Being Still

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.