A beautiful old hymn, “Be
Still My Soul” was created through the work of three
different composers.
Katharina von Schlegel wrote the lyrics. One hundred years later Jane Borthwick
translated this beautiful hymn into English from German. Finally, the great
composer of Finland, Jean Sibelius, provided the tune from his music
composition of “Finlandia.”
Be
still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side;
Bear
patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave
to thy God to order and provide;
In
every change He faithful will remain
Be
still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Thro’
thorny ways leads to a joyful end
Be
still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To
guide the future as He has the past
Thy
hope, thy confidence let nothing shake
All
now mysterious shall be bright at last
Be
still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His
voice who ruled them while He dwelt below
Be
still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When
we shall be forever with the Lord
When
disappointment, grief, and fear are gone
Sorrow
forgot, love’s purest joys restored
Be
still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All
safe and blessed we shall meet at last
Sometimes, one of the hardest
things for a Christian to do is … nothing. Obviously, I need to explain.
Is it possible that we as
Christians could often be just too busy? Even in our service for the Lord,
could we be too busy at times?
We live in a very fast-paced
society. Between our home life and job, we stay so busy, everything is a blur. Add
to that the activity surrounding our church lives, and the days, weeks and
months fly by. Before you know it, years are behind us, and we wonder where
they went. How much of that time was used to relax and be quiet? I dare say,
not much, if any.
Pastors are renowned for
forsaking family time in favor of their church leadership responsibilities, but
this isn’t wise. Others are just as busy in other activities until we are like
bees around a hive, or ants over an ant hill.
The Lord expects us to rest.
That is why He gave us a day of “rest.” That is the reason for sleep at night. The
Israelites were to rest the fields every seven years. We all need rest. For the
Christian there is an added benefit to rest. It is seen in the following verse:
“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be
exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalms 46:10)
Obviously, we are to rest
from our activities, our busy schedules, and take a “time-out.” On several
occasions in the Scriptures we read where Jesus went “up into a mountain to pray.” Peter went upon the housetop to pray.
Daniel prayed three times a day, every day.
If Jesus, who is God, felt
that He needed to get away from the crowds occasionally to be in solitude with
the Father, should not we? No child of God, who has ever lived, including the
Apostle Paul, has ever had a ministry as important as Jesus’ ministry, but yet,
Jesus needed the time to be quiet, “rest,” before the Father in Heaven.
Notice also, that Jesus did
not wait until He had an opportunity to get away from the hustle and bustle. He
made the opportunity. He walked away and got by himself to be alone with the
Father. That is what it means to “rest,” to “be still and know that I am God.” What do we do? We make excuses.
Oh, we’ve got a million of them. Excuses, excuses, excuses, all He hears from
us are excuses.
One of the most important
things in the Christian life is to diligently study God’s Word, daily, but even
then, we need to take the time to “be
still, and know that I am God.”
Have you ever tried to talk
to someone while they were busy doing something else? Did you feel like you
were getting their undivided attention? Could it be that God experiences this
same feeling when He says to us, “be
still, and know that I am God?” I’m sure it is. We think we are great
multi-taskers, and we can listen to God while doing all these other things that
“just have to get done.” Apparently, the Lord sees it differently, or He
wouldn’t be telling us to “be still, and
know that I am God.”
What is the number one reason
for church attendance, whether it is in a church building, a home or under a
tree … to be fed and equipped for service? Why did Jesus go off by Himself to
be with the Father … to be fed and equipped for service?
“For where two or three are gathered together
in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20)
When Jesus was alone with the
Father, the Trinity met as one. The Son (1), the Father (2) and the Holy Spirit
(3) met as one. The one God met in all three of His roles as God. When we are
alone with God, there are two, us and our one God we serve. When we and a
family member meet alone with God, we are three, us, our family member and our
one God we serve. If we are in a congregation of believers, we meet as
multiples alone with God. The fact remains though there are times that he wants
to be alone with His children, one on one, and for us to “be still, and know that I am God.” I believe this is part of what
the Apostle Paul was saying to Timothy in the following verse.
“And that ye study to be quiet (emphasis mine), and to do your own business, and to work
with your own hands, as we commanded you;” (1 Thessalonians 4:11)
Have you ever met with
another person and they just rambled on and on? They’re talking like a Magpie
and you can’t get a word in. Are we so much a chatterbox God can’t get a word
in either? What He is trying to tell us is this; as He leads us to a quiet
place, He is putting his fingers over our lips to hush us, saying, “Be still, and know that I am God.”
Grant Phillips
My articles are posted at
“Pre-Rapture Commentary” http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
and many are also posted at “Rapture Ready” http://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html.
