Last night my husband and I argued of the silliest of things, yet it always boils down to the same thing: He makes me feel like he thinks that I’m stupid and always wants to prove me wrong and he feels like I’ve always got to be right and prove my point and ultimately, it is always my fault.
I went to bed last night much later than I planned and wanted to. Then after I got in bed I spent the next hour or so praying. I vacillated between a pity party, then humility and finally praising God. Then I’d start all over again.
I demanded to know from God WHY? Why do I always have to be the one that bends the knee? Why do I always have to be the one that sacrifices my desires, my thoughts and my feelings? Then at the other extreme I’d beg God to humble me that I would be usable in His hand, that He would pierce my stubborn heart because after all this isn’t for me but for His Glory. Then I’d start praising God, thanking Him for His great mercy, unfailing grace and unconditional love.
This morning, after a horrible night trying to sleep and never really accomplishing that task, I dragged myself out of bed and started in again with prayer. Am I actually rebelling against God by stubbornly refusing to budge in my belief that as long as I’m submissive to my husband God will provide for me or am I doing what is right by continuing no matter how much of an uphill battle I’m encountering? What hit me while I was getting ready is this scripture from Psalms.
“Be still, and know that I am God!
I will be honored by every nation.
I will be honored throughout the world.” Psalm 46:10
Be still and know that I am God! Wow, what a message, what a renewal of God’s light in my heart, what an awesome responsibility! How am I supposed to “be still” when all I want to do is lash back in anger, frustration, or bitterness? What does it mean to “know” that He is God?
In the midst of any difficulty, we just simply need to “be still.” We can’t “be still” if we’re fretting about whether we’re doing right or wrong by the convictions that God has instilled in our hearts. We can’t “be still” if we revel in anger, bitterness or frustration. We can’t “be still” unless we “know” that He is God, which brings us to the second part of that statement. Notice, the text doesn’t say to “know God,” but “know that I am God.” Knowing that He is God is significant because just knowing that He is God should instill peace in our hearts. Knowing that He is God means that we also know that He is in control and that He loves us, extends His grace and mercy. As Paul stated; His grace is sufficient. It absolutely is. Knowing that He is God, takes the pressure off of our shoulders to be in control and allows God to take over.
The most awesome thing is that by being still and knowing that He is God, or if you’ll allow – being still and thinking of God’s sovereignty, God will be glorified, not just in our immediate surroundings, but every nation and the whole world. Who says that one person can’t make a difference. I don’t claim to understand it, only God has the cosmic picture, instead I just believe simply because Has said to believe.
I live for God and thank Him for is grace, without which, I would be as a worm crawling in the dust.
Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters to great or awesome for me. But I have stilled and quieted myself, just as a small child is quiet with its mother. Yes, like a small child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord – now and always. Psalm 131
May God provide the increase
God must be speaking the same message to both our hearts. As I read your message I realized it’s the same message I just posted on Calvinists blog in answer to his questions. “Nest and rest and be at peace knowing that God is in control!” We don’t have to fight the issues whether it’s our husband, children or church issues. “Be still and see the salvation of God.” Isaiah says in 30:7 “…Their strength is to sit still.” “Wait upoin the Lord..” “There remaineth a rest for the people of God.” And David says, “Psa 27:14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. ” It’s hard to “wait”. Our natural response is to “react, run, do” I believe the more we learn to “wait on” or “rest in” the Lord the more we will see Him working things out for us. The battle is the Lords.
This is wonderful. I needed to read this. Thank you!
would like to share your devotional Psalm 46:10 with some of women as one of our reflections for the day. thank you in advance. tess
Absolutely Tess! I am honored and humbled. Thank you for the opportunity of re-reading my own writing, it has come at a much needed moment in my life…to be reminded that it isn’t about me but God. This morning I asked myself, “if I were giving myself advice what would I say to me?” You have helped answer that question…”to be still and to know that He is God.”
Thank you for this wonderful verse Psalm 46:10. In our Women’s prayer group this was the Word that was given and we have all received it but I did not know what it meant so thank you for sharing your experience with me and others that are seeking rest, peace and understanding.
You’re welcome Tamaria. Thank you for stumbling upon my post. I needed to hear this myself. Thank you and God bless.
Hi Tess, just wanted to let you know that what you wrote gave me some words to pass on with a reader.
We have just started up an encouragement site and I had an email from a lady and felt to quote back to her Palm 46.10. I thought came that I should see what the words could mean for her and came across your site.
