Going back to the Psalms again as a great biblical reference, turn in your bible (or someone else's bible) to Psalms 46:10 and read with me: ".10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." (King James version). OK great, but WHAT does that even mean? How does that verse affect us today?
When I taught Philosophy, I'd bring it up as a reference text because there are rules about being too religious when you teach. Christians will always find a way around that basic rule of thumb if they are worth anything whatsoever. I would write it out, put the quotes around it, and the reference of course. Under the passage I would add the following: 1. Name all the things you as a human are commanded to do. 2. What does it mean to "be"? 3. What does it mean to "know"? 4. Is God being redundant when He said "I Am" and "God", after all, He did say "I Am" sent Moses. He didn't say "God" sent Moses. I sat back and watched the young mushy brains in my classroom consider, contemplate, collaborate, conceive, and then finally create their (often) opinionated responses. Philosophy is nothing if not opinion, in my opinion.
Be. In order to be you must first realize that you ARE. If you're not, you can't be, and since you're being asked by God Himself to BE, then you are. This is the first thing you need to come to grips with. God thinks and knows that you are something; He made you. He knows that you ARE. So now that you know you ARE, you can BE. What are you to BE? Be still. That is the first command in the passage. To BE is not a command, it is an awareness. Be still. How do we do that? We do nothing and by doing nothing we have achieved everything there is to achieve in that command. By literally NOT doing, you have done what you were asked to do. Simple? Sure, it is. Let's keep going.
After you have been still, and you are still then you are commanded to do something else that God already understands you have the capacity to do. You are to KNOW. Knowing takes two things; it takes training and it takes acknowledgment of said training. One does not simply know anything until and unless one has experienced the thing they are to know or to consider knowing. Therefore, if God Himself is asking you to both be still, not to move, not to do anything, and to KNOW something, He has already addressed it to the point that you would, could, and should be able to do the KNOWING necessary to fulfill the command. Otherwise, if God had asked you to do something you can't do, He has made a terrible error, and we know (through experience) that God does not make mistakes. So, you are to stop yourself, and think with intent about whatever it is He has asked you to KNOW about. In this case, He has asked you to KNOW that HE is God.
"I Am" is both a title and pronoun with direction of awareness as well. I Am God is the same as saying Me, Myself, and I really - - God is, God was, God will be. God is I Am. and I Am is God. Therefore, God has asked you to both understand that you ARE because He made you, and you are to be still, don't do anything, just KNOW that HE is, and HE will, and HE has. Exodus 14:14 mentions that God will fight the fight for you. Whatever fight it is that you are fighting. Be still. Stop. Know that He is. Know that He will fight that fight. It's the hardest thing to do - - to NOT do. But it is commanded.
It's been a while now, but I have been living this way for a reason. I don't want to worry so I don't. I also feel in my soul that if I fight the fight without God there is no chance of me winning. Being the type that simply must win, I stop fighting. Does that make sense? No, it doesn't make sense from a worldly point of view, but it certainly makes sense from a surrendered point of view. I know, absolutely KNOW that I will be protected. He will be exalted and I will be upheld. I will be blessed, and I will be given whatever blessing God Himself through His Son Jesus, has determined and predestined to give me. All I have to do is nothing, and trust Him to do it simply because He promised He would. The really cool part is, He not only doesn't make mistakes, He can't lie. My desires will be mine if I delight in God, but Psalms 37:1-5 is another topic for another blog. For now. Be still. Know God.
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