Be Still and Know That I am God // Five Ways to Overcome Fear, Part 4

So many people out there are running round like chooks with their heads cut off.  Flapping and carrying on.  And we wonder why stress and anxiety are the scourges of our lives. It’s time to sit down and shut up.

This week on the program we're looking at five practical ways to banish worry and fear from our lives. Today is the fourth of those and it's really simple. It's this. Sit down and shut up.

Sorry to be that blunt and that direct. But sometimes I think that what happens is that we get so caught up in the hurley burley of life that we never stop to rest and reflect. You know what happens. Everybody else is so caught up racing around and doing this and doing that. And so we all go racing around and crashing into one another. It's like a pressure cooker without a release valve. And that pressure causes stress and anxiety. Worry and fear. We lose sight of the big picture.

And there's something very special that happens when we just get still for a bit. Just pull away from it all and get still before God.

So if you remember just one thing from today it's this. Sit down and shut up. Get still. Get still before God.

That's what we're going to be talking about today on the program. And I can tell you, from my life. Which is far busier than I would ever like it to be. This really, really works.

God's peace. God's rest in our hearts. How do we get our hand on that? How do we actually experience that amidst a busy life? Well the answer is in one of my favourite psalms, Psalm 46. Let me share it with you:

God is our refuge and strength. The very present help in time of trouble. Therefore, we will not fear though the earth should change and the mountains shake in the heart of the sea and the waters roar and foam through the mountains. Though the mountains tremble in it's tumult. 

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. The holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of that city. It shall not be moved. God will help when the morning dawns. The nations are in uproar, the kingdoms totter. He utters His voice and the earth melts.

The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Come; behold the works of the Lord. See what desolations He had brought on the earth. For He makes wars decease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the shields with fire.

Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations. I am exalted on the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.

See the psalmist here, at the beginning, with the earth-shaking and the mountains shaking and the sea foaming. He's painting a picture of uproar and tumult. I mean the Hebrews love picture language like that.

Now when it comes to fear it seems that we have short memories. We go through something scary and God shows up and somehow it works out fine. Perhaps, maybe we remember to say, "thank you God". Maybe we don't. And then things calm down again. And they go along just brilliantly for a while.

And then BANG, the next storm hits. And it's raging and we're afraid and we're fearful. And life's a mess. We're running around like chooks with their heads cut off. And we're living through that excruciatingly, debilitating, immobilising fear that comes when the ground moves beneath our feet.

And we forget. We forget to look back and remember all the times that God's brought us through those storms before. And even if we don't have many of those to look back on. Let's say we have none of those to look back on.

Let's assume, worst case. Let's assume that you and I have just, this moment, given our lives to Jesus Christ and come to faith in Him. Just this moment, we've put our lives in His hand. So we don't have a single experience to look back on. Where we know without a doubt that He's stepped in and saved us. What we then do, we forget to look back on the God of the Bible and see how many times He's stepped in to help His people.

It's what He does and that's what the psalmist is reminding us here, with these words:

Come, behold the works of the Lord. See what desolations He's brought on the earth. He makes wars decease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow. He shatters the spear. He burns the shields with fire.

God’s saying, "Don't you realise, this is what I do? I protect my people. I make sure it all works out. Get a handle on this."

But God, how? How can I get a handle on this? You don't understand. I've got all this pain happening. I've got all this fear happening. People are after me. My finances are in a mess. My loved one is sick. My emotions are on a roller coaster. The mountains are falling into the sea. The sea is angry and foaming. The ground is shaking. The nations are raging. How can I get a handle on what You want to do for me?

Here's the answer. Here it is. Right here in God’s word. Listen to it. Remember it. Let the Spirit of God write it on your heart. Psalm 46, verse 10:

Be still and know that I am God. For I'm exalted among the nations. I am exalted in the earth.

Sounds so simple. Be still and just know. But you know something. When we're afraid, often the last thing we do is to get still before God. Even when we're praying. We rant on. We don't shut up for long enough. We don't stay there for long enough to hear God speak.

Over and over and over again, I've had to learn this one. I'm like you. This doesn't come naturally. It's something I've had to learn. When I'm travelling through fearful places and situations and times, more than ever, I take the time to get still before God. I open a few simple passages. This psalm is my favourite one. And Philippians chapter 4, verse 13, that we talked about yesterday:

I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Romans chapter 8, verse 31:

If God is for us, who can be against us? 

I let these passages just rest on my heart. And just sit still and focus on God and wait. Draw away from the noise of the day. Get alone with God. Remember these passages. Say them out loud:

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

I can do ALL things.

If God is for us, who can be against us?

Because what Psalm 46 tells me is that there's a reality of a God of gladness and power and protection that is so far above my circumstances. Psalm 46 promises me that. And then tells me just to sit still and wait. And you know what happens when I do that. I just sit and wait on God and His Spirit touches me. And I experience the confidence that I need to make it through.

Not self-confidence but God confidence. I get a handle on the great unseen reality - God Himself. His power flows into me and through me.

All of a sudden the panic goes away. All of a sudden the fear is replaced with faith. God does that. We don't do it. He does. But we just have to sit down and shut up. All of a sudden I have the clarity to think through the problem. To face the realities and to do what I have to do and to trust God for the things I can't do.

Oh, and let me tell you. 10 minutes later, half an hour later, half a day later, the panic wants to come back, it does. The fear wants to come back. And when they come knocking on my door I just get still with God again. I go back to Him, wait on Him. Expecting and waiting.

That's what it means to live in that city and drink of the streams of that river that make glad the city of God. We need to drink, to drink Him in. His presence. His Spirit. His word. And then a peace that surpasses all understanding guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.

Be still and know that I am God.