Egyptians. If they turned back and fought they would be a bunch of slaves facing a highly trained army with chariots. Worst of all, any of these options would have left them without their Lord God’s help. Their only chance for survival was to listen to Yahweh and cross the sea. Thank goodness, they did exactly that, crossing the sea on dry ground. Yahweh won a great victory that day.
One of the instructions we most need to hear and obey from our Lord and Master is “Be still.” Look back at all he’s already done for you. Most likely he’s done great things in your life despite your meddling and interference. Just like Moses told the Israelites, the Holy Spirit is often speaking to us, “Your Lord will fight for you, but you must be silent and trust him.” When we impatiently try to make things happen ourselves because we can’t stand waiting anymore, we’re rejecting our Lord and making ourselves sovereign. That’s called idolatry. We’ve made our desires the priority and rejected God Almighty.
Do you know that Yahweh doesn’t need any of our advice to get things right? Do you know that he understands the difficulties and problems we’re facing better than we do? When we go forward on our own, without waiting for our Lord, we march straight into insurmountable mountains or barren deserts or rough seas. Those are places we definitely need to be going with our heavenly Father at our side, not on our own. If we could see things from his perspective we’d know that he has the complete picture and also is including the future in his directions.
If you’ve been saved by the blood of Jesus and delivered from the power and penalty of sin, you’ve made the biggest step of obedience already. If you’ve entered into a life of holiness and service guided by the Holy Spirit, then wherever he leads he’ll be with you. And wherever that happens to be you can stand firm in faith and belief. Rom 5:6 says, “at just the right time, when you were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.” If he did that for us while we were still ungodly, we certainly should be able to obey and trust him in the here and now. Learning to trust and obey is a basic part of maturing in our faith. It’s probably the best way to show that we’re growing in faith and understanding.
You may be surrounded with seemingly insurmountable difficulties, impossible obstacles, persistent enemies – but your Lord is right by your side. The One who set you free from sin is walking with you, and he will fight for you. The Israelites were told to look forward because the army behind them would be totally destroyed. This mighty army would disappear from the face of the earth. We need to keep our focus forward, too. Don’t let yourself get caught up in past mistakes which seem to be hounding you. Most likely it’s only the devil’s lies that are pursuing you.
Don’t look to the left or the right, because nothing is hiding there that can truly harm you if you’re faithfully following your Lord’s directions. In fact, all you’ll find in other directions are the obstacles and problems created by your own disobedience. We only make our problems worse when we disobey our Lord and follow another path. If we trust and obey our Lord we’ll avoid the things we fear. If we stay on the path he’s appointed we won’t be running into hindrances and limitations.
Yahweh promises to be “an ever-present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). He’ll not only guide us, but he’ll also protect us. When the world is running from place to place looking for any solution other than God, we can stand still and trust our Lord. When everybody else is crying and complaining about their situation, we can be still and very blessed. Worrying and fretting about what’s happening in our world won’t solve any of the problems we face. Mostly that kind of living only makes things worse. There’s no peace or joy in that kind of life. If we know that Yahweh is able, no matter what the circumstance we face, being still becomes the best way to handle anything.
The shutting of our mouths isn’t the only part of this being still we need to work on. We also need to quiet our minds. If we shut our mouths, but then allow our minds to continue to wander, we still won’t hear what the Holy Spirit is speaking to us. We must focus our full attention on our Lord and Savior. We must give him full respect and honor by truly and fully seeking to hear what he has to say to us. We’ve all been lost in the middle of a crowd by a busy mind at times. We’ve all missed out on important information by a mind occupied somewhere other than where we were. We’ve all experienced having our minds a million miles away from where we’re standing. We need to focus and pay full attention to the task at hand.
Did you know that the Father, Son, and Spirit never called us to figure things out on our own? They instruct us to not trust in wealth or fame or power or politics or education. Those things can only give us a false sense of security. Yahweh calls us to make him our refuge and strength without turning away in the slightest degree. He doesn’t say it will be logical to us every time. He doesn’t say we need seminary training to understand. He simply says we need to be still, to wait patiently. Getting our focus off of the worldly issues and on to the heavenly perspective he gives is vital to our peace.
And this verse includes a “don’t fret.” Being still before our Lord God Almighty includes not fretting. How can you be still and hear him while your mind is fretting and stewing over how evil people are prospering? We ask silly questions like, “Why does it seem that sinners are doing better than Christians?” or “Why are the wicked rich and so many Christians poor?” We have such a small perspective of what’s going on in our world compared to the One who created it. Don’t allow your emotions to get all tangled up in things that your Father says you need to avoid. He wants us to trust him and let him take care of the things that are out of our control.
First, remember that the riches of these pagans are all temporary, only of this world. They will eventually face judgment for their sins. Second, quit fretting. Quit getting mad at God because he won’t give you what you want in exactly the form that you want. Quit getting upset at the Church, the preacher, the congregation – and walking out because nothing seems to be going as you think it should or your “needs” aren’t being met. Quit worrying and fretting about not having some of the nicer things of this world. And most importantly, quit trying to get to Heaven on your own terms. God is still God and you’re one of his creatures, a part of his creation.
Quit all this junk and just trust, delight, and commit yourself to your Lord Jesus. If we can learn to do this our lives will be very fulfilling. We’ll come to the ends of our lives justified, because we’ve walked in obedience with our Lord and accomplished our task for him. Always remember, he is the Master and you are the servant. Never try to usurp his position. Always trust and obey.
The end of everyone who refuses to trust, delight, commit, and rest in Yahweh isn’t good. They’ll never enter our Lord’s eternal rest, the fullness of his reward for those who obediently serve him. No one is a Christian simply because they claim to be one. You’re a Christian because Jesus claims you’re one. Prove your dedication to your Lord and Savior by being still before him and then obediently doing whatever it is he’s tells you to do. Be still and know your Lord God Almighty.
Blessings & Peace, Mike
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Blessings! I hope that this study has enlightened you or helped you in some way. Please feel free to leave a plain old comment, or a question. Comments are moderated to keep the peace