Be Still

As I’ve been watching the news and we’ve been reflecting on the Psalms, I was reminded of Psalms 46 in which I hear the Psalmist’s voice:

the earth give way

the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

…waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging…

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall…

The earth melts…

While this might not be exactly what’s happening in the world, this is the cry that I hear coming from the multitude of people as we face the current pandemic.  I see and hear: disruption, upheaval, distress, anxiety, fear, desperation, terror, panic, Apocalypse, doom…

On the other hand, we have the optimists who tell us: “have patience…hang in there…this will make us stronger…we’re resilient…we’re in this together …things will get better…this too will pass…we will overcome…

As these two attitudes are in the world, I think these two voices are also inside all of us.  On one hand, we see life as it is.  Then on the other hand, we see life as how we want it to work out.  Like the unrest in the world, we have the same tension in ourselves.

I think this is why before the Psalmist talks about the precariousness, instability, and volatility of life, he declares:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. (Psalms 46:1)

What I hear the Psalmist saying is that we can have all optimism we want, but if God is not present, then we should be afraid.  No one except God can protect and comfort us in our time of need and the Psalmist says that He’s “ever-present.”

The irony of human beings is that we want to do something.  We want to fix things.  We want to make things better.  We want to make ourselves comfortable.  All too often we “take control.”  And we know how that works out.

The Psalmist admonishes us to do something counterintuitive.  He says God tells us, “Be still, and know that I am God.” (Psalms 46:10).