Tag Archives: Be Still and Know

With God on Our Side

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God is on our side.  Says who?  Says God.  And who, exactly, is referred to by the word, “our?”  You.  Me.  Everybody.  He’s on our side.  Chile, Vietnam, Belgium.  God’s plan is to bring peace throughout the world.  I’ll bet your first thought is, “Yeah, right; I’m sure that’s going to happen.”  But peace looked no more likely when God sent that promise (repeatedly) than it does today.  And He was serious.  Be honest: Wouldn’t you really rather have a world filled with peace?  Isn’t there a part of you that yearns for that?  God does, too; He’s on our side.  And He is already working to bring it about.  The reason it looks dubious from our vantage point is because God is not in a hurry.  He exists beyond the strictures of time.  His work is done thoroughly, not necessarily suddenly.

So, how do we know He is actually working on it?   One of His promises to bring world peace, given through Isaiah, specified that He would do it through the work of a “Chosen Servant.”  The Servant would be born to Israel in the line of David.  He would be rejected and eventually killed by being “pierced.”   Nevertheless, this “Servant” would then “see the light of life.”  His work on earth, which would look at first to have failed, would be accomplished in a quiet but relentless way.  And God promised:

he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his teaching the islands will put their hope.” Isaiah 42:3b-4

Seven hundred years later, Jesus fulfilled those prophesies of the Servant.  As unlikely as it would seem, this impoverished, homeless guy, who lived a short and relatively obscure life in a conquered land, has had His Name and teaching gradually spread across the entire globe.  Quietly and yet relentlessly.  God says His work will continue until all nations live by it.  He got the first part right; I believe He’s right about the endgame.

So what is our part in all this?  It is to recognize that God is on our side and shut up!  Except God said it in a nicer way:

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.” Psalms 46:9-10

People used to say, “God is on our side; fight harder!”  God says, “I’m on your side, stop fighting.”  When nations understand that, peace will come.  If you truly yearn for that, join Jesus in praying, “…Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Stop, Look and Listen

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Does God really exist?  How do you know?  We have been told by people we trust.  Most people believe in God.  But how do you know?  It’s worth asking that question every so often.  Blind faith, faith not tested by doubt, might slip across the line into weak superstition.

But how can we know?  We cannot see God.  We can’t see gravity, but every time we drop the toast, gravity does its thing.  But God is different, a living Person – not human, but Someone Who operates with mind, emotion and will.  You can’t test a person like you test a force, because he might surprise you.  He might catch the toast.  So how?

Many have found certainty for God’s existence in the complexity and vast scope of Creation.  But, perhaps the best way to know, since God is a living Person, is to do something that does not come easy for most of us.  Quiet yourself.  Shut off all the words inside.  Open the eyes of your soul.  Listen.

“Be still, and know that I am God…”  (Psalms 46:10a)

Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.  (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2)

If we really listen for God’s voice, really pay attention to Him with a readiness to respond, He has no problem demonstrating the reality of His existence.  Listening to Him comes with a reward.  Jesus said:

“It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—  (John 6:45)
And… “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”  (John 6:47)