Be still and know

I have a coffee mug with the words “Be still and know that I am God” on it. I have heard and sung those words so often that they have almost become a cliché. 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!” As I was pouring the boiling water onto the teabag (I have tea in a mug), I looked at the words again. 

Be – to exist, to live, to become, remain, continue 
Still – at rest, motionless, quiet, calm
Know – to have a clear and certain perception
These three words are the crux of the verse. I see it this way – My existence must be rooted in and at peace with the clear and certain perception that God is who He says He is. When God makes a promise He keeps that promise. When God says that He will never leave me or forsake me, then He won’t. Here are a few verses telling us how we can trust God:
Exodus 14:14  – ‘The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace.’
Isaiah 40:31 – ‘But those who ait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.’
Isaiah 51:12 – ‘I, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you should be afraid of a man that will die, And of the son of man who will be made like grass?
Luke 12:22 – 23 – ‘Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about your body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.’
I believe that God doesn’t want us stressed out and rushing around like a dog trying to catch its own tail. He needs us to be calm and at peace. We must not look at our circumstances, rather we must see life as a journey and the Kingdom of Heaven as our destination. Everything that is here on earth is temporary. The only thing that we have that is of eternal value is our faith. We have to have the kind of unshakeable faith that Jesus had while He walked on earth. It’s not easy, and the Bible never tells us that following Jesus is going to be easy, but the more we read our bible and communicate with our Heavenly Father, the easier it becomes. We have to learn to take the Scriptures at face value and not overcomplicate things. Just be still and know.

For all have sinned

Do you remember when you were a child and the teacher left the classroom with the instruction: “Be quiet while I’m out!”? And you try your best. You really do. You try to concentrate on the work in front of you and not on your friend next to you. You try to ignore the whispers around you and the paper jet that just landed on top of your Math book. You even try not to acknowledge the boy who is poking his pen into your back or the one who is pulling your braid. You try. You try so hard but before you know it you are caught up in all the activity around you when the teacher returns your name is on her detention list and you just can’t understand why. If we try to be good people, if the try to follow the laws and ruled in the Bible we are going to get caught up in all the worldly activity around us and become so involved in it that by the time we have to stand before the Judgement Seat we are not going to receive the ultimate prize of living in Heaven for eternity. That is, if we TRY.

Romans 3:11-18 tells how there isn’t even one righteous person who is under the law. Verse 19: ‘Now we know that whatever the law says, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deed of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.’ We can’t be good on our own. We can try as hard as we want, but in our own strength we cannot keep the law. We can for a while, or sometimes, or with certain things, but not all the time with everything. All that’s going to happen is that we will wear ourselves out trying and then find ourselves mixed up in everything that’s against the law.
So, what do we do to avoid this?
Make the decision that you want to be a child of God. Ask Him to forgive your sins and ask Jesus to come and live in your heart.
Make a decision that you want a relationship with Jesus Christ and allow Him to be master of your life and stop TRYING. All His grace to rule within you. Give the Holy Spirit the reigns and let Him lead you.
Are you now going to be perfect? NO!! But you are going to be justified. Romans 3:23-24 – ‘for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.’ In verse 25 – 26 Paul goes on to say that because Jesus died for us, God has forgiven our sins. This grace that we are given because we are children of God is enough to keep us from going to Hell. It is not an excuse to just carry on doing what we want to do without regard for anything, but it covers the things we do that we shouldn’t be doing and it gives us the strength to resist the temptations that come before us daily. We can’t DO anything to win God’s favour. The only way we get His favour is to hold onto His Son and give our lives to Him. Paul also says in 1 Corinthians 15:31 “…I die daily.”
Just like Paul we should ‘die daily’ to the old things, to the worldly things that drag us down and be alive and aware daily of God’s redeeming grace.

Satisfaction

When can I say that I am satisfied? When I had a lovely meal and my tummy is full?  When I’ve written a blog and it seems to make more sense to me than usual? When I did a job and I know it was well done? In Philippians 4:11 Paul states “…for I have learned in whatever state I am to be content:”  Paul wrote this letter from prison, so he has a right to speak about being “in whatever state”.  Most of us definitely won’t be content or satisfied with being in prison, especially if we didn’t do anything to deserve being there.

On Monday it rained most of the day and night. It has been really dry and the rain is so welcome.  Needless to say my garden is looking so good.  There’s a big difference between watering a garden and it being watered by rain. When it rains, plants seem to grow much faster than usual and also look so happy.

The peas in my garden are growing at such a speed.  I need to tie string to the poles so that they have something to take hold of and grow upwards.

These are the cabbage and onions I transplanted, looking very happy.

On Monday night I woke up several times and listened to the rain fall on our tin roof. I pictured the earth drinking up the wonderful water and the plants being nourished.  At 4:30 I woke up again and everything was quiet.  It was a beautiful stillness that I couldn’t explain. There wasn’t any traffic, there weren’t any dogs barking, just a beautiful peaceful quiet.  I could see in my mind’s eye the earth being completely satisfied and with the rain it had received.  It was such a moment of complete contentment.  That peace is the peace we ought to be feeling much more often. We would be much better people if we had more moments of being content with what we have and where we are.

I only have a few lettuce plants but they are really beautiful!

Do we really need more stuff in our houses, more clothes in our wardrobes and more money in our purses?  The things we own don’t define who we are. The money in our bank accounts don’t define who we are.  Our relationships are the most defining thing about us. The way we treat the people who are closest to us tell people the most about us. Can we be loving towards our families when things go wrong or do we erupt like an angry volcano every time there’s a crisis instead of being content?  Things are going to change.  That’s the one thing we can be sure of in this life. Status quo is a myth.  Back to normal is a lie. We have to learn to be content and accept that things are going to change and we are going to have to learn to be satisfied.

When things start falling apart around me I am going to try to remember that moment that the earth was still an satisfied and so very, very quiet.