June 30 - Daily Challenge - Be Still

Psalm 46:10 - "Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted among the earth."

This morning I awoke to a quiet house. Due to my love of sleep, this rarely happens, as it is one of my children who normally serves as my alarm clock. As I began to pray over the day, Psalm 46 came to mind.

This is a psalm that illustrates God's sovereign protection over all times of misfortune. The first verse declares the nature of God. He is our strong refuge and helper in trouble. The psalmist describes both destruction caused by natural catastrophes as well as by human wars, the two leading causes for mass casualties. Throughout the psalm, he then describes God's involvement of protection within these different environments. The focus of the psalm is that even though the earth and kingdoms may pass away, the kingdom of God will not fall. Therefore, in light of this knowledge, we should be still and recognize God for who He is. God is present with us and is our Fortress.

Being still is the last thing people want to do in times of chaos. Our survival instincts kick in and unfortunately, we often do not surrender our trust to God. We do not recognize that while He is in ultimate control over this earth, there also awaits for us an unshakable kingdom. As believers, we have nothing to fear. Instead, we rally behind fear and react accordingly. However, our focus should be resolute on the Creator and Sustainer.

Being still does not mean having a laissez-faire attitude and passively giving up the battles that come to life. Rather, it is taking time out in the midst of those battles to gain perspective and as a result maintaining a sense of peace throughout the course, no matter the result. Therefore, we can exalt God, in every circumstance.

The greatest illustration I can give of our tendency to respond verses how we ought to respond comes from the movie "Titanic." After the ship began to sink and everyone knew there were not enough lifeboats, chaos erupted. People were filled with fear, despair, anger, hopelessness, etc. Yet, there is a touching scene of stillness. When most all have either refused to recognize or resigned to their fate, a single violinist begins to play, "Nearer My God to Thee," thus illustrating his resolve. His colleagues join him. Amidst the disorder, rage, and seeming injustice, there is recognition that God is still in control. You can sense the stillness in the recognition of God's sovereignty. Though there are images of death, destruction, and despair, in the background is the sweet music, acknowledging that in that moment, a believer is choosing to draw nearer to God. He is not playing out of resignation, but rather out of comfort and peace.

It does not have to be catastrophic events in which we exercise this practice of stillness. We experience "minor catastrophes" everyday and have the choice how we are going to respond.The children begin to misbehave and we turn to anger rather than grace. Traffic is terrible on the way home and we react in road rage. The car breaks down, the phone rings one too many times, the basement floods, you have one too many deadlines, a storm takes out the car, a person asks one too many favors. The list goes on and on. There are constantly misgivings that tempt us to react to chaos rather than to respond to God.

The Challenge today is to look at what areas are you tempted react to the chaos instead of responding to God by being still and recognizing, in each moment, that He is God. This requires us being intentional about taking the time to be still and using that time to recognize and exalt God for who He is.




To see a video clip of the Titanic scene mentioned above, click here.

Amazing Grace Part One: Peace With God

One of the most beloved, most sung hymns of all times is "Amazing Grace." Perhaps it is the simple melody that draws people to the song, but I believe there is more to it. The story behind the song shows the depth of the lyrics. John Newton, the man who penned the humble words to the song, was an abused servant to a slave trader in the 1700s. However, in 1748, he was rescued and ultimately became the captain of his own ship, which ironically, carried on the slave trading business. As a result of his upbringing, he likewise mistreated the slaves he carried. However, one night, during a voyage home, his ship was hit by a formidable storm. In distress, Newton cried out, "God have mercy upon us," though he was not religious prior to his exclamation. However, it was in this moment, he began to realize the depth of God's mercy and grace. He later journaled that it was through the storm that God began to speak to him and began to show grace to him. While he did not immediately give up the slave trading industry, he did begin to treat them humanly. Eventually, Newton surrendered to the ministry where he began preaching and writing hymns. His life was changed because of grace.

Grace is an amazing thing. It is favor undeserved, unmerited, unwarranted. Newton did nothing of His own accord to deserve grace. He simply accepted the gift given and responded with a lifestyle of worship.

Romans 5:1 states, "Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God's glory." It is our faith in the work of Christ that gives us our right standing before God. The result is peace. Often times, Christians do not embrace what it really means to have peace with God. We still believe that God is out to get us or He is looking for us to make a mistake or that we must do something to prove our love for Him and earn His favor. The Greek term for peace indicates a state of relational harmony or reconciliation. As a violinist, the word picture that comes to mind is one of an orchestra playing in perfect tune and timing. The result is music that is stirring to the soul. So it is with our relationship with God: beyond words. Because of the work of Christ, we are able to enjoy a completely harmonious relationship with God the Father, where there is no discord.

So what happens when we go astray? How does this affect our peaceful relationship? Often times, similar to a violinist who gets distracted and loses their place in the music, we falter in our walk with God. What once was a beautiful song now sounds disjunct and out of line. Yet, because of Christ, reconciliation with God is not a work that must be accomplished over and over again. It is a state of being that has already been established when we first believed. Therefore, we can look back up at our Conductor, find our place, and keep moving forward. Yes, there may be missed opportunities and consequences we face because of our disobedient choices and God may discipline us out of love, but make no mistake, the relationship is able to continue.

This concept of being able to keep moving forward is hard to grasp. Therefore, when we "fail God" we sometimes simply give up, lose hope, and continue going down the wrong path, assuming there is no way out. The adversary want you to believe these lies. The truth though is that as a believer, the work of Christ has already made me acceptable to God no matter what! That is grace. Romans 5:2 states that through Christ we obtained access into God's grace in which we now presently stand. We have therefore entered into a new realm of living where grace rules rather than law and condemnation. Thus, we can stand and rejoice in the hope of God's glory. It is because of grace, this unmerited realm of a favorable peaceful relationship with God we have through Christ, that we may one day share in His glory and His likeness (Moo, Romans, 304).

Many times we think that we are on the journey alone and when we fall short of God's glory, we fall alone. But that is not grace. That is not the gospel. That is not Immanuel: God with us. In Immanuel is our hope. In Christ we are alive to God and dead to sin (Rom. 6:11). In Christ, there is no condemnation (Rom. 6:23). In Christ, we are wise (1 Cor. 4:10). In Christ, we are able to stand firm (2 Cor. 1:21). In Christ, we are a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). In Christ we are children of God (Gal. 3:26). In Christ, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing (Eph. 1:3).

Unfortunately, we often look at our relationship with God the same way we look at human relationships. We think that what we say or do affects how He feels about us. However, through Christ, we receive grace and our status of peace with God is unchangeable. Though we may falter and stumble, it is not going to alter how He loves us or how He desires a relationship with us. In those times of weakness, instead of giving up on the hope of glory that we already rightfully possess in Christ, we simply need to look back up to God for direction and get back in harmony with His will. When we do, Amazing Grace will never have had such sweet a sound.