Be Still: God's Strategy for Serenity

By Jon Lands

From the Tea Party to the Occupy Movement to the Arab Spring, we live in a day where economic failure, rage and tragedy are common place. How do we survive all of this chaos and confusion? How do we find a real relationship with God when we live in a frantic, high paced, topsy-turvy world? Psalm 46 describes a time that is amazingly similar to our own time. The Psalm was written during a time of catastrophes. He describes earthquakes, landslides, floods, economic failure, kingdoms collapsing, and the people raging. It is during these times that we have the greatest opportunities to know God. This is when we need Him the most and when most are too busy to take the time. God comes to us and says, "Don't fear, have faith"? He doesn't remove these problems from our lives. He doesn't wave a magic wand to eliminate all the chaos and catastrophes from your life. God does, however, give you a coping mechanism. It is called faith. There are eleven verses in Psalm 46. In ten of these verses the psalmist is speaking about God; in only one verse is God speaking to the psalmist. The psalmist spends a lot of time crying to God about the problems of his life and in the world around him. This is something we are all familiar with. We do the same thing. What we need to see is what God said to the psalmist - and to us!

• Language: English
• Publisher: eBookIt.com
• Release date: Apr 26, 2016
• ISBN: 9780985463311

Book preview

@PastorJonLands

DEDICATION

The list is too long to mention everyone who has been an encouragement to me in my ministry. Yet, I will attempt to list just a few specific family and friends that I hold in my heart.

First to my wife, Jenny, and our children, Ryan, Jenna, Maggie and Josiah, who have allowed me to serve in the ministry as a pastor and made it a team effort as a family.

Second, to my mother who was a perfect example of journaling and writing while I was a child and my Dad (who has graduated to heaven) who made me get the best possible education I could.

Finally, to my Fellowship Church family. Your patience with me as a growing young pastor over the past 16 years has been immeasurable and I look forward to another 16. I am just thankful that the Lord has called me to be an under-shepherd in His service and my field is with you.

JL

INTRODUCTION:

Be Still

If there is anything that we lack today, it is stillness. Our lives are hectic and frantic especially in a highly mobile and connected society. I’m guilty. I have my Bluetooth connected to my Blackberry as I speed along to my next appointment or schedule. We get busy with talking, texting, emailing, surfing the internet, scheduling, and fidgeting with our gadgets of convenience. It is hard for a highly-mobile and connected person (like myself) to learn that these technological tools are beneficial for living, but not essential for life.

This became clear to me in February 2011 when everything seemed to fall apart in my life. My self-proclaimed goals and aspirations for my life seemed questionable and God’s plan for my life seemed untraceable. While everything seemed perfect on the outside, my stomach had become ulcerated as I functioned merely on coffee and endless shots of Five Hour Energy.

After ending up in the hospital from the effects of stress and exhaustion, I began a slow journey of learning how to be still. My perspective on life and my walk with the Lord did not miraculously and instantly improve. Learning to be still is a process more than an event. God had expanded lessons to teach me as I still had questions in my heart. But through it all, God has taught me to relax and rely on Him.

I wish I could say I have graduated to greater lessons in life, but the truth is, I still have to take a refresher course every now and again. Occasionally, I will forget my car charger while traveling and end up with a dead cell phone battery. After I stop fidgeting and worrying, I realize that God may be trying to get my attention. It is as if He is saying, Okay, Jon, it is time for you to sit still and listen to me.

How full is your calendar? Is God looking at your calendar to see when you have scheduled to meet with Him? Or is God important enough that you would allow Him to interrupt your busy life, stay still before Him, and let Him talk to you?

Be still and know that I am God: (Psalms 46:10a).

Knowing God is more than performing rituals, even Christian rituals. It is a relationship. Coming to church doesn’t make you know God any more than visiting the White House means you know the President of the United States. Some think that because they read a few chapters in their Bible, they know God. But listening to the President’s speeches on TV doesn’t mean you know him either.

In fact, we know more about God than we actually know Him. We read our Bible, give up token prayers, attend church, and even partake in the Lord’s Supper. We gain knowledge about God while never really getting to know Him.

Until you can stay still and listen to Him, you won’t get to know Him.

Psalm 46 describes a time that is amazingly similar to our own time today. The Psalm was written during a time of catastrophes. He describes earthquakes, landslides, floods, economic failure, kingdoms collapsing, and the people raging. Sound familiar? But through all this, the psalmist declares in verse 2 that he doesn’t fear. How could he do this?

With the Tea Party, the Occupy Movement, the Arab Spring, and others, we too live in a day where economic failure, rage and tragedy are common place. How do we survive all of this chaos and confusion? How do we find a real relationship with God when we live in a frantic, high paced, topsy-turvy world?

It is during these times that we have the greatest opportunities to know God. This is when we need Him the most but when most are too busy to take the time. God comes to us and says, Don’t fear, have faith. He doesn’t remove these problems from our lives. He doesn’t wave a magic wand to eliminate all the chaos and catastrophes from your life.

God does, however, give you a coping mechanism. It is called faith.

God is more concerned about building your faith and your walk with Him than He is about making your life easy in your eyes. He knows that as your faith grows, your fears will diminish.

There are eleven verses in Psalm 46. In ten of these verses the psalmist is speaking about God; in only one verse is God speaking to the psalmist. The psalmist spends a lot of time crying to God about the problems in his life and in the world around him. This is something we are all familiar with. We do the same thing. What we need to see is what God said to the psalmist—and to us!

