Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; the burns the chariots with fire. “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Psalm 46:8-11 ESV).
Have you noticed how often our children (or, as in my case, my dog) simply don’t seem to have an “indoor voice”? Teddy, our little rescue terrier has a very loud voice. Now, he is not typically a tapper. However, when he notices one of the other dogs or someone he thinks shouldn’t be in the back, he barks LOUD! Inevitably our response is simply, “Teddy, use your indoor voice!” I’m not sure he knows what that means. It rarely lowers the volume of his barking and certainly doesn’t deter the folks who need to be in the back for whatever maintenance task they have come to perform. Teddy believes that he has to be loud in order to protect his domain.
In our reading today, God is using both an outdoor voice and an indoor voice to assure his children that there is nothing too big for the Lord to handle. We need not be afraid—regardless of the surrounding chaos—because God is right there with us in times of trouble. He both lifts his voice above the uproar (v. 6) and draws us close with the quiet whisper “Be still, my child; I am here.” The interesting thing is that we can’t hear either of those assurances if we are not “quiet.”
There are days when the pain level is so high, the disappointment so deep, and the fear so crippling that we can lose sight of the God who is our refuge and strength. Desperation can drive us away from God, and we can find ourselves craving his commanding, large-and-in-charge presence along with his intimate words of assurance. We need to be quiet (“still”) to hear that voice. When Jesus’ disciples cried out to him in the midst of a raging storm, Jesus stood up, rebuked the wind, and told the waves, “Quiet! Be still!”—and all was calm (Mark 4:39).
What do you need Jesus to calm in your mind and heart? Pause for a moment, and hear him inviting you into the stillness of God’s presence.