A picture is worth a thousand words… except when it doesn’t tell the whole story.
This looks like an idyllic scene, doesn’t it? A glassy lake hosting a myriad of waterfowl upon its untroubled waters and reflecting a vivid sunset sky. Take a deep breath and relax in the peaceful moment…
Ah! But wait! Not everything here is as it seems to be!
Let me tell you a little more about this picture. I snapped
this picture on an evening walk with three other adults and six children
ranging in age from 2 to 12. They are family, and were thoroughly enjoying a
rare time together, as they live in different states. The path around the lake
was wide and the kids used every inch of it, and then some. Bugs, leaves, dirt,
and birds all needed to be dutifully and thoroughly inspected while the adults
chatted and took photos. The kids’ favorite part was seeing all the goslings!
They were at that awkward, halfway-grown stage. Their feet looked too big for
their bodies, and feathers were starting to take the place of baby down. Oddly,
they were somehow still pretty cute. Besides the geese, the lake was well
populated with all manner of other waterfowl, shorebirds, and song birds. It
was not, by any means, quiet before we arrived, and it was even less quiet
after. Adding to the cacophony of honks, quacks, and hollers… there was the
auditory delight (to some, I suppose) of a large carnival taking place directly
across the street. At the moment I took this photo we were nearing the end of
our stroll, and it was clearly getting close to bedtime, too. I saw the scene
and it framed up nicely both in my mind and through my viewfinder, so onto the
memory card it went. I didn’t realize how nice it turned out until I loaded it
onto my computer.
That’s when I thought, “Oh, I should add a verse and share
this to the Faith Undaunted page! How about… ‘Be still… (Psalm 46:10).’ Yes,
that seems fitting. It looks like such a calming, relaxing scene. So peaceful.”
However, after I added the verse, but before I shared it, it occurred to me how
contradictory that seemed, considering the backstory that I know about the pic.
Now, I could have shared it without telling you anything about it. You
might have imagined me sitting on a bench before this view, soaking in the last
few rays of sunlight and watching the ducks float silently around. The message
from the verse is to “Be still and know that I am God,” and it certainly seems
like a place you’d want to sit and be still. But for me, there was nothing
still about that moment. That moment was filled with busily buzzing children,
friendly chatter, road noise, all manner of bird noises, and was punctuated by
screams from those unfortunate people who decided to strap themselves into a
nauseating carnival ride. 😉
It makes me wonder… In general, do we tend to wait for
“picture-perfect,” peaceful moments to be still and spend time with God? Are we
relying on our feelings and emotions to dictate when and where we choose to
acknowledge our Lord and Savior for who He is? I don’t mean that I think we are
waiting for a beautiful lakeside sunset to read our Bible… I just wonder if we’re
sometimes waiting for that tranquil feeling in our life before we take the time
to be awed by who God is, and to praise Him.
The phrase, “Be still and know that I am God,” comes from Psalm 46. I’m sure you’ve heard that part of the Psalm before. It’s often quoted. Could you say what is in the entire Psalm, though? Do you know it? I admit that I didn’t. I mean, I’d read it before, but I couldn’t have told you offhand what was in the verses surrounding the admonition to, “Be still.” When I looked it up to find the reference for the picture, I found the verse but didn’t read the whole thing. Then, after I thought about the story behind the picture, I went back to see the context. Let’s take a look at it:
“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.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy
place where the Most High dwells.
God is
within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.
Nations are
in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord
Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Come and
see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes
wars cease to the ends of the earth.
He breaks
the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.
He says, ‘Be
still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be
exalted in the earth.’
The Lord Almighty
is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”
-Psalm 46 (NIV)
Thoughts? Is that what you were expecting? Quaking
mountains? Roaring and foaming waters? Uproar? Falling kingdoms? Yeah, that’s
not what I was expecting either. I was anticipating more of a Psalm 23 feeling.
What we’re so often unwilling to acknowledge is that things in our life might
look different than we expected. We expected a storybook marriage and family,
but our reality feels like chaos compared to what we dreamed of. We thought
we’d take a certain career path, only to find out that it’s not a good fit for
us after all. We pictured ourself owning a beautiful home, but 10 years later
we’re still renting. Besides that, we never imagined ourselves to be facing things
like financial problems, sickness, wayward children, mental illness,
persecution, or a pandemic. We can get so caught up with everything that is
happening in and around our lives that we start to spiral downwards. We get
focused on the problems. Maybe we don’t forget God – we still go to church (but
are we just going through the motions?), we still read our Bible (but are we
understanding it or only seeing the words?), we still pray (but do our prayers
solely consist of pleas for God to help us?) – but are we remembering who He
is? I don’t want that to come across wrong… if all we can manage at times
is to go through the motions, it IS still important to keep on doing that. God
will meet us where we’re at, and if where we’re at is rock bottom, God will
still meet us there. His faithfulness to us is not dependent AT ALL upon our
faithfulness to Him, and we need to be incredibly thankful for that! However,
with that said, I do want to challenge us. When Jesus told the wind and the
waves to be still in Mark 4: 35-41, it was a command – and they obeyed. The very
air and water transformed from a state of raging turmoil to one of calmness.
Why? Because even the AIR and the WATER knew – know! – who Jesus is! Their
obedience shows a recognition of His sovereignty. God can speak to the storms
in our lives and tell them to be still and they will… or He can speak to us and
tell us to be still in the middle of the storm. Will we??? Will we say to our
wildly spiraling thoughts, “Stop it!” Will we praise God for who He is, and
thus acknowledge Him as greater than our storms? Will we thank Him for what He’s
doing in our lives, even if we don’t know what that all is going to look like in
the end?
I guess what I’m driving at is this: The command is not to be still only when it’s quiet outside, or be still just when you feel at peace, or be still every time your life is going exactly how you want it to. Nah, I read this as be still when your world is falling apart. When your happily-ever-after dreams seem out of reach. Be still in the midst of the storm. When your reality is far removed from your expectations. Be still NO MATTER WHAT. Why? Because HE IS GOD! We can trust Him. He is faithful. He truly loves us and has our best interests at heart.
He is worthy. He is worthy. He
is worthy.
