4-10-2014

 Good Morning All,

       Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

         I feel very blessed.  The Lord has given me a wonderful gift.  I am a “baby whisperer.”  From the time I got to be involved with babies, I have had the knack for getting them to quiet down and to settle down.  It is really a neat gift from God.  Some of you probably also have this gift. It is a real blessing to be able to comfort a child in this manner.

    It seems that the greatest part of this is to be able to quietly whisper into the ear of the child.  The movement and holding the child close to your chest is important as well but the soothing sound of a quiet voice helps.  Probably the first order though is to get the child to stop fighting and wrestling around.  Once you can get the child to quit squirming, the process goes a little easier.  It can be frustrating for a while, you want to yell “BE STILL” but you know you have whisper “be still;” that is the only way that you can calm them down.  You need a gentle voice in order to bring a calm to the child.

     This is exactly how we should view God’s Word to us.  His Word comes to us gently to still and calm us.  It comes to give us peace.  This is exactly what the psalmist is saying in this verse.  The directive “Be still,” is better viewed as “quit fighting” or “quit struggling”.  That is what we do when we focus on our self and our own abilities and work.  We keep waging our own battles against the devil and his lies and we get nowhere.  We struggle and struggle and we get nowhere.  All we do is exhaust ourselves and lose our ability to truly rest.

    In all this, God is holding us in his arms and quietly whispering into our ear, “shhh, be still.”  “Stop fighting against my grace.  Rest in my grace, have peace in my arms.”  This is what our loving God is really saying to us.  He is quietly and lovingly calling us back into his arms.  His peace and grace awaits us.

    Yet we keep fighting, we keep battling against God.  We think we know better so we fight on and yet we get more and more tired and we get less and less rest.  We are never content.  We battle and battle yet we continue to lose ground.  So into this life god tells us to be still; quit fighting, it only makes things worse.  Stay with me and be still.  Rest in my grace and take comfort in my arms.  This is what he tells us over and over, all we need to do is listen.  All we need to do is listen, stop fighting, stop running from his love and cling to him and soon we will be at rest. 

    We need to listen to God’s words of mercy, his words of forgiveness and to his words of gentle comfort.  God offers this to us, all we need to do is to stop, stop fighting and rest in his arms.

Father of all mercy, in you we have rest.  Guide us by your Spirit to stop fighting and to cling to you instead.  In you we have peace.  Be with those who are especially struggling against your grace.  Keep whispering to them to be still and to trust in your mercy, in the precious name of our risen Savior, amen.

God’s Peace

Pastor Bret