Be Still, and Know That I Am God

At times, doing nothing and focusing our whole being on God’s faithfulness and the trustworthiness of His promises is the most powerful and effective act we could ever undertake. Isaiah 30:15 declares: “In rest and repose you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength.” That is why we must ask the Lord: “Father, give me discernment to know when to act and when to wait, when to fight and when to lower my guard, when to speak and when to be silent.” In the divine economy, there is a time for everything, and every situation has its own strategy.

Many times, the most powerful posture for a man or woman of God is quietness, rest. How often agony and anguish leave us physically and emotionally exhausted. Many times I have said to the Lord, “Father, I do not want to live my ministerial life in agony and anguish. I want to labor at rest, anchored in You, always renewing myself like the eagle, gaining new strength even in flight, renewing my vision as I dwell in trust, so that I can continue the battle.”

Many servants of God, men and women, burn out in the course of their work for the Lord, and as the years go by, they grow weaker. I believe that the child of God should be the opposite—the more they move in the power of God, the more they handle His Word, and the more they process the principles of the Gospel—the stronger they should become. They should find greater quietness. They should be more economical and efficient in the use of their energies. And they should be able to do much more while wearing themselves out less, because their spiritual engine ought to burn less fuel; their ministerial transmission should have become more efficient.

Much of the energy we expend is due to anxiety and worry. We do not sleep well; we expend mental energy worrying and anticipating disaster, and we bleed away drop by drop, like a woman with a flow of blood: drop by drop she bleeds and grows weak. And that is often what happens to the children of God. Many of the emotional downturns and collapses in ministry come from worry and anxiety, not because God wants it that way, or because the nature of the work makes it inevitable. When we learn to be still in the Lord, that posture becomes our point of power.

What does Isaiah 26:3 say? “You will keep in perfect peace the one whose mind remains steadfast on You, because he has trusted in You.” Incidentally, the word “remains steadfast” implies a firm decision to stay focused on God over the long term. This is not necessarily easy or natural. The human tendency is to fix our eyes on circumstances.

When we fix our eyes on God, it keeps us in quietness and harmony. Psalm 46:10 invites us to find that place of powerful stillness by meditating on God’s power and lordship: “Be still, and know that I am God.” There are many other passages that speak to us of the power that resides in the persistent cultivation of stillness. We have already seen the words of Isaiah 30:15. It says, “In rest and repose you shall be saved; in quietness and trust shall be your strength.”

Sometimes the best thing we can do in the midst of a crisis is simply lower our hands, resist the tendency to act compulsively, and deliberately focus on God’s promises. When we have done everything within our power, then it is time to step aside and fix our eyes on Him, waiting confidently for the salvation that will surely come. That posture of faith releases divine power and glorifies Him through our trust. When anxiety and fear threaten to overwhelm and weaken us, we must take our eyes off the storm and say, like David the psalmist: “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you troubled within me? Hope in God; for I shall yet praise Him, my salvation and my God.”

There is something about stillness… not just any kind of stillness; it is a stillness in God. It is a stillness in which the devil may be roaring around you, storms rising around your life. People whisper to you that destruction is coming, and you remain confident and calm in the Lord. You quiet yourself and center yourself on the foundation that is Christ, like a spiritual samurai. You focus on God’s faithfulness and let the world spin around you, beyond the reach of its fluctuations; you forget yourself and enter the center of God, stable and unshakable, and find that impenetrable place of refuge and stillness. That inner posture has incredible power!

Let us look at Jesus in the boat, with the storm raging around Him. It looks as though the boat is going to sink. The disciples are beside themselves with fear and believe the boat is about to go down. And there is the Lord, fast asleep. The disciples approach Jesus and protest: “Lord, can’t You see that we’re sinking? How can You be so unconcerned?” And the Lord wakes up; He looks around Him. For a moment, He surveys the storm, the wind and the sea roaring menacingly, and then says, “Peace.” That is all. Matthew states tersely that “He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.” At once the sea turned to glass; everything grew calm, and they were astonished. And the Lord reproaches them: “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” Luke declares that “They were afraid and marveled, and said to one another, ‘Who is this, that He commands even the winds and the waters, and they obey Him?’”

What allowed the Lord to remain calm in the midst of the storm? He knew who He was. He remained focused on His divine nature. He knew that He had a mission to fulfill, that He was God Himself, and that the storm ultimately had no power to threaten them. As long as He was in that boat, it absolutely could not sink, because He was inside it, standing confidently on His identity as the Son of God.

And that is how it must be in our lives, beloved brother or sister. We must say, “Lord, help me find peace in the midst of the storm. Help me stand on what You have declared, silence the voices of fear, and be still as I deliberately look to You and remember Your promise never to leave or forsake me. Let me remain focused on my identity as a child of God, precious in Your sight, the object of Your care and protection.”

And what happens? When you stand on the word God has declared, find the spiritual axis from which to undertake the battle before you, and enter that state of powerful stillness, then you will have the chance to see the salvation of the Lord. Then, sooner or later, blessing will come into your life. It may take weeks, months, years, but you will see the salvation of the Lord, and in the meantime you will be at peace as you wait confidently in Him. The storm will rage around you, but you will have spiritual peace, knowing that God has promised victory at the end of the process.