Be Still and Know that I am God
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Intro:
Intro:
Good morning.
As we get started this morning, I want you to know that I am preaching heavily to myself with this subject.
We live in an over-stimulated, rushed, technology-saturated, multi-tasked, entertainment-driven world, and the results of living in such a world are all around us!
It is not uncommon for one to be doing three, four or even more tasks all at the same time these days.
For instance, one might be 1) driving, 2) eating, 3) talking to his family, in between 4) listening to a podcast, and unfortunately and not uncommonly (although it is illegal) 5) fidgeting or playing with his phone, all at the same time.
This is not uncommon in the least, and particularly when it comes to the distracted driving part, can have deadly results.
And yet, people continue to do it in this mad dash that is what we call “modern life!”
… But it wasn’t too terribly long ago that people reminisce of days gone by like country music artist Rascal Flatts sang about: “I miss Mayberry, sitting on the porch drinking ice cold cherry coke, where everything is black and white
People pass by and you call them by their first name Watching the clouds roll by.”
In other words, there was a time and a place when people SLOWED DOWN and just lived in the moment!
The opening words of the same song laments: “Sometimes it feels like this world's spinning faster Than it did in the old days. So naturally, we have more natural disasters From the strain of a fast pace. Sunday was a day of rest Now, it's one more day for progress And we can't slow down 'Cause more is less It's all an endless process.”
Dion’t get me started on the day of rest part - God knew that we needed time to rest, which is why in the O.T. He commanded that the Israelites rest one day a week, and even though we don’t keep the Sabbath Day in the N.T. but worship on Sunday instead, do we really think it’s a good idea to GO, GO, GO 7 days a week and never rest?
And yet, many people do continually!
We live amongst a society that has more people who are stressed out, anxious, depressed, angry and running a hundred different directions than perhaps ever before.
Could it be that the reason why is that we are ALWAYS IN A HURRY?
That our society IS too fast paced?
That we ARE too entertainment driven?
That social media does more harm than good?
And that we DO NOT take the time to rest nearly enough?
Brethren, JESUS Himself knew how important it was to rest (see Mark 6:31 - “Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”), and if HE emphasized it, then so should we!
Conservative commentator Matt Walsh reports that apparently there is a new Tik Tok trend that the youngsters are pushing these days — It’s called “silent walking.”
Have you heard of it?!
Silent … Walking … (It’s almost as if that has never been tried before!) (I’m being facetious).
Literally, there is a trend online where people are talking about how you should try “silent walking” for 30 minutes a day — where you walk outside and exercise without listening to anything on your phone, without calling on the phone, without texting, etc. — in order to combat the mental health crisis that is currently ongoing.
You think?!
It SHOULD be obvious!
And yet, it ISN’T to a lot of people my age, and people a little older than me, and a little younger.
Why?
Well, from just about the time they could WALK (at least those younger than me), they’ve been connected to these things (hold up phone) and other things like it!
And it’s not good for us!
I say all of that to say this by way of introduction — Sometimes we all need to just slow down.
Sometimes we need to turn off the news.
Unplug the electronics, turn off the phone, stay off of social media for a day or 2 (or 5), and rather …
Be STILL, and know that God is God!
Get out in the beauty of God’s creation like we talked about last Sunday night, and meditate on God’s power and glory and our reverence for Him, and read His Word, and let it change us from the inside out!
Psalm 46:10 says
Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
That’s our sermon title for this morning! “Be still, and know that I am God,” as God says.
The Text:
The Text:
This verse comes from one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 46 — If you’ll turn there, we will go through this psalm verse by verse.
Psalm 46:1
God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever needed help from God. (Every hand ought to be going up!)
Because we ALL have had moments in our life where we REALLY recognized it in particular!
I can think of several in my own life!
When Lindsey and I first got married and we moved 4 states away to SC so I could attend medical school, only to change my mind 4 months later — Yes, I needed God in that moment!
And I STILL think of how scared I was in that season of my life when I read this Psalm! (But God was there for me!)
Another example would be the birth of Olivia this year and the difficulties we faced not only with her, but with Lindsey’s health scare about 10 days later! (GOD WAS WITH US!)
And I wouldn’t want to live in a world without God, would you?!
Psalm 46:2
Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Have you ever felt like the earth fell out from underneath you?!
(Like a big sink hole opened underneath you, like the carpet was ranked out from under you like we say?!)
I have!
Maybe it’s losing a job, or your house burns down, or a bad car wreck, or a friendship falls apart — All kinds of things fall into this category.
