Be Still and Know

The last few days of school this year, I was bombarded each morning with questions about how the day would unfold, what we were going to do or not do, and how the details our day would be different or the same. In an effort to keep my class of inquisitive little first graders moving through their day without taking the time to describe each minute detail of our schedule first, I found myself answering them periodically with something like, “I know things are different today, but you just need to trust that your teacher knows what she’s doing and has a plan.”

The first time these words popped out of my mouth, I was struck by the obvious parallel to how God asks us, His children, to respond to the uncertainties of our daily lives. As I pondered my own life and the circumstances in which I knew God was asking me to trust Him, Psalm 46:10 came to mind:

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Essentially, God is telling us here to trust that He knows what He is doing, and that He has a plan.

I have been reading many missionary biographies in recent weeks, and it has been interesting to see that the response of these great heroes of the faith had to trials.

No matter what the need, danger, or dilemma, no matter what their geographical location of service, each of these missionaries responded to trials with the attitude of Psalm 46:10. They took their need to God, and then waited and watched for Him to work.

I could mention many amazing stories of God’s provision in answer to the prayers of these individuals, but there are just too many to mention.

It's not that these men and women were somehow just better people than everyone else, or that they were particularly blessed because they were missionaries; it’s simply that they had learned how to be still, knowing that God was the same in their hour of need as He has ever been.

God often teaches us this by putting us into situations in which the only thing we can do is be still. But being still is only half of it. We must also learn to rest in the knowledge that God is God.

As Christians, we know that the God we serve is powerful, but do we think like it? Or do our worries and complaints show a lack of faith that God is able to help us with a problem this big? I am convinced that God intends us to meet our trials with a calm sense of expectancy, almost an excitement to see how God will work good out of bad, or bring growth out of destruction.

God wants us to look around at our problems, our burdens, and our heartaches, and then be still, resting always in the knowledge that God is God. He is sovereign and in control. –He knows what He’s doing, and He has a plan.

He will be exalted among the heathen who seem to be prevailing. He will be exalted in the earth. We will see all things made right one day, in His way and timing. For now, it’s just a matter of waiting and trusting.

So whatever you’re facing today, remember: God knows what He’s doing, and He has a plan.

“For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” 

Romans 8:28