Love Has a Name

“Be still and know that I am God” writes the Psalmist in Psalm 46:10.

One of the first things that jumps out to me when I read that is the first word, “be.” We are not simply asked or offered a suggestion to stay still. No, in fact, we are being actively commanded or called into a place of being still.

This active verb is telling us that we are to BE still. This takes effort, this takes practice.

About 3 weeks ago I got food poisoning. Most of my readers here will know that I live in Southeast Asia and if you’re not careful here, food poisoning is never far away.

I was quite sick and I was in a good amount of pain for several days. Shortly after the worst of it was over I was asked to share a message with a group of young men during a devotional and worship night. I agreed and slowly began to prepare. My friend who usually shares was even sicker than I was and he couldn’t muster the energy to share a message.

I have shared several messages with this group and I am a confident speaker so I wasn’t too worried about it.

A few days later while I was driving to devotion my stomach began to flip. I pondered about stopping and visiting a local coffee shop to, let’s say, take a break. I also had the thought, “maybe they can go on without me?!” I had to mentally overcome rush hour traffic, smog and an inside out stomach in order to get myself to a comfortable washroom.

Hopefully, that isn’t too much information.

Once I arrived, I was greeted by friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. Quickly after saying hi to everyone I could sense anxiety and tension in the air. I then learned that 2 of my friends were in a car accident and 1 needed to go to the doctor right away. His knee was struck by a car door opening quickly while he was riding his motorbike.

This knocked him to the ground and his knee was bleeding and cut open. The friend who was driving was feeling some guilt, even though it was not his fault at any level.

It literally felt like a storm. 3 people sick, 1 was on the way to a doctor, and several others worried and concerned for everyone’s health and wellbeing. Our team was distracted and no one could focus.

To add another layer to this we had some international friends visit us. They came from the U.S.A. to visit and on this evening they came for worship and to hear a message, yet, when they arrived our team was in quite a battle.

Metaphorically, but in many ways literally, we were in the eye of the storm.

After everyone had come back to a more peaceful state of mind and we began to worship, I began to pray. I started asking God what was happening and that I was feeling a little distracted by everything, including my stomach which was still not cooperating.

During the worship, the worship leader began to play a soft instrumental piece and God spoke to me. “Be still and know that I am God.” I was asking him what does that mean at that moment in time.

His answer was clear… “be still and know that I am God.” I heard Him whisper to me the same thing over and over. Then it clicked.

Actively being still while the world around me seemingly was descending into chaos is hard work. Sitting still, praying, breathing and focusing on God was not easy while friends were in pain, on their way to the doctor and again while my stomach felt inside out.

God was simply, yet intently, asking me to look at Him, trust Him and ACTIVELY practice being still in His presence. Simultaneously He was asking me to remember that He is God and I am not.

The Father who has limitless knowledge and power was asking me to trust Him with my friends, with myself and with my circumstances. While I responded to Him, “I am still, I am listening, you are God,” I felt the peace and power of the Spirit of the Living God enter into me in a powerful way and it moved me to tears.

This moment felt as if He physically picked me up in His hands and protected me from the storm.

This action of being still and giving up control is quite counter-cultural and counter-intuitive. However, the Kingdom of God is upside down when facing our modern society.

God asks us to relinquish control when the world demands we attain more of it.

God asks us to seek His will and His plan when the world demands we make great plans for self.

God asks us to think only of Him when things go bad when the world demands us to preserve self.

This has been a theme for me in the past 13 months as I have been living and serving the Lord yet, I am thankful each time my Father in Heaven whispers this to me. A gentle yet stern reminder that He is God and I am not.

The peace that surpasses all understanding rested on me that day and many times before, but somehow I cannot thank Jesus enough for His faithfulness so I can be pursued relentlessly by a King who took my place and died for my sin.