Be Still

More than a posture, it is a command from the LORD our God. As the creator of heaven and earth, He says “Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10). Although this is a well-known verse, it is nonetheless seldom obeyed or understood. From this verse, the reasons we are called to be still is so that we will know the LORD is God and He will be exalted or will have the glory. As fallen creatures, we struggle with self-glorification. We would rather be at the centre of everything instead of letting God take His rightful place. We have a hard time giving to God what is God’s, yet I believe we know very well to give Ceasar’s what is his (Matthew 22:21). Our desire and lust for self-exaltation make it difficult to see ourselves as “creatures” – clays in the hands of the Potter who makes beautiful vessels ready for good use – instead we see ourselves as “creators” that is why we accredit all that we do to “the work of our hands”. In this exhortation, the LORD wants to remind us that He can be surrendered to; He wants us to fully abandon ourselves to Him; He wants us to know that He is the I AM.

The book of Ezekiel is a glorious book filled with prophecies, visions, and symbols from the LORD. The book opens with a vision of the glory of the LORD which gives the reader a glimpse as to what that is, the majesty, grandeur, unfathomableness, might and splendor of God in the heavens. Unlike Jeremiah, Ezekiel warned the people about the judgement of the LORD on the nation of Judah while in exile as Ezekiel was among the captives taken by the Babylonians during the reign of King Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:8-17). Ezekiel took a chapter to attempt a description to the best of his abilities of the glory of the LORD he saw. It is after this vision of God’s glory that he receives his prophetic call to the Israelites. Similarly to Isaiah, Ezekiel, upon seeing the glory of the LORD fell on his face (Ezekiel 1:28) and it is in this context that both prophets were commissioned by God. I believe God wanted Ezekiel to have a proper view of who He is before Ezekiel could convey any of His messages to His people. This is the view we ought to have of the LORD. While we are not all privy to see the glory of God the way Ezekiel did, we are still called to know that God is God and honour Him accordingly. Moreover, Ezekiel’s description gives us the insight we need to fear the LORD. Without a right view of who God is, there is no way sinners like us can trust and obey Him. Everything that we do, everything that we are, starts with the right perspective of who God is and who we are. In other words, only when we align our view of God do we begin to see ourselves as who we are: creatures who answer to the Creator. In this context, we quickly realize that God is not just a “higher power”, He is the One in whom we live, move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Without Him, we would not be here, and we owe Him our everything. This is the perspective that teaches us to listen to God, to take God at His words, and to live a life of humility and service to Him.

In the west, we are so blessed to have the word of God at our fingertips as it is not readily available in other parts of the world for various reasons ranging from persecution to lack of translation of the Bible in the local language of the region. However, we who have the word of God are not savouring it the way we should, we do not see the privilege we have to hold the words of our LORD in our hands, we take it for granted when this privilege can be taken away without notice. This is in a sense what Ezekiel’s contemporaries were believing. They had the prophets who spoke the word of the LORDto them, yet they disregarded it. Irrespective of how many prophets and how many messages were given from the LORD, the people, who took for granted the fact that they were God’s chosen, began to believe that they were doing God a favour or that God needed them so they paid no attention to the voice of God. Instead of God being the centre of their lives, they became the centre. Instead of waiting on the LORD to save them from their misery, they became their own saviours or at worst, resorted to other gods for help. Indeed, when we fail to listen to the word of the LORD, we fall prey to our sin and the temptations of the flesh. We believe the lie that we are capable of solving issues by our own efforts which sadly always prove unsuccessful. Our pride fuels our sinful actions against a Holy God and only serves to accelerate our judgement. Like the people of Judah, we willingly fail to listen to the LORD and that leads us into the arms of the “thieves and robbers” who unlike the “Good Shepherd” come to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:1-10). The more we listen to ourselves, the more we fail to recognize our shepherd’s voice which eventually leads to our death. The example of the Israelites is a reminder that if we continue in their path, we will not succeed. Thank God for His word that is available for our edification and warning (1 Corinthians 10:11).

In his vision of the glory of God, Ezekiel describes heavenly beings like cherubim in quite marvelous terms. He tries as much as he can to put the reader in the scene as though we too were having the vision. His goal is to help us see the magnificence of our God. The grander our view of God, the smaller our view of ourselves and the greater our obedience to Him. Therefore, whatever it takes for you to have this great view of God, get it. I do not know what you will need to sacrifice to let go of yourself and let God in, do it because He is worthy of it all. He is worth sacrificing your time, your money, your career, your family and all that you cherish. You belong to Him. The Good Shepherd is calling you to trust Him fully today, He calls you to be still. Will you obey?