Be still, and know that I am God…! – Psalms 46:10.

CHAPTER ONE:

Be Still and Know God in His Strength

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

- Psalm 46:10

For centuries, the sequoias have been the titan of the forest. Often towering above 240 feet into the California sunshine, they have stood the test of time—until recently. In November 2011, without any discernible reason, one of these mighty trees fell to the ground. The spectacular event was recorded by a German tourist who happened to be hiking on a nearby trail. A sharp crack drew his attention and he watched, no doubt in awe, as the king of trees slowly toppled to the ground with a thunderous crash.

There was no wind to cause this mighty tree to fall. No storms. No fires. No lightning strikes. No heavy snowfalls to snap weakened branches. Nothing. The tree fell, seemingly, for no reason at all.

This is not the first time something like this has happened. In 1988, two of these colossal trees suddenly, for no apparent reason, fell to the ground. It is such a rare event that the forestry service mobilizes to investigate the cause each time it happens. In the end, they concluded that nothing external caused the tree to fall. The healthy tree fell for one reason. It had a weak root system. In trying to determine the cause of the weak root systems, the forestry service decided that the foot traffic of tourists, walking on top of the roots, had loosened the soil and damaged the roots.

In my time, I have known some immense sequoias of faith. They have served God faithfully through the years, standing head and shoulders above anyone else when it came to their faith and fruits. I heard them, much like Peter, declare that they would never topple, never fall, and never lose their faith. Yet many did.

The foot traffic of life can do damage to your spiritual root system. The comings and goings of a busy schedule, stressful plans, and cares of loved ones can, without our realization, begin to erode away at our spiritual root system.

In Luke 3:9, John the Baptist declared the axe must be placed to the root if a tree is lacking fruit. Jesus, while with His disciples, cursed a fig tree for not having fruit (Mark 11:13-14). The fig tree had lots of foliage, just no fruit. What examples of Christianity today! Too many churches have lots of leaves, look healthy on the outside, stand tall, and yet lack any fruit. They have magnificent buildings and million dollar budgets, coupled with people, programs, plans, and a semblance of spirituality. But the unmistakable testimonies of transformed lives by Christ are missing, and the last time someone made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ is now a distant memory. Mark 11:20 records that the fig tree dried up from its roots. Perhaps Jesus was teaching that the fruit problem is more of a root problem.

On an individual level, each of our own spiritual lives is like this. If our spiritual roots dry up, we won’t produce fruit.

What is our spiritual root system? It is our walk with Christ, the personal relationship that we develop with our Savior. When we come close to Him, to be still before the Lord, we get the spiritual sustenance we need to bring forth fruit.

If we intend to grow spiritually, to survive the rat-race, to carry the burdens of life and to build a true relationship with God, we need to strengthen our spiritual root system. In Psalm 46, God gave us a key to doing all of this. He said, Be still and know that I am God. Wow! Sometimes we just need to know that God is able. We need to see that God is capable. Sometimes we just need to sit back and watch God work.

From this command, God gives the psalmist three simple solutions to deal with the catastrophes and problems in life. These three precepts will help you to establish your relationship with God, strengthen your spiritual root system and keep you from fear.

Relax

Relax. Just relax.

The command, Be still, comes from an interesting Hebrew word - raphah. It can be defined or translated this way: to let drop, to abandon, to relax, to refrain from, or to forsake. It was the word the Egyptian taskmasters used to describe the Hebrews when they accused them of being idle or lazy. In this case, however, what the Egyptians condemned, God commended.

Many of our problems are a direct result of how uptight and busy we are. God has a suggestion for that: loosen up a little. We get uptight about our situations, circumstances, relationships, and cares of this world. We can’t control it like we want to or change it to fit our ideal, so we get uptight. In our efforts to try to control these things we often bring destruction upon ourselves as the cares of this life damage our spiritual root system.

A raccoon trap places a shiny object in a box with a hole in it. The hole is big enough for a raccoon to squeeze his hand in and grab the object, but with the object in hand, the hole is now too small to withdraw his hand. He is trapped! And he will stay trapped because he refuses to relax his grip and let go. He brings upon himself swift destruction.

We do the same thing in life. We hold so tightly to something that we inadvertently do more damage to that root system. God commands us to cast all of our care on Him. How can we do that and still hold on so tight to it?

"Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."

- 1 Peter 5:7

I’ve held on to things to the point where all of my hopes were destroyed by them. The book of 1 Samuel records the story of King Saul. Saul became king because of the hard heart of the people in rejecting God and desiring to be like all the other nations around them. At one point, God commanded him to destroy the Amalekites, but Saul disobeyed. He was king, after all. He could do what he wanted, how he wanted, and when he wanted. Yet when his disobedience came to light, the prophet Samuel said, The Lord hath rent (or ripped) the kingdom of Israel from thee this day.

Saul did everything he could to keep it. He tried to murder David on a number of occasions and even ruined his relationship with his son Jonathan over his efforts to keep the kingdom. But he still lost it. He lost his life and the lives of two of his sons. He held on so tightly that he inadvertently caused his own destruction. How the mighty sequoias do fall!

How many things have been ripped from our hands because we were holding on to them too tightly? We wouldn’t give them to God. We acted like Saul did, trying to control everything around us. And we lost them—had them ripped right from our hands.

There are parents who hold so tightly to their children that they lose them. They have their own plans for their children, and in many respects have commandeered God’s role in the lives of their children. It is