So God blessed you then as a result of writing is blessing others. How exciting is that?
If you have time please check out our site
http://www.theencouragementfoundation.com.au
Have an amazing Day.
Julia
awesome word i know that this is from our heavenly father. I was experiencing so much just over the past year with having a child, husband career ending and still having bills to pay. The awesome thing about this word is i was feeling overwhelmed wanting to quit but knowing that there is nothing to turn back too. And this word just gives me hope Be still (calm down,stop trying to make something happen, stop talking and listen)…..and know that I am God…… Hope that is seen is not hope….. praise your name father you and you alone are worthy to be praised
This is the second time this post has caught someone’s attention and they felt led to leave a note…I find this interesting, God is speaking to me once again through my own writing…now I just need to heed what I’ve written and simply, “Be still…” I know that He is God…Praise His holy name. Thank you Stephanie and Julia for finding this post and giving me a reason to re-read my post. God is working. Thank Him always and in everything give thanks.
It is such a blessing to receive such a word from God. About two weeks ago I got this word, ” be still and know that I am God” and I was so excited and had to share it with everyone I talked with. One of my classmates had been going through some difficult times and as she meditated on this word she had a breakthrough and I received a text today from her wanting to know more. That is what led me to this site.
Thank you so much for sharing this because it is a confirmation of God’s word to me.
God bless you abundantly.
Just this morning when i was about to call a doctor my friend referred me, i almost touched the phone book, then a voice said , be still..and know that i am God…wow!!
For those that are interested in the deeper esoteric meaning of these words here it is:
Be Still and Know That I am God
The fundamental rule when contemplating God is the law of Unity, God is One Being. From Him we are born, in Him we have our stay and unto Him we return. No matter how much you wish, believe or think, You are NOT separate nor separated from him at anytime.
We are creatures of Duality, inherent in us is our pure Soul and our impure Minds. The soul is but pure awareness while the mind is nothing but uncontrolled thoughts.
It is our duty to know God in this lifetime; unfortunately many beings are unaware that they are fully capable of doing this.
Have you ever attempted to stop your thoughts, to still them and remain in peace even for 5-10 minutes? It is quite the task, and yet here lies the true meaning of these words:
Be still and know that I am God
If through deep meditation anyone is able to still their minds, that is, to conquer the automatic thinker and thoughts and through continued practice is able to surrender his ego, Duality as you know it will come to an end and you will come face to face with your maker in pure being or pure soul awareness. The mind or ego is the only obstacle.
Don’t be a skeptic, put it to the test. Sit down for 5 minutes and attempt to arrest your thoughts. You will at last come to meet the peace stealing enemy that is your own restless mind. You are not your mind, it is but a tool. Why then is it so out of control, why then will it not listen to you as you tell it to be quiet. Why? Because you have so long given it free reign because you believed it to be You, it is not you, it is your tool.
You say my body, my mind, my thoughts… it’s quite obvious they are your possessions. But to whom do they belong? Who are you if not your mind? Who am I? We like to attribute so many qualities to ourselves yet god is only existence, and he begs you to be like him. I am that I am, not I am so and so.
Through meditation the automatic thought process is gradually brought to a stand still. When the thoughtless state becomes permanent you will meet God in pure awareness.
This is the meaning of
Be still and know that I am God
Who is to be still? Your mind.
If you can manage that, what will you come to know? That I am God
SRF, you raise some very interesting points. And yes, I have many times worked at quiting and making still my thoughts. I’m sorry it has taken me this long to check my blog and to respond to your comment. Right now, I’ll simply leave it at this, but there is more that I feel to say. Soon, hopefully, things will fall into a halfway decent schedule and I can start writing again.
Until then, God bless and thank you for your detailed thoughts.
