by Pastor Mark Cowart
Psalm 46:10 NKJV
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!
I am sure that we can agree that we want the Lord to be exalted, and we want His Kingdom to advance! Isn’t it counterintuitive to think that being still can help make that happen? Let’s explore how this can be so…
God put the principle of rest into the fabric of creation. From the very beginning, our genesis, it is evident that God created us to rest and He modeled this for us as well. During the creation period the Creator of all that is labored for six days and He rested for one. (Genesis 1)
Genesis 2:2 NKJV
And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.
There have been times where I thought that I could ignore the principle of rest that the Lord has given to us. Because of this, I paid a heavy price. Rest is much more than just clocking in and out and considering time when we are off the clock as rest. I used to joke that I needed to come back from vacation and start working to really feel at rest. Even when I would “take a day off,” I wasn’t truly resting. I would think that there was too much to be done to enter into real rest. Resting can be hard work!
I have a vast landscape to reflect back on now having been in ministry for four decades. About two decades into Linda and I serving as the Senior Leaders of Church For All Nations, we had built a new building, we were the General Contractors for that project (I do not recommend this), we had staff turnover that required me to lead worship (I do not recommend this either), we were hosting many services throughout the week, our boys were young and lively. In the midst of all of this things began to happen to me physically. My blood pressure would skyrocket to dangerous levels out of nowhere.
Before I personally experienced this, I would preach that if you have something going on in your body or mind you just need to get a grip. You haven’t been watching what you are thinking about or applied enough Biblical principles. That is until I hit a wall and ended up in an emergency room between services on a Sunday. It was during this time that I began to think about all that I thought was so important; services, attendance, offerings, building issues. I realized that I was being pulled in many different directions and that I could not physically keep up. I knew something had to change.
As the doctors dug deeper they began to share with me that they believed that my symptoms were caused by an adrenaline addiction. Adrenaline is released when we are chronically operating out of the fight or flight nervous system response. Living a life of chronic stress is what brought this about in my experience. A book that helped me is by Dr. Archibald D. Hart titled, The Hidden Link Between Adrenaline and Stress. It helped me to understand that what I was going through wasn’t just in my head, I had taxed myself physically to the point where I could not continue at that same pace. Our Creator already knows this about us, that is why He established the principle of rest.
Psalm 46:10a NKJV
Be still, and know that I am God
Know in the Hebrew means: Relax, abandon all else, literally let everything else drop. Of course this is difficult in the world that we live in. There are so many distractions that are going to try and pull our attention away from just being still. You’re going to have to purposefully make yourself rest.
Rest is God’s design, it is His idea, and it is God’s command.
Exodus 20:8 NKJV
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
We live in a society that doesn’t recognize God as its provider. People work themselves to death to try and make ends meet. Observing the Sabbath is one way that we as believers declare with our actions that God is our provider and we trust Him.
Isaiah 30:15
For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: In returning [to Me] and resting [in Me] you shall be saved; in quietness and in [trusting] confidence shall be your strength. But you would not,
Spiritual effectiveness begins from the inside out, not the other way around. We cannot truly know the Lord until we take time to be still. He has to be the strength and the source of our lives, otherwise the things that we are chasing after will begin to rule over us. God wants to fight your battles for you, but often we run out in front of Him without spending any time being still in His presence, getting His strategy, and being filled with His Spirit.
Our Heavenly Father knows that we are going to face off with storms. That we are going to be in the storm, but we cannot allow the storm to get inside of us. Read the parables that Jesus shared with His disciples to build them up. They reveal the mysteries of the Kingdom, how the Lord intends for us to live our lives from an unshakeable place.
Hebrews 12:28
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.
If your life is in turmoil right now, ask yourself: Am I taking time to be still before the Lord?
The world may swirl and shake around you but that doesn’t have to be the case in your life. If the Lord asks us to rest, to be still, to abide in Him, to cast our cares on Him, it is because He surely knows that the cares of this life will overtake us if we allow them to take precedence. I am praying for you that you will rediscover rest in this restless world as you take time to be still before the Lord and know Him.
1 Peter 5:7
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
REFLECT
– Take time to be still. It may be a challenge at first, but you can do it! Ask Holy Spirit to help you.
– Think about how you can begin to remove distractions out of your life that are keeping you from true rest.
– Meditate on I Peter 5:7, ask the Lord to remove any ungodly beliefs that would try to convince you that He doesn’t care about you.
PRAY
– Ask for the Holy Spirit to give you personal revelation of rest in your life.
– Repent for where you have violated the principle of rest and have not observed the Sabbath.
– Thank God for His Strength in your life that is made perfect in your weakness. This allows you to fully rest in Him. He is faithful and trustworthy.
DIVE DEEPER
• Psalm 46:10
• Genesis 1&2
• Exodus 20:8
• Isaiah 30:15
• Hebrews 12:28
• 1 Peter 5:7
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