“Be still and know that I am God”
Psalm 46:10

We are living in a self-help world, in a world that often emphasizes “self” to do the fixing.  We have access to thousands of books at any time we want that are categorized in the genre of “self-help”.  There’s nothing wrong with helping yourself, but God specifically calls us to “serve him and serve others”.  God tells us to deny ourselves and pick up our cross.  God often reminds us that we are to die to self and gain him.  This doesn’t mean that we are supposed to not care about ourselves, but it does mean that we are to put more trust and reliance on God versus ourselves (and the world).  We aren’t to deny our past trauma, but we are to put our trust in the one who can deliver us from that past trauma.  We aren’t to neglect our depression, PTSD, intrusive thoughts, but instead we are to give it to God and his trusted servants he has placed here on earth.  My fear is that too many people are trying to do it themselves, on their own, without God’s help.  Too many people think they can “fix it” themselves through a 150 page self-help book… but God gave us the greatest self-help book thousands of years ago… God gave us the ultimate “help” book from His own word, The Bible.  What’s uncomfortable is the thought of choosing stillness over doing. What’s uncomfortable is choosing surrender over control.  What’s uncomfortable is trusting that HE is God and HE will work it out, rather than us taking control and fixing the situation.  This comes down to surrender… and we live in a society that gives all tips and tricks to “fix it”, rather than releasing it to the one who can fix it all.  

What does it mean to “be still”?  Does this mean we remain idle and don’t do anything?  No, God actually warns against idleness (see Proverbs 16:27), but in our stillness, we are actively trusting and pursuing God.  Being still and knowing means we surrender to God and remember His sovereignty and His omniscience.  I’d argue that if we only do the “still” part and not the “know” part, the enemy will take great hold of us.  Stillness provides an opportunity for the enemy to insert his constant whispers, but us combining the stillness with knowing God, can help us identify the lies from the enemy and fight back with God’s Word.  God doesn’t just tell us to “be still”, but he also tells us to “know that I am God”.  In knowing God, it is trusting God.  

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6  One very important part to comprehend is trusting God doesn’t always equate to understanding God.  I think this is the part that really trips people up.  Just because you put your trust in God, doesn’t mean everything is going to go exactly as you had planned or hoped for.  We think that because we submitted our plans to God, because we gave God the cancer, that it will just disappear.  We think because we told him we’d stop trying to control every detail of trying to get the baby, that the pregnancy test will now come out positive.  A key part to submission is submitting the outcome too.  You forgave that person, you walked through the deliverance prayer, you gave God every tear, but God is still silent.  So what are we to do?

We continue to trust.  We trust, even when we don’t understand.  This is why we are to not lean on our own understanding. Our own understanding doesn’t think in the way that God thinks.  Our own understanding is quite narrow and worldly, but God’s understanding is far beyond what we could ever think or imagine.  My own understanding revolves around my own control, how I can fix it, what steps I can take, me me me… but God’s ways are not like ours. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth,  so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9  So when we are being still and knowing God, we are trusting in the Lord, submitting to His plans and trusting that he will make our paths straight.  God’s ways are higher than our own.  God’s ways include miracles, peace during chaos, the impossible being made possible, redemption, life when the world sees death.  God’s ways remove our control and bring us to our knees in submission.  God’s ways tell us the opposite of what the world tells us.  In a “do-it-yourself” world, God says “submit to me”. DIY gives all the glory to yourself, while submission gives all the control and glory to God.  The difference in DIY versus submission, is that DIY can fail and submission to God will never fail you. 

“In all your ways submit to him and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:6  We aren’t trusting in someone without much merit, we are trusting in the God of the universe, the creator of all creation, the Alpha and Omega.  The God who is just as present and real today, as he was thousands of years ago.  “By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place, by his knowledge the deeps were divided and the clouds let drop the dew.” Proverbs 3:19-20 THAT’S the God we are putting our trust and submission in. Yet, somehow we have gotten to a place in our world where we are trusting greater in an unknown author with not many credentials, as long as the subtitle has something along the lines of “How to Manifest a Life You’ve Always Wanted in One Week”… rather than the God who controls where the wind blows and how much rain to pour down on the land. 

Regardless of the outcome, we must continue to trust.  We trust that even when the answer is still pending, that he is still working- this brings back the knowing part about God.  We trust that even when that crib is still empty, He is still working.  We trust that even though the blood tests still show cancer, that the God of the universe is still working.  Trust is not trust if it’s only trusting when His answer is our answer.  That’s not trust at all. 

When we are focusing less on our own understanding and instead trust in God, we start to see God in it all.  We start to see why God allowed the pain and suffering during that time and how he worked it all for good.  We start to see how God used that tragedy and brought others to life.  Our own understanding would never see light in the darkness. Our own understanding would never see redemption from death.  Our own understanding is not God’s way.  Our own understanding is immediate, quick, for our own benefit. God’s understanding is slow, intentional, and perfectly timed.  God’s understanding is to benefit not just ourselves, but others too.  This is why we are to be still and know God, trust God, lean on God… “And he will make your paths straight”.  Knowing God is knowing that God is for us and not against us.  Knowing God is knowing that while this seems impossible, all things are possible for Him.  Surrendering to God is finding and walking in freedom, by knowing it is His will and not ours.  Thank God for that.