Before we get into the topic for today, we want to share a really cool God moment that led to this blog. We did not have a formal devotional today, but we did meet for a prayer time. Before prayer, the staff member who writes the blog was reflecting on what the Lord wanted to share in the blog today; we’ve been so busy at the office lately, so she started to write about Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” When all the staff came together for prayer, another staff member prayed Psalm 46:10, and asked the Lord for strength, peace, and patience during this busy season for us and our families.
There is no coincidence with God; everything happens according to His plan, so we thought that was clear confirmation from God that He wants the blog to be about Psalm 46:11. So here’s the blog for today:
“Be still and know that I am God.” We’ve all heard this verse before from parents, friends, and pastors as we struggle through difficult or busy times in our lives. It’s such an easy verse to hear and say “yes, today will be the day that I will finally take a few moments to be still and reflect on the Lord,” but it’s so difficult to actually do what this verse says.
During prayer time this morning, one of the staff members prayed this verse and asked that the Lord give us and our families strength, peace, and patience during this time. We have been busy at the office with new families and placements, and many of our families have sick kids or are waiting through the appeals process.
It’s already so difficult to sit in stillness and rest in God when life moves quickly between work, home, kids, school, activities, and whatever else. It’s even more difficult when you’re a parent with sick children, and you’re trying to do everything you can to make them better or more comfortable. It’s even more difficult when you’re waiting on the appeals process to finish, so that you can know with certainty what the future holds. It’s even more difficult when you’re trying to find ways to help the kids placed in your home to heal from trauma.
How can God ask you just to sit and take a little time off from life when there’s so much work to be done?
Verses 1-3 of Psalm 46 say this:
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.”
Before telling us to be still and know Him, God tells us that He is our refuge and strength. He tells us that He is an ever-present help in trouble. He is always with us and He will always take care of us even through the worst disasters. We don’t have to be slaves to fear; God tells us not to fear even if the earth is destroyed. He is there to help and to protect us.
Most of us don’t spend our time worrying about the destruction of earth, but we do spend our time worrying about our children, our jobs, our finances, and our futures. We worry about our kids being safe and happy, we worry about our jobs being miserable, we worry about making enough money to provide for our families, and we worry about all of these things going right in the future.
God knows these worries and He’s always there with us whether we spend time resting in Him or not, but He knows we will have more comfort and peace from abiding in Him. He tells us that He is our refuge and strength—we can come to Him to be renewed and comforted.
“Be still, and know that I am God.” God knew how hard it would be for us to do this, so before He told us this, He reminded us that He is always there with us as our refuge and strength. He’s there when we put a frozen lasagna in the oven for dinner instead of taking the time to cook something because we need that time to be with Him. He’s there when we spend just a minute in the car resting in His peace before we go into that horrible job. He’s there when we sit behind closed doors and cry to Him because we don’t know the future of the kids placed in our homes.
Every time you hear someone tell you “Be still, and know that I am God,” remember what God tells us in the verses before. We can be still in God and not be worried or afraid about not getting something done or not being strong enough because He is there as our refuge and strength.