It's WHO You Know.

Psalm 46:10 ESV

10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

The path of least resistance is always the easiest- or so it seems. These days, it seems to me we are fixated onthe easy way out.

Fast food. work from home. fast fix. new and improved is not always what it seems.

For Israel, the easy way out would have been to rely on their own military strength… to align themselves with other countries… to worship many gods and to practice idolatry .

they were not that different from us.

They are quick fixes. They are Lucky Charms instead of Cheerios. French fries instead of baked potatoes.

BE STILL

When God says “Be Still”, He is calling on Israel to stop and think about the possibilities of the quick fix. Think about the end game- you may get their quicker than you want to.

THE HEBREW CARRIES THE NOTION OF RELAXING…LETTING GO.

A real education takes work, and takes time. You can eat mcchicken or you can eat Chicken Cordon Bleu....well. One is quick and cheap- the other is work and may cost more.. It requires patience and a right vision- the ability to look around the corner...

However, “Be Still” does not mean letting go of the hard thing to make it with the easy one, or letting go of the easy one to make it with the more difficult one. “Be Still” means to let go of all of it to find what the RIGHT WAY is. God’s way.

God says, “Be Still”- take the time to think about what you’re doing.

Look at habakkuk 2.20....

Habakkuk 2:20 ESV

But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”

God is in the right place.... have you taken the time to find Him in the midst of your circumstance.

Finding God and God’s way is stressful at times. I wish it was not. Sometimes the wait of “be still” is lengthy- and the wait builds anxiety. Sometimes the way of God has no wait, it is evident and requires quick action- yet builds anxiety as well. Peter says...

cast your cares on him for he careth for you.

1 Peter 5:7 ESV

casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Finding God’s way requires first finding God… doesn’t it?

Mary and Joseph had to go back to find him when they lost him. It could seem like lost time.

Isaiah 40:31 ESV

31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

The disciples had to obey when it didn’t make sense to find Him.

Both going back and obedience can take time… but some times they are theonly way to know God. So we go back, we obey, we wait.

KNOW GOD

KNOW- TO realize; find out; experience; recognize, perceive; care about,

“Know God”. This means learn about God. The easy fix was to abandon true religion for false religion. it was to trust political alliances with pagan countries instead of relationship with God.

The only way to learn about God is to experience Him. That takes time. Sometimes it takes blood sweat and tears.

It takes work. Sometimes I think we look at our issues as God teaching us something. Maybe we should see our tough times as life teaching us God.

Isaiah 43:2–5 (ESV)

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. 4 Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. 5 Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.

Through the fire- He is there. Through the rough places- He is there. Through the difficulty He never leaves.

Know God.

The only way that happens is to find factual knowledge about him.... that takes time. Time spent going through the fire. Going through the flood. Through everything…look for him.

Study, life, looking for Him. Listen to the next verse, Psalm 46.11

Psalm 46:11 ESV

11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah

The only way God is known as a fortress is to live in commitment to His sovereignty- to make Him king of our lives. To live in commitment to His rule- to be obedient- in our lives. To live in commitment to Him above all other nations- all other temptations.

When Moses returned from the Hebrew children being delivered from Egypt...

Exodus 18:10–11 (ESV)

Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they dealt arrogantly with the people.”

W

When David faced the giant philistine.

1 Samuel 17:46 ESV

This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel,

I WILL BE EXALTED

high above, exalted; reach high; rise, go up; bring aloft, raise up, lift up, lift high, erect

1 Chronicles 29:11

11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

Revelation 15:3–4 ESV

And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

jesus said in Luke 19.39-40

Luke 19:39–40 ESV

And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

god will be exalted

How can we “Be Still” when nothing is? When Life and our world seems to be out of control- when it would be easier to go to the dark side- how does our head stay in the game and on our heads long enough to “Know God?”

It requires “Being Still” long enough to “Know God”… to see what God does in the storm.

The Calm In The Storm Is God’s university, The Storm is God’s classroom, and knowing who God is and how God works is his graduate degree. You only graduate by going through.

Imagine the disciples at Luke 22.14-20

Luke 22:14–20 ESV

14 And when the hour came, he reclined at table, and the apostles with him. 15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.” 17 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among yourselves. 18 For I tell you that from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.