Is, Was and Will Be – The Unknown Character of Christ and His Word

Menu
Contact Us

Be Still

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Be Still

By now everyone has heard the phrase “be still, and know that I am God…,” which comes from:

Psa 46:10  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

While this is a good starting point into this topic, it is because on its surface it sounds really easy, but in reality it will be a lot more than our flesh can handle. Indeed, it is the Lord in us that is running the show, and that is where we need to be mentally.  We should be focused on “thy Will be done” instead of “my will would have done.”

In truth, the Word of God is nothing more than the very mind of God, and EVERYTHING we confront in our lives is His Will touching us. The more we come to see this truth, the more free we become.

Of course, this is an universally unknown character of the mind of Christ, but I hope this topic brings the point home to your hearts and minds today as nothing other than the Word of God can do.

With that, we’ll look at what the Lord has to say about this topic of ‘being still’.

Moving Slow is Moving Faster

If you are in this boat with me, then I understand how you feel. This boat I am talking about is the fact that no matter how hard you work, no matter how hard you attempt to do better with your time, your time is in fact withdrawing itself from you.

If you are like me, then you have a hundred and one things going on in your mind and planning, but even if you get one hundred done, there is always that one thing left to do tomorrow.

It’s that one thing that seems to hang on in our minds as we are trying to salvage whatever sleep we can from the night and awaken to tackle this illusive task that was left unfinished.

It’s that one thing that seems to keep us from falling asleep in order to start the process of regeneration. Here is how we are instructed in the Word of God to handle this issue:

Psa 4:4  Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.

The word translated ‘awe’ in the beginning of this verse is “rah-gaz”.

Does this sound like something else we have read in scripture?

Eph 4:26  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

Do you think these two verses are related?

Psa 4:4  Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.

They are both instructing us as to what our mind should do to handle these different emotions as we go through them in our walk of life.

We are instructed to be still, but what exactly are we being told? If we are given to do what we are told, we will be able to tap into the Holy Spirit, the Word of God, in order to understand Who causes things to happen the way they do not WHY they happen the way they do. Most church sermons that speak about the world are speaking about WHY and not WHO.

The Lord is mentioned, but is He mentioned in this regard?

Psa 4:4  Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.

Eph 4:26  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

What we are being commanded to do is remain calm, because it is “God who is working all after the counsel of His own Will.”

Eph 4:27  Neither give place to the devil.

I did a study that spoke about the devices of Satan. We definitely do not want to give place to the devil, because doing so opens us up to other things that become stuck in our minds. Here are a few examples:

2Co 2:11  Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

The greek word used here as ‘devices’, according to Strong’s, is the word “no-ay-mah” and can be found in a whopping six times in the new testament! These verses work very well together in determining what Paul was revealing to us here. Astoundingly, five of these six verses are in 2 Corinthians. Here are the six verses, but pay attention to what the scripture concludes we are being told:

2Co 2:11  Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

2Co 3:14  But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which [vail] is done away in Christ.

2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.

Php 4:6  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

We can clearly that we are all “up a creek without a paddle” UNLESS of course “the peace of God shall keep our hearts and minds THROUGH Christ Jesus.”

This sounds a whole lot like these words:

2Co 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Eph 4:27  Neither give place to the devil.

Do you think that one of the devil’s devices is keeping our minds so focused on the world that we don’t take time to ask the Lord what He is doing?

The Israelites, when confronted with the approaching danger of the Egyptians pursuing them, immediately accused Moses and totally forgot the miracles God had performed to bring them out of their oppression of Egypt.

Exo 14:11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Exo 14:12  Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
Exo 14:13  And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
Exo 14:14  The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

Instead of us thinking we can change the world around us, why not ask the Lord to give us the ability to see He is in control of everything in the world, including your life and the life of everyone you love.

Why do you think it is important that Psalm 4:4 and Ephesians 4:26 are mentioning the same thing which happens at the time you “rest your head”?

Psa 4:4 Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.

Eph 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

“In your patience…”

There are two slow moving things that I like to avoid. Those two things are: slow people with lots of coupons and police lights.

Both are part of the flesh, of course, but it tells me I need a lot of patience.

Luk 21:19  In your patience possess ye your souls.

One of the things that I try to avoid is simply me not being patient enough to wait on someone in line, and the second is the fact that had I planned better (think use coupons and save money) and not been late, which results in me speeding, then I would probably not be in the temptation to lose my patience. The more I think I have this thing “licked”, the faster it comes back to me that I have a whole lot further to go!

