Peace Comes From God

Psalm 46:8 -11

Verses 8 – 11:
God is a God of peace.  This song invites the people to see that God is the God of peace.  He brings peace by destroying the tools of destruction… “”he breaks the bow and shatters the spear…”  The Jews sought peace in all areas of their lives.  They knew with all the death, destruction and war around them that peace was only able to come if God was the initiator of it. 

The Psalmist then writes… “Be still and know that I am God.”  I know many of us take this to mean, “calm down, relax and trust God”; which it does in the English rendition.  However, the original language suggests this is synonymous to “Cease and desist!” or “STOP what you are doing”, it is the referee whistle to put to end the turmoil around and pay attention.  Only when they do this is when they can realize that God is God and He will be exalted or lifted up among the nations and in all the earth.  True peace cannot happen until we stop, listen and acknowledge God as God. 
  
Summary of 8 - 11   
We are really no different today than the ancient Israelites; we still want peace and we still want to see wars ended.  This cannot happen without God being the initiator.  On a personal level we basically want peace in our own lives.  None of us desire to be in constant turmoil and conflict.  We often get caught up in trying to right wrongs, seek justice or accusing people of hurting us and we try to mend things in our own power.  We can learn a great deal from looking at the context of Psalm 46:10 and stop trying to do things in our own strength.  This verse doesn’t necessarily mean to be quiet or calm as much as it means “stop meddling and relax.  Allow God to do his work.” 

When we are faced with, turmoil, anxiety, despair, worry and etc let us take comfort in these words… “Be still and know I am God.”  Jesus tells us in the gospels that worry and anxiety do nothing to help us so “relax (this is really what the words “be still” literally mean), stop doing what you are doing and trust me to take care of this.”