Be Still - Part One

"He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; ... Psalm 46:10

One of the hardest thing for me to do as a child was being still. I cannot count the number of times at church my mother told me to be still. As an adult, I still have a problem of being still, so this command in Psalm 46 is still a difficult command for me. 

But as I studied the true meaning of this verse, I found that it means more than sitting quietly with my hands folded on my lap. The Hebrew language actually means admit defeat, give up trying to work out everything in your own strength. Come to the end of yourself could be a literal translation. It even means trying to be godly, at least in your strength. Much of my frustration in my spiritual journey come from ME striving to be the model Christ-follower. 

But how can we learn to be still when all around us is noise and hurry? The fact is God will allow us to run in our own effort until we come to the end of ourselves and find God is all that's left.  So, how do we learn to let down our hands and quit trying to figure out everything in my own strength when that is all I have known? 

One of the most familiar story about being still is found in Mark 4:35-40.  The sitting is Jesus and His disciples are in a boat when a furious storm suddenly threatens to capsize their boat. Most of these disciples were fishermen by trade, so they were familiar with storms but this storm was fierce and they were terrified. Jesus on the hand was sound asleep in the back of the boat. The disciples woke Him with a rebuke, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? verse 38. Jesus woke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!”And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 

Who was Jesus telling to be still? The storm? Or His disciples? One Bible scholar suggested that Jesus' command to "be still" may also have had a second application. The disciples were undoubtedly bailing water as fast as they could. Apparently they were not successful in alleviating the danger. The passage tells us the storm went calm but what about the men? They suddenly realized their salvation from the storm wasn't the boat but the Person in the boat.