Be Still . . .

Numbers 10; Psalms 46–47; Song of Songs 8; Hebrews 8

During this pandemic, my greatest comfort is knowing that God is God. He is sovereign over all and His purposes, although often hidden to our eyes, will be fulfilled. He works in details for He knows when a sparrow falls and knows the number of hairs on my head, but He also works on a grand scale. He proclaims and the psalmist replies:

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah (Psalm 46:10–11)

While “be still” means ceasing a state or activity, I sometimes read this as, “Shut up. Stop yakking. Remember that I am God and I am not done with this world. One day I will be exalted and all those who ignore or mock Me now will elevate and honor Me.”

How can this be? Most of those who are without faith in Christ think of God as He revealed Himself in the OT and the former covenant that the people of God could not keep. He gave them Laws that they failed to obey yet many people still think that pleasing God means following rules and they measure themselves according to themselves without considering that God has given a new covenant based not on Law but on Christ . . .

But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. (Hebrews 8:6–9)

Faith in Christ does not usher in more rules. Instead, it changes lives. New life gives legs to the cripple, sight to the blind, wings to the flightless and love to the hateful . . .

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. (Hebrews 8:10–13)

It is this new life that God uses to demonstrate His power, to shut the mouths of those who mock Him, to give the good news to any who will listen. It is this new life that exalts God and declares Him to be the LORD of hosts who is with us; the God who is our fortress.

And this new life is the life of Christ put in those who believe in Him, causing them to be reborn, changing our sinful hearts to be revulsed by our sin, giving us peace and joy that goes above and beyond our circumstances. It is having Jesus in me that enables me to shut up and know that He is God.

APPLY: Rest in knowing. If I must open my mouth, do it to exalt Him.