Our Daily Bread 21 August 2017 Devotional – Be Still

Topic: Be Still — Monday August 21, 2017.

Read: Psalm 46:1–11, Bible in a Year: Psalms 107–109; 1 Corinthians 4

The Lord Almighty is with us, the God of Jacob is our fortress. Psalm 46:11

“We’ve created more information in the last five years than in all of human history before it, and it’s coming at us all the time” (Daniel Levitin, author of The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload).  “In a sense,” Levitin says, “we become addicted to the hyperstimulation.” The constant barrage of news and knowledge can dominate our minds. In today’s environment of media bombardment, it becomes increasingly difficult to find time to be quiet, to think, and to pray.

Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God,” reminding us of the necessity to take time to focus on the Lord. Many people find that a “quiet time” is an essential part of each day—a time to read the Bible, pray, and consider the goodness and greatness of God.

Each day we need to be still and listen to the Lord.

When we, like the writer of Psalm 46, experience the reality that “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble” (v. 1), it drives our fear away (v. 2), shifts our focus from the world’s turmoil to God’s peace, and creates a quiet confidence that our Lord is in control (v. 10).

No matter how chaotic the world may become around us, we can find quietness and strength in our heavenly Father’s love and power.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, we bring our noisy lives and our cluttered minds to You so that we can learn to be still and know that You are God.

Each day we need to be still and listen to the Lord.

Insight:

Getting away to a quiet place can be a way to settle our thoughts. But sometimes the thought of being alone with our thoughts is uncomfortable. Psalm 46 speaks to us about being quiet in the presence of “the God of Jacob,” who is our fortress. Jacob (later named Israel) was a rascal, a liar, and a fugitive from his family.

Jacob struggled with God and God determined Jacob would know Him (see Gen. 32:22–32). It is through Jacob’s line centuries later that Jesus was born to offer us peace and forgiveness.

What could it mean to be still before God, who desired to lovingly father people like Jacob and who desires to be in intimate relationship with each of us? Mart DeHaan

This message was written By David C. McCasland [Our Daily Bread Ministries.]