Be STILL and KNOW, God is Present to Keep You STILL

I was talking about the power of God to heal with the administrator of our church recently, Elizabeth, and she said to me, “Do you realise I used to have such a fear of heights that it would cause me to see black and freeze?” I said, “That sounds like a phobia!” Then Elizabeth said, “I guess that’s what it could have been.”

Then I responded, “You used the phrase ‘used to...’; what happened?”

“I went skydiving!” she said with a broad chuckling smile, now a woman in her late 70s.

What? Skydiving?          What was she thinking?

Then, later, chatting the following day, she mentioned that in the lead up to the jump, many times she felt like pulling out. Indeed, on the morning of the jump she was very fearful.

We’ve all been there, haven’t we? About to enter some cauldron-like arena, we flirt with the fright, and we may even imagine the worst possibilities. Panic attacks are born from such things.

But we’ve possibly all been in this situation and then somehow been rescued by God.

Elizabeth, we can imagine, was feeling tempted to back out. At the edge of a precipice, with a phobic dread of heights, we might all sympathise if Elizabeth had have said, “Ah, not today!” 

She may well have toyed with that idea until she looked down at one point and saw in her daily devotional a message from God: it simply read, “Be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10)

This is something many of us have experienced. God speaking through our circumstances and not least via the biblical passages. It’s all we hope for, even if we’re always surprised by God’ impeccable timing!

As she looked at that verse for the day — “Be STILL and KNOW that I am God” — it spoke with more resonance than ever — BECAUSE of her context that very day!

Elizabeth reported to me that it dawned on her that God was there, present with her, and that she was being reminded that she was safe. She felt such a peace — a peace that is hard to describe to those who have never experienced it — and that resolute sense of peace remained with her, even through the adrenalin rush that came with jumping out of the plane.

God asks us to be STILL because God will keep us still, if only we can rest in this fact by faith.

God reminds us that we can KNOW that God is real and present with us by a living Spirit.

God will keep us still — at peace — and God will keep us still — perfectly safe — if we’ll rest in the truth that faith is the way in the presence of fear.

From Elizabeth we can know, there is a power we can tap into whenever we feel we CAN’T do something. It is amazing what we can do and how we can think and feel when we know God is there with us, giving us peace.

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash