If I had to choose a single psalm as my last prayer on this planet before meeting the Lord forever, it might be Psalm 46. Of course, there are many other beautiful prayers, psalms and passages in Scripture but when I’m weary or troubled, this one has comforted and encouraged me countless times . It’s been said that Martin Luther was so inspired by Psalm 46 that around 1528 he wrote the hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.”  That hymn which paraphrases  Psalm 46  has endured for almost 600 years. It speaks of the power of God’s Word when  music is born from  the Scriptures.

Christians (as well as those who are not) know the beginning of the 10^th verse:

Be still and know that I am God;

How often has a well meaning friend or pastor reminded you to “be still” when you‘re  filled with anxiety and  your mind races?  When your heart aches with loss or brokenness? When a hurtful conversation replays itself  endlessly to steal your rest?  When you don’t know what to do next,  verse 10 says it simply. Be quiet. God is nigh.

The idea of “being  still” is inherent  in pagan practices and mysticism.  Eastern mindfulness which the West has embraced like bees to nectar, instructs you to empty  your mind. Follow your thoughts and let them drift like leaves on a river. Relax and breathe deeply. Just focus inward to find your center, your god-ness.   The goal is to enter into nothingness and thus, enlightenment and Nirvana.

Before I knew the Lord when I was troubled, I’d try these suggestions to quiet my churning thoughts. But there were too many leaves to watch in the river.  They’d swirl away, only for more and more leaves to appear. I could never “be still” enough to actually be still. After the Lord got a hold of me, stillness and quiet was not about  relinquishing my mind to a vacuous nothingness but about increased, intimate awareness of God’s  loving Presence.  Nirvana is just another name for the hell of oblivion. Whereas  Eastern practices  seek to  deplete the soul, God’s Word fills up every crevice.

The problem with familiar scriptural verses is that they become too familiar and are often overused and taken out of context. When I don’t know what to say to a hurting friend, how helpful is it to offer just a slice of God’s Word without the whole loaf? I don’t think that Martin Luther would have written his majestic hymn if there wasn’t more to Psalm 46 than  the part we know so well. Psalm 46 describes stillness in terms of God, not of ourselves.  

 The verse says two things: Be still. Know that I Am God. We can’t address the former without  understanding the latter. Without knowing God, it’s impossible to be still no matter how mindfully we try.  The pagans miss the real point of stillness because their practice excludes God from the entire exercise. They are thus, given over to what they seek. Without God, the void is horribly, devastatingly empty. An abyss. I once looked into  it  and never want to return.

Psalm 46 is very clear about the God we’re to know. He’s revealed as the faithful, covenant fulfilling God of Jacob. He is the Lord of Hosts, the divine Commander of countless angelic armies. He is more powerful than earthquakes, floods and natural calamities.  He establishes His holy tabernacle in the City of God  through which the river of life flows. It will never be shaken. Despite the swelling rages and wars of earthly kingdoms against Him, God’s Voice destroys warfare and melts the earth. No mater what desolations we experience,  this is the God in whom (not in what)  we can take refuge and find strength.  Even though….( fire, war, famine, persecution. Fill in the blank)  …God is

….a  very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear…. Psalm 46:1-2

 It is only after the Psalmist uses the most powerful, evocative imagery to describe  God with Whom we’ve  nothing at all to fear,  that the Word then commands “ Be still and know that I am God. “ It comes almost at the end of the psalmist’s prayer. We can be still because we know the One Who is.

There is a last important point. Every word and every verse is about God.  God is to be exalted among all the nations and in all the earth. Being still and knowing the LORD is our obedient worship of Him for thus, He will be magnified in our hearts. It is also  points to Jesus  whose every thought and act reflected the Father’s will. Jesus would  glorify the Father by His obedience and sacrificial atonement and would  be glorified  at God’s right hand.  God’s divine exaltation in Psalm 46 echoes the  prophesy which Isaiah made .

… truth has gone out from My mouth, a word that will not be revoked: Every knee will bow before Me, every tongue will swear allegiance. Isaiah 45:23.

Jesus fulfills the ancient prayer and prophesy. .

… that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, Phil. 2:10

To be still is to bow our hearts before Jesus and know that He is God in the flesh. The stillness,  rest, quiet, peace and glorious joy which we experience in knowing Jesus is incomparable, indescribable  and blessed. It is a River of living water  “whose streams shall make glad the city of God.” What can pagan religions offer that comes even a nano millimeter close to such a promise?