Be Still and Know that I am God (Psalm 46:10)

Several months ago our pastor was commenting on Psalm 46:10 (“Be still, and know that I am God.”). He said that we misinterpret this verse when we picture ourselves at a serene brook with our Bible and prayer journal open to be still and know that God is God. I didn’t really get where he was headed with this until just this week. Listening to Mark Buchanan speak about sabbath on the Discerning Leader podcast (https://www.leadershiptransformations.org/podcast/2021/06/03/sabbath-rest-what-and-why-discerning-god-at-his-pace-episode-01/ ) I finally understood what our pastor meant. The psalm is all about God acting in human affairs:

  • God helping his people (vs 5)
  • God speaking, and the whole earth softening (vs 6)
  • God bringing desolation (vs 8)
  • God bringing wars to an end (vs 9)
  • God destroying our implements of war (vs 9)

And then God inviting our response: “Be still and know that I am God” (vs 10)

Mark said: “Psalm 46:10 is not about stillness but attentiveness.”

Lord, help us to respond to your invitation to be still enough to be attentive to what you are doing around us.

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