Let me start by saying god bless, and god ís good! Just the other day, i recieved that message, it all started because i am 3 months pregnant and was worrying what if i lose pregnancy, and how my significant other wsa going to react, and god gave me that reading, and kept questioning what does it mean? God did use you! Because i just got confirmatíon! Thank you for making the post and may god bless you always and give you the desiré of your heart
For me it means being still of mind and body, i am active i am a bodybuilder, i have to get mentally psyched and raging to train hard. I had a experience which has changed my view of life, i was training and getting ready to squat with heavy weights, first i was finding it hard to breathe, then my vision blurred and i could see dots even when i closed my eyes, i felt my limbs going weak and heard a ringing in my ears, i ended up on my back with no physical movement possible (still), i was aware of everything what was happening around me and the ringing sound in my ears turned to the sound of a waterfall, i was thinking would i be able to ever move again i thought i was going into coma! The waterfall sound died to the sound of running water like a calm stream, i had a sense of being able to move again and i had the most peaceful feeling well up inside me, like calm, love and peace and happiness all at the same time and at the highest levels i can imagine, it was absoloute heaven. I was still, i believe God made me still to show me that He is God. If this is what is in store for me when i leave the Earth i have no fear of going there again. I call my experience the storm before the calm. If anyone has had a similar experience i would like to know about your opinions on it and what it meant to you. Thank you for putting this psalm verse on the internet i made sense of it.
Mick, it sounds like you’ve had a “Damascus road experience.” That is an experience that I have never received from God. For me, maybe it is because I’m a slow learner or stubborn or both, God’s revelations always takes what seems like a long time. I love to hear about experiences like yours though. Not everyone has them, but I would like to experience Him in that way some time before I die.
I’m so glad that you shared with us your experience. God certainly loves each and everyone of us and we all experience Him in slightly different ways. Praise be to God for knowing us as personally as He does!
Thanks for that info, i have looked up Damascus Road and found references to Paul and him having a vision, i could not find exactly what happened to Paul i guess it was similar to mine then. Next time i get hold of a bible i will look it up. As for wanting to have a experience like this before you die, let me assure you the initial stage was not pleasant at all, scary is more like it i was thankful to be alive, its kind of like drowning and panicking and when you realise you can not do anything about it you relax and let things take course, luckily i must have been in good hands. I had been going to a Pentecostal Church for around a year before this happened to me and even though everyone was claiming the spirit of God was there i never felt anything, maybe God talks to us in different ways and maybe you will be spoken to just when you least expect it like i was. Upon googling my experience on the net i found a woman in Australia who had a similar experience, the site is called Aus Disciples its part of Superpuss, you might find that interesting as she is a bodybuilder too. I have so many questions being a new believer, and i will take it 1 step at a time. Take care, thanks.
Mick, should you care to read about it, look it up in Acts 22. Paul was struck blind by the Glory of Jesus. That obviously didn’t happen to you, but you did have an extraordinary experience that God revealed Himself to you in a special way. That is what is meant usually when someone has a Damascus Road experience. Or put more simply, God ‘wakes someone up’ to something, usually Him. Anyway, thanks for reading my post and commenting…Take care and blessings to you.
I needed to hear this today! I am fighting a huge battle and I love this verse. It has always meant a lot to my family. And today your words reminded me to take my faith and stand firm and that there is no earthly answer to my situation today and that I can’t fight the two parts of myself and the beliefs that i have about this situation or the protective advice I’m getting from friends.
Holy cannoli!! Last night was one of the worst nights of my life. I was fearful, angry, stressed, tearful, etc…baisically a wreck. I was praying and crying and finally just pounding on the bed for God to take my emotions and thoughts away from me because I didn’t want to live in this anxiety anymore. Anxiety that no matter what, I can not seem to shake. I cried out to God that I knew he wanted me to be a good and useful servant, but all of my worry and anxiety is keeping me stagnant and immobile. I knew this had to change so my focus could be on the Kingdom and not on myself, but I could not stop my mind and emotions from taking complete control of me. I went through exactly the same process as you in prayer…pity party, to humility, to praise.
I came on in to work and have cried through most of my tasks. My stomach in knots and my heart pounding.
Suddenly, His still small voice whispered…”Be still and know that I am God.” So now I am waiting. I am sitting and waiting because I know that He is great and in His time He will move and I will finally, at last feel that “peace that surpasses all understanding” Phil 4:7.
Something prompted me to just throw Psam 46:10 into Google and your blog came up. Most of all I have been blessed by your amazing, Christ guided words. However, I read through all the responses and some of the things your thoughts prompted others to write have blessed me this day as well.
I praise the Lord for taking the time to write what you did AND I praise the Lord for all who have come across this page and left their mark. Our loving Father is Real, He Reigns, and He wants us to be our best for Him, but most of all He is merciful and pulls us close and holds us in His arms to be still and feel His grace which he has poured out through people like you and your encouraging blog!!
My God bless you abundantly for serving so many of us, His children, who have read your words.