Regarding older people, I was watching an elderly lady one day who was probably 80. As this lady moved, I could see that it was a lot of work for her to get from point A to B, but I also saw the determination and singleness of mind for her attempting what she was doing.

When you were moving as slowly as she was, you would need a lot of patience just waiting for your own body to move twenty feet. That is how my fleshly mind works with everything I see, and I always try to keep these verses in mind as my life, experiences and circumstances happen.

2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

1Co 10:31  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Being still, biblically speaking is the the ability to acknowledge that the Lord’s will is absolute. Neither our will nor the actions we think we are taking persuade Him.

Take this verse for example:

Mar 4:39  And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

This is an amazing verse stuck into an amazing parable that has a lot to do with “Being Still…” and the verse even contains that phrase.

Mar 4:33  And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.
Mar 4:34  But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.

Notice, He speaks parables us in parables which includes this parable we are about to read, and what is every parable about? Two men.

Mar 4:35  And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.
Mar 4:36  And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
Mar 4:37  And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
Mar 4:38  And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
Mar 4:39  And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
Mar 4:40  And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
Mar 4:41  And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

Notice, it is Christ who initiates the start of anything happening. Paying attentions to how and where the words of God are used in comparison to the others around it is very important. In verse 35 we see Christ say, “Let us pass over to the other side.”  Where and what do you suppose this other side is? Maybe we don’t have to wonder, because it is “away from the multitude” as we continue to read in verse 36.

While moving away from the multitude, there is a GREAT STORM of WIND, and the waves of WATER beat the ship so that it was full. During this time, Christ is in the BACK of our ship. Think of this like the back of our minds, where Christ is asleep in us, but He is awakened by us asking Him if He is aware we are going to perish.

It is then that we finally get to the purpose of all of this:

Mar 4:39  And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
Mar 4:40  And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

Fear is one of the emotions we read about earlier.

Psa 4:4  Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah.

When you really break down this story into what we are being told, then we can really see how this spiritually relates to “Being Still”.

There is a GREAT EARTHQUAKE

Rev 11:19  And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

Rev 6:12  And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

Rev 16:18  And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.

What does this great earthquake eventually produce?

Act 16:26  And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.

There is a GREAT STORM of WIND

The storm that develops as we “pass over unto the other side” is one produced by WIND, and what does WIND represent spiritually? Doctrine.

Eph 4:14  That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

It is this wind that fills us with the water of the sea. We are the ship, the wind is doctrine, and the waves are water.  What is water in scripture? It is the word of God or else it is another Jesus. We have our ever-flowing water, and they have a Jesus that is known after the flesh, which we no longer know any man after.

During this great storm of doctrine that fills our life of the world, we have Christ asleep in the back of our minds. He awakes and then rebukes what? – the wind. Are we any less capable of rebuking the ‘wind’ (false doctrine)? Isn’t that what we are COMMANDED to do when we are confronted with this storm in the lives of other people?

We rebuke Christ and rebuke our brothers at our given time. Whether we realize it or not, we are Peter here:

Mat 16:22  Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

We are also commanded here:

Luk 17:3  Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him.

2Ti 4:2  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
2Ti 4:3  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

We, too, are commanded to rebuke the storm in others, and primarily ourselves, and that brings us full circle to what we are trying to discern when we are reading and hearing, “Be still and know that I am God.”

See the Flame

I have read of one person’s trick to focus was to picture a flame in his head and focus on that to silence His mind and become still in His mind. It was at this point that he was able to accurately focus and dissimulate the information that was going on in and all around him.

We do not need to “see the flame” in our minds, but in thinking about a flame, there is one attribute that determines what happens with a flame. A flame can turn into a fire, and that fire’s sole purpose is to consume.

There are literally 200 thousand thousand doctrines or ‘winds’ that will not allow you to bring Christ to the front of the bus from the back so to speak. We must constantly be practicing to be still so that everything we are facing in our lives is combatted with the Word of God.

Conclusion

Being still means we submit to the sovereignty of God by bringing every thought into the obedience of Christ and His Mind. We must be sincere in our desire to stop worrying about each and every detail of our lives that is out of our control. If we believe Ephesians 1:11…

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

…then being still simply means us acknowledging that God is doing what He says He is.

Other related posts