You feel like you’ve fallen into a PIT, and you can’t climb out!
But we do not have to fear … if we place our trust in God!
“And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea!”
That’s like a ROCK SLIDE, or a MUD SLIDE!
And maybe events in your life could be described about like that!
But again, God will be WITH us in those moments, if we’ll just listen to Him!
Psalm 46:3
Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling.
Selah
Troubled waters on the sea — a STORM — Life can be described like that as well!
(One of our podcasts at the SAN is called “weathering the Storm” with Drew Suttles, and I went back and checked, and one of his episodes is on this Psalm!)
And then “though the mountains shake with its swelling” — That sounds a lot like an EARTHQUAKE (or maybe a volcano!)
Either way, this probably references the most destructive things that impact our lives …
Things like the death of a spouse or a parent or a child, divorce — Things that just rock us to our very core! :(
… But God will still be with us!
Seleh … Pause and reflect — Contemplate — Meditate!
Psalm 46:4
There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
“I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river, I’ve got peace like a river in my soul” the kids sometimes sing!
Do we really?!
We should, if we’re faithful Christians!
Psalm 46:5
God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
Psalm 1 talks about the blessed one who is “like an (unmovable) tree planted by rivers of (peaceful) water … and whatever he does shall prosper.”
Who is that blessed one? (The one that is righteous in God’s sight!)
And why is he unmovable? (Because he stands with an unmovable, all good God!)
God is in the midst of his holy tabernacle, He will NOT be moved, and God will help His people “just at the break of dawn!”
I like to think of it this way - Just in the nick of time!
Psalm 46:6
The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
The nations RAGE — They DO move!
But God just has to UTTER His voice and the nations tremble, and the earth melts!
In other words — GOD IS IN CONTROL!
Psalm 46:7
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Selah
It is a good thing to be on the side of the Lord!
As we sing in “Who Will Follow Jesus,” “I am on the Lord’s side, Master, here am I!”
Yes, it is good to be on the Lord’s side, but it is disastrous to be His enemy!
Selah - Pause and reflect on that!
Psalm 46:8-9
Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.
Look, I know the world is up at arms right now with everything that is going on in Ukraine and now in Israel as well — And rightly so — It is concerning, for sure.
But we shouldn’t let these things CONSUME US, to give us ANXIETY, to DISTRACT US.
Ultimately, God is still in control!
Yes, He lets things progress throughout history according to human free will, but rest assured, if God wants certain things to happen or not happen, He DOES have all power to step in and will act through His Providence if He so chooses!
Thus, we need to pray!
Psalm 46:10
Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
Sometimes brethren, believe it or not, it’s OKAY to hit the pause button!
It’s okay! Life will pick right back up where you left off!
It’s okay to unplug a little bit! In fact, it’s a GOOD thing to unplug and detox yourself from electronic devices in particular!
And especially for the purpose of HONORING GOD, of EXALTING HIS HOLY NAME, whether that be in daily private devotions (or daily FAMILY devotions), or at worship services, etc.
I’m convinced that one of the main reasons we’re losing so many young people in the church today is because families are not practicing daily Bible devotional time in the home together!
We’re too busy with WORLDLY pursuits!
That’s a huge problem! And we emphasize this constantly on our podcast called Father Time, which is a podcast about Dad’s in particular stepping up and leading in these efforts in the family!
“Be still, and know that I am God; I WILL be exalted among the nations, I WILL be exalted in the earth!”
What about in our families?!
Psalm 46:11
The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Selah
A fitting reminder as we end this Psalm!
Very similar to how this Psalm started!
So again — Are you on the Lord’s side or not?
If you are, no need to fear!
But if you are not, then by all means you need to fear that!
Application:
Application:
The application of the Psalm that we have looked at today is this:
I believe that anxiety & overstimulation, being over-saturated in the culture and the things of this world, etc go hand in hand!
We need to break away from the things of this world!
The sinful things of the world, we need to make a clean and TOTAL break from!
But even things that can be morally neutral like sports and entertainment, politics and social media — Sometimes we need to hit the pause button on those, too!
And we need to just BE STILL, and know that GOD IS GOD!
God is in control!
So REST and have the PEACE that surpasses human understanding as you realize THAT!
Can you rest at night? Do you cast all your anxieties, cares and burdens upon the Lord?
Have you accepted the invitation He offers in Matt. 11:28-30?
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
The invitation is yours to believe on Christ, repent of your sins, confess your faith in Him, and be baptized into Christ, or to come to make your requests known as we stand and sing!