B_Still

This is not always an easy one for us. We live in a go-go-GO! society with a slow-slow-SLOW! faith. It's one of the paradoxes of our lives. The world around us contains so many pressures. There are ads, commercials, newscasters, movies, all screaming at us telling us what we should be, shouldn't be, could be and mustn't be. Too often it is too easy to allow them to rule our hearts and minds.

When our eyes shoot open in the morning after a one hour snooze button marathon, the first thing on our minds is the 101 reasons why we shouldn't have had that one hour snooze button marathon. We are busy busy busy people, but we are called to be still.

Faith can never be convenient. Faith done right is like a Sunday afternoon slow-cooked meal. That is real food. That real food takes time, planning, sacrifice. It takes dedication. It's no wonder we settle for toaster pastries and zap-a-snacks. But there are no zap-a-snack shortcuts with faith. It's not like you can take a quick shower, grab your orange juice and an apple with a prayer bar that you can scarf down on your way to work. That is not how faith works.

In Psalm 46, we encounter a Battle Psalm, a song praising Jehovah Sabbaoth, the Lord of Hosts.

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah


There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah


Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah"

Obviously, we enjoy parking our sermons on "Be still, and know that I am God..." But oh! What we miss in this context when we rip that verse out and slap it on a bumper sticker. Look! Look at this chapter, listen to the heart of the Psalmist as he cries out to God. As he stands in the midst of turmoil and says, "God is our refuge...we will not fear... though the world falls apart around us... God is still with us." Wow.

How often do we approach life with that faith? Better question: How often do we not approach life with that faith? Our mountains crumble, the heather around us rage, and we throw a little white flag in the air shouting, "Ok! I give up!" We succumb to the ebb and flow of life. We are battered by its waves. Like Peter, we have been called to walk on the water in the midst of a stormy sea but we are too focused on the storm to remember that we were in fact told by the Master of the Sea to walk.

There may be a storm in your life. It may be that your eyes pop open in the morning and your mind is already whirring. To-Do lists may already line your wall on brightly-colored post-it notes. Somewhere, in the midst of all that chaos, is God. He's standing, waiting. Waiting for you to give the word. Waiting for you to cry out to Him so He can look at the chaos around you and say, "Peace! Be still." But first, it's your turn.