For the choir director. A Psalm of the sons of Korah, set to Alamoth. A Song. God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.

This week at McCall Rehab and Care Center we held our bi-monthly Wednesday Prayer Service. What a sweet, blessed time it was! Two of our musical members played guitars while their wives sang harmony alongside. We never know how many of the residents will show up for the service, but it is always the perfect number, the ones the Lord brings. I am certain that even those who can’t leave their rooms – or are not sure about what’s going on – can hear praise filling the care center, down the hallways, into closed doors. That makes me want to sing.

I’d been meditating on Psalm 46, the beautiful one which reminds us that God is our refuge and strength. Martin Luther was so inspired by it that he penned the glorious hymn “ A Mighty Fortress is Our God.” Most of us are more than familiar with verse 10: “Be still and know that I am God.” It’s preached from the pulpit and offered as spiritual salve to those in distress. We’ve probably quoted it countless times. In fact it is so commonplace it‘s crept out of the Bible into the secular culture. Often it means little more than “settle down” or “pay attention to your inner self.” That self-centered introspection is not biblical stillness which fully trusts in God’s strength during stormy upheavals.

We read Psalm 46 to the residents on Wednesday, encouraging quietness of the soul and spirit, but as I looked around at people confined to wheelchairs or bent over in arm chairs or lost in their private, unresponsive worlds, reminding them to “be still” seemed both foolish and contrary. Physically, most of them have no other option. Many are dependent on someone else for their mobility. Psalm 46’s “stillness” has to be something greater than physical inactivity or “being settled down.”

Be still and know that I am God is not a casual suggestion. It is a command which should have an imperative exclamation point after it. ! ! Actually, it is two commands from the Lord. Because we are fidgety, unfocused children paying attention to every pretty butterfly or worrisome wasp flitting by, God says to (a) stop and (b) look to Him instead. It is God who is our help in every human disaster, whether seemingly ceaseless war or natural desolations. Why?

Consider the verses which follow:

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 stronghold. Psalm 46: 10-11

We’re told to be still for a specific reason – to exalt God. Despite the craziness and disasters of the world, exalt Him among the nations and on the earth. Be still in your fears – and exalt Him for His loving refuge. Be still in your weakness – and exalt Him as Lord of hosts whose mighty strength overcomes every enemy. Be still in temptations to worry, doubt, fret and stress – and exalt Him at all times, in every possible circumstance. Whether you are able to stand up or whether you’re confined to a bed, Be Still! Know Who is near you.

Come and see the works of God, Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men. Psalm 66:5