Twice today, God has given me the opportunity to re-read my own words and comment on them. Twice today, God has affirmed and re-affirmed in my heart and mind my position with Him and in His kingdom through the responses from readers. Thank you Regina for your willingness to speak out in the public view.
I don’t often get people who respond to my posts, but when I do, they are exactly what I need, when I need it. After reading your response, I thanked God for the work He has done in me and through me in my life and in this blog. I’m simply amazed that I have regular readers and the number keeps growing of the visits to my site. Even if I never write another post, God has used me to touch the hearts of people whom He has directed to my site for whatever reason. I will never know the thousands of people out there, but God does.
And that is who I am, the mark that I leave. I have been struggling with this very issue, ‘what good is my life if…’ and here is the answer. My blog has had 43,000 + visitors since I began in November 2007. Where will it go from there? Only God knows because He is the one that directs all of our steps.
Thank you Regina for your kind words, “Most of all I have been blessed by your amazing, Christ guided words.” I don’t often feel like I am representing the scripture well and with a lack of response from my readers, it is hard to guage whether I am right on or whether I have missed the mark. When people like you find the courage or are prompted to write a response, it is a confirmation that I have understood God’s word and not only that I have applied it appropriately.
I’m sure I could write another long ‘post’ to your response, but I’ll leave it here with this comment. Many blessings to you and May God’s peace instill your heart and mind.
I could go on and on in response to you my friend in Christ, but I think what I would say could be best summed up simply….
Through this blog you have definitely been the voice of Jesus to many of His children and I believe that when you get to heaven you will here, “…’Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’” – Matthew 25:21
Thank you again, for everything.
May the grace, peace, and joy of our loving Father surround you always!!
I found your blog by accident. Over the past seven years I have felt that my faith and my patience have been tested over and over again, then reaffirmed. From a failed marriage, to raising a child on my own for five years to struggling to find that someone again, to finding them, to learning to love again, to being blessed to be in a new love and then being in a new marriage. I fell out of my home church after my first marriage failed, lost many loved ones to illness, Found that my prayer closet and nature was the best way for me to be close with God. At times I have yelled and screamed WHY? At times I have praised Him with thanks for all of the wonderful blessing He has showered on my family. When I finally took to heart the verse Psalm 46:10, and really tried to live by it that is when I finally realized how powerful His presence is in my life. He was already there. He had never left me. “Being still and knowing..” Lead me to my husband, made me understand how lucky I was to have the career I had with the opportunity to do so much more, Helped me find my calling and follow that lost dream. “Being still and knowing..” lead me to another verse that you may find completes your life as it did mine as well, Mathew 6:21. God Bless
Thanks Melissa for your comments. You are definitely not alone when it comes to suffering. I’m sure that you would agree that through suffering, you are and have been drawn closer to God and His will concerning you. I have recently written on Matthew 6:21. It seems that I’ve written on that more than once, but the only one that came up in my search on my posts was one on July 9th titled, Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be. Matthew 6:21. I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading that one too.
Thank you so much bless you……..with this redundancy issues and financial contraints i’m having …this bible verse somehow has given has given me peace…
well…… for the past couple of months this one verse had been comfortin me a lot though i only understood a part of this verse….. but today as i read wat u’ve wrote, i was able to understand it a little more deeply……
thnx for posting this wonderful experience of yours…. its been a great help to me….. i think from the whole of the bible, the one verse tht really touched me was this one verse……… and it has helped me get through a lot of hard times…..
God bless
I read had an argument with my boyfriend, very bad one and the verses of Be Still and Know That I am God from Psalm 46:10 is comforting me so much that I just want to thank God to speak to me thru this page. Thank you for sharing your experience. God bless you
Thanks enny for sharing…we comfort each other in ways that we don’t always realize that we do, that is the wonderful blessing of knowing God and being His children. I wrote this particular post almost 2 years ago, things went completely downhill for the longest time after this post and now, though ever so slowly, things are at least heading up in my marriage. If you read any of my more current posts, you will have found that my husband and I are “split” at this time. We live in to separate households, yet we are still working at us and our relationship with God. The other day, I read in Isaiah about the Egyptians and the Assyrians and how they worked and worshipped together with the Jews “on that day.” My notes further commented that the Lord breaks down barriers and so that has been my prayer for my relationship with my husband…to break down our barriers, because even now things look impossible for us from my perspective…Don’t stop praying and don’t stop believing that God will make things work according to His will, not ours…Blessings.