Not sure if I've missed it all along, but just over the past couple of weeks or so I've noticed Psalm 46:10 being quoted by ministers and Christians in general, posted on social media...it has been printed onto plaques, bumper stickers you name it, seems to me this verse is experiencing some type of renaissance here in the USA. You know the verse, "Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." Hold up, you say. Is that actually Psalm 46 10 AND 11? No, that is simply ALL of Psalm 46:10. More importantly, it is found within the context of the 11 verses that make up Psalm 46...a resounding proclamation by the Psalmist championing the Omnipotence of our Lord. Even though THIS world is ultimately destined for destruction, the Lord reigns triumphantly and HE and His Church will ultimately prevail!
So, why do we so fondly "claim" a PARTIAL verse that can be so loosely, and may I suggest so superfically applied, or mis-applied? Well, I believe to "Be still and know that (He) is God" can speak so powerfully to OUR personal tendency to cram our lives with the busyness of this fallen and failing world. I do not want to claim that the Lord especially revealed this to me, but as I've personally gotten STILL (pun intended) in an effort to actually know my Lord and what He desires ME to know from and about him, I would like to make an observation, if I may be so bold or maybe just so confrontational! I really think the way that we partially quote THIS passage indicates a far deeper issue than our propensity to embrace busyness at the expense of truly knowing the Lord intimately. I honestly am fearful that we enjoy what the partial quoting of this passage means FOR us but choose to overlook what the REST of Psalm 46:10 demands FROM us!
When reading the entirety of Psalm 46, doesn't the exhortation to "Be Still...Know that I am God" indicate that there is more involved than OUR personal recess from the hectic pace of this world? Notice the phrase, "I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth" follows the exhortation to "be still...know." Isn't it simply logical to conclude from this passage that out of our stillness, exaltation of the Lord AMONG the nations and in the earth should explode from us? The tendency among western Christians is to internalize God's promises...even to go so far as pick and choose (even edit, in the case of Psalm 46!) the passages which "speak to us." Ultimately, God speaks TO us for the purpose of speaking THROUGH us. My desire is that you and I would discover stillness before the Lord, and that intentionally focused time will result in us KNOWING him and that his ultimate purpose in sending his Son to die in our place is for US to now exalt HIM among the nations!
