Be still, know that I am God.
Psalm 46:10
I remember reading this verse when I was a child. I remember being told that these were the words of God, His own voice speaking to us through the Bible, and that I found comfort in Him and no fear.
As a young child, I did not understand. I could not understand a force greater than myself, than my parents, than cars speeding down the road or airplanes in the sky. And putting my faith in something I couldn’t see, couldn’t touch, and couldn’t have visibly in front of me seemed foolish.
Sometimes I still feel that way, to be honest.
There are days when I doubt. I doubt because I am human. I hesitate because I fear for the lives of the people around me. I hesitate because I see bad things happening in the world and I wish I could make sense of them.
I doubt because I have unanswered questions and because people I care about ask me why my God doesn’t see their pain and I have to tell them that he cares, he cares a lot but he wants us to choose him and turn to him instead of our earthly plans, sin.
And sometimes I feel like I’m shouting into this open space without an answer.
But then I remember this verse. “Be still, know that I am God.”
And I remember thousands of other verses that promise God’s love. I remember many times in my life when I felt down and relied on my faith to get me through. I remember the times I prayed and felt His presence. I remember that He took things from me, but He gave me so much. I remember that in his love, I was saved. I remember that I am never alone.
And I will never be alone because He is with me. Because you are my God.
Then I start thinking about the world and how big it is. I think about people, and how we are all unique and different. I think of the stars and galaxies and all the thousands and millions and billions of tiny cells that make up every single thing I see and I wonder how I can doubt God when such terrible miracles are all around me.
Then I quiet my mind and my heart beats faster. I closed my eyes and straightened myself. I pray, I remember, I talk to God and I tell Him the worries that oppress my soul.
Then I hope. Because faith is, to trust. In things that are seen and unseen, by a power greater than I, to God that I know will never leave me.
I hope because that’s what being a Christian is. To place my sinful, human heart in His hands and ask Him to take it, mold it into what He wants in my life. Believing that He is and always will be. Trust that He is God, and He will always be God, even in the pain and struggle and heartache and turmoil that surrounds this world.
“Be still, know that I am God” You say, and I will.
I will have faith in what I know—He loves us. And He’s Here.
