Be Still, and Know...

 

Photo by Vian 2018

One night as I Iay awake, my mind churning through dark waves of shoulds and coulds, of “if only I’d…,” and “what if…,” I felt my heart pounding against the rocky cliffs of failure, doubt and despair. But the Holy Spirit brought a verse to mind that calmed me as no other could, as I meditated on it word by word:

Be still, and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)

Be. To be, not to do, that is the answer. As if I could do anything for God on my own merits or in my own strength – without Him, I can do nothing (John 15:5). I had gotten so wrapped up with doing that I forgot that more than anything, God wants me to just be. Be the Shepherd’s sheep (Psalm 23), the Father’s child (Romans 8:16-21;9:26: Galatians 3:26), the Son’s bride, the Spirit’s student (John 16:13). Only then, when I let go of my own identity, my will, and my pride, can He use me as a fully yielded vessel (Romans 9:21; 2 Timothy 2:21) and do works through me for His purpose (Ephesians 2:10), making me an ambassador for Christ (Ephesians 6:19-20).

Still. Not clamoring for worldly attention (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13), not bewailing my fate (Job 2:9), not reciting my shopping list of wants to God (Matthew 6:7-8; James 4:3) and calling it “prayer.” Listening instead for that still, small voice (1 Kings 19:11-13) Who will guide (Proverbs 3:5-6) and comfort me, leading me beside the still waters (Psalm 23:2). The peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7) comes only from stillness, from waiting on Him (Psalm 27:14; 37:34) to reveal Himself and His specific plan.

And. Stillness in and of itself is not enough – God wants more. Stillness is not passively waiting; it is actively seeking His face (1 Chronicles 16:11; Psalm 27:8; 105:4), which requires faith, or knowing that He is Who He says He is and that He will do what He has said He will do (Hebrews 11). He commands us to know Him through faith in His recorded Word, as well as to be still. And yet, being still is a prerequisite to knowing Him. He promises the reward of knowing Him if we are still enough to drink in His presence.

Know. When I pray to God or read His Word, do I hope that He will hear me, or that some of His promises might come true, depending on His whim? If so, I am just performing a religious exercise while denying its power by my own lack of conviction (2 Timothy 3:5). Or do I truly know, in every fiber of my being, that God is unchanging (James 1:17; Hebrews 13:8), faithful (Deuteronomy 7:9; 1 Corinthians 1:9), and true to His Word (Titus 1:2), and that if He said it, it is so? Only that degree of resolute faith can tap into the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) that He gave us through the indwelling Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; 4:30) at the moment we accepted Him as our Lord and Savior.

That. What specifically does He want me to know? I could know all the genealogies and prophecies and quote Scripture and verse for any occasion, yet I could miss the point entirely (1 Corinthians 13:1-3), unless I set all knowledge into its proper place in the framework He has so clearly built.

I. It’s all about Him. It’s not about me, what I want, what I can do, how lovable I am, because I’m just a wretched sinner (Romans 3:23) deserving eternal punishment in hell (Romans 6:23), and all my self-righteousness is like filthy rags in His sight (Isaiah 64:6). The danger is that any ministry, any service, any act of worship could be directed to the idol of Me (1 John 5:21) if I fail to give Him the pre-eminence (Colossians 1:18). Christ alone is worthy (Revelation 5:12), and I must decrease so that He can increase (John 3:30) and take His rightful position on the throne of my life. Reserving any part of my life for my own selfish desires amounts to partial obedience, which is disobedience (1 Samuel 15:22). He bought me with the priceless sacrifice of His own precious blood (Romans 3:25; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23).

Am. He is the great I AM (Exodus 3:14), the eternally existent One (John 1:1), the completely self-sufficient One (Genesis 18:14; Jeremiah 32:27), the Beginning and the Ending (Revelation 21:6; 22:13), the timeless One Who was, and is, and is to come (Revelation 1:8). He made me in His image (Genesis 1:26-27), for His pleasure (Psalm 147:11; 149:4), so because of I AM, I can be.

God. God is Love (1 John 4:7-8), which is the framework in which all knowledge, faith and works must rest if they are to have any power or meaning (1 Corinthians 13:8-10). His infinite love led Him to give His only Son (John 3:16) as the perfect sacrifice on our behalf, so that whoever places their faith in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way (John 14:6) to Heaven will be saved. God is Light, and in Him is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5), for He is perfectly holy. And God is Spirit (John 4:24), empowering His love and purity with complete might.

So to be still and know Him, I must walk in love (Ephesians 5:2), in light (1 John 1:7), and in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16,25). Yet these are not deeds or good works, but the source of power for good works, allowing my life to bear fruit as I abide more deeply in Him. The branches do nothing in themselves to grow grapes; it is only their utter dependence on the Vine that accomplishes the purpose for which they are created (John 15:5).

Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth (Psalm 46:10).

Ultimately every knee will bow to Him and every tongue will confess that He is Lord (Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:10), but for our lives to glorify Him in this short span of earthly time He has allotted us (James 4:14), we must first be still, and know…

© 2014 Laurie Collett

Reposted from the archives

Son of God: Overview of the Book of John

 

The Gospel of John encapsulates much of Christian doctrine and Christology, for it teaches and shows us Who Jesus Christ is and how to get saved. It is an excellent place for an unsaved person to start reading to learn about God and His plan of salvation through faith in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6), and for a babe in Christ to start studying the Bible.

Yet John is full of deeply profound truth for even the most mature believer. An anonymous commentator has described the Book of John as being like “a pool of water, so shallow at the edges that a child could wade, and yet so deep at the center that an elephant could swim.” It is easy to understand at the surface, but with a depth that Bible scholars who have spent their entire lives studying it have not fully exhausted.

The specific purpose of the Gospel of John is that the reader might believe, be born again (John 3:3-8), and have saving faith giving eternal life (John 3:16), as we see when the resurrected Christ encounters doubting Thomas, one of His apostles:

John 20: 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God.

29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

The book of John was written by the apostle John, often referring to himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7,20). It is therefore a deeply personal, intimate portrayal of Jesus. John was part of Jesus’ inner circle, along with Peter and James, who were the only three to witness the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:2; Mark 9:2) and various miracles Christ performed.

John was the only apostle who stayed by Christ’s side during the crucifixion; the one to whom Jesus entrusted the care of His mother Mary (John 19:26); and with Peter, one of the first men to witness the empty tomb (John 20:1-10). 

John and his brother James, also an apostle, were called “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). John wrote five books of the New Testament: the Gospel of John; letters I John, II John, and III John, and the book of Revelation. Historic writers say that John lived longest of all the twelve apostles and was the only one who died a natural death, whereas the others were martyred.

The Gospel of John is probably the last of the four Gospels to be written, likely between AD 85-90, before John’s exile to the Island of Patmos, where he wrote the book of Revelation.

The Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke are known as the Synoptic Gospels, focusing on Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, and on what He taught and what He did, or concrete, physical, bodily things. In contrast, John highlights what Jesus said and did in Jerusalem, but more importantly, on Who He is, or spiritual doctrines.

Events in Jesus’ ministry included in Matthew, Mark, and Luke but omitted by John are Jesus’ birth, baptism, temptation in the wilderness, confrontations with demons, teaching in parables, the Last Supper, praying in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before His crucifixion, and His Ascension into Heaven.

And yet, in keeping with John’s emphasis on theology, his Gospel gives the clearest presentations of the Trinity, not only among the Gospels but throughout the New Testament (John 14:9-20; 15:26; 16:10-28; 17). Jesus Christ the Son is the only Way to the Father (John 14:6), and He promised to send the Comforter, or Holy Spirit, to those who believed in Him (John 14:16).

The Book of John proves that Jesus Christ is not only the Son of God (John  1:34, etc.) but God Himself. It contains seven “I AM” statements, referencing the Name of God as “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14). In other words, He is self-existent, not a created being, God Himself, ever present from the beginning (John 1:1).

The “I AM” declarations in John identify Jesus as the Bread of Life (John 6:35), the Light of the world (8:12), the Door of the sheep (10:7), the Good Shepherd (10:11), the Resurrection and the Life (11:12), the Way, Truth and Life (14:6), and the True Vine (15:1). He is also “One that bear witness of Myself” (8:18).

Each of the Gospels emphasizes a different origin of Jesus. Matthew, written primarily to Jews, portrays Him as the Messiah promised in the Old Testament, and gives His lineage from Abraham through David (Matthew 1:1-17). This genealogy is necessary to prove Jesus’ origin from Abraham’s seed, in whom all nations are blessed (Genesis 17; Acts 3:25), and His legal entitlement to the throne of David (Isaiah 9:7; 16:5).

Mark depicts Jesus as the humble Servant from Nazareth (Mark 1:9), and Luke reveals Him to be the Perfect Man and Son of Man (Luke 5:24, etc.), descended from the first man Adam (Luke 3:23-38).Yet John identifies Jesus Christ as God Himself, Son of God (John 1:34, etc.), and Lamb of God (John 1:29, 36), from Heaven.

“Prince of Preachers” Charles Spurgeon wrote: “John is the majestic evangelist. He is the high-soaring eagle with piercing eyes. His is the Gospel of the Son of God. We cannot describe the deity of Christ in clearer language than John uses. He was with God. He was God. He did the works of God, for He was the Creator.”

© 2022 Laurie Collett