Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 3:00 — )
PROGRAM D-8433
There’s one very simple verse found in Psalm 46 which we desperately need to learn how to put into practice in our lives: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). I have explored how we must get still both physically and inwardly—stopping our body and focusing our mind on God.
The next challenge of these eight simple words is to know that he is God. Knowing something means we understand clearly and with certainty. Knowing implies understanding. Knowing requires training and education.
Knowing doesn’t just happen, it is a result of a process. It requires involvement on my part. Knowing develops confidence and trust. Knowing dispels doubt and fear.
To know God means that we know that he alone is God and we don’t look to other people or sources to meet our needs. When you have a need, where do you go first for help? Do you first go to your bank account and trust in your money? Do you run to a friend or counselor to give you comfort and advice? Do you look to a job for security? Then, if those fail, is that when you go to God?
When you know that he is God, you run first to him for all your needs. You know that God alone is your source and, while he may use other people to help you, he alone is your source. Lots of us are simply using God as our emergency escape hatch: When all else fails and we’ve exhausted all our resources, then we start praying, “Oh, God, please help me.”
Knowing God means you know that he alone is God, and you are learning to turn first and finally to him for all strength, help, confidence, and security. But you’ll never be able to do that if you don’t first learn to “be still” so that you can know that he is God.
“Be still and know”—We need a rock-solid confidence in our knowledge—and that comes as a process, a way of life. Do you know more today than yesterday that he is God? Do you trust God more this year than you did this time last year? Can you see a growth pattern in your knowledge and trust of God?
If your answer is not a definite yes, perhaps it’s because you haven’t yet made a commitment to be still—both bodily and mentally—and know God. That’s where it begins.