“Be still, and know that I am God!

I will be honored by every nation.

I will be honored throughout the world.”

—Psalm 46:10 (NLT)

Normally, when I get ready to write this weekly devotion, I will reflect on the previous week and decide what to write about based on what God has been teaching me. This week was not normal.

I wasn’t feeling particularly well. Turns out, being eight and a half months pregnant can be rather uncomfortable at times. The week had also been incredibly busy. If I wasn’t waiting in a doctor’s office, I was at an appointment at the bank, or working feverishly to finish getting our house ready for our baby girl. Sunday was truly the only day I wasn’t running errands, going to appointments, or working on the house. But even then, I never clearly felt the Lord pointing my attention toward something He wanted me to share.

And so I sat. I read my Bible a bit to see if He would point me in a direction, but it seemed like all I got was a frustrating heap of nothing.

But it wasn’t really nothing. Instead, it was stillness. The silence I felt from God forced me to be still, and in that stillness, I remembered Psalm 46.

What “Be Still” Really Means in Context

The context of the verse is interesting because the tone seems contrary to the command to be still. The rest of the chapter is littered with what seems like the literary equivalent of exuberant shouts celebrating the thunderous power of the Lord as He acted as Israel’s protector.

Even in the midst of the celebration, there is a moment when God commands stillness. It doesn’t seem to fit until you look at what be still means in the original language.

The Psalm 46:10 Meaning Most of Us Miss

The phrase be still doesn’t just mean to freeze like you’re playing a cosmic game of Red Light, Green Light. Another way to translate that phrase would be “cease striving.”

That brings us back to the context of the passage. The psalm is a celebration of God’s power, nearness, and protection of His people. Even when the people of Israel were surrounded by their enemies, they knew God was with them. They knew He would protect them, and this psalm celebrates that.

But that means this command to “be still” or “cease striving” comes in the middle of a battle. Right in the middle of a situation that seems to demand decisive action, God issues a command that carries with it the connotation of someone letting their hands drop from their work and relaxing.

When Trusting God Means Letting Go

We rarely find ourselves in any kind of physical battle, much less a battle with the enemies of ancient Israel. But it’s not uncommon for us to find ourselves in situations that feel like they demand we act and solve the problem.

That’s where I was when trying to figure out what to write this week. It was a problem that seemed to demand that I think harder about the week and what I may have learned. That demanded I search more fervently until I found what God wanted me to share. But the solution to that problem wasn’t that I work harder or think harder. The solution was that I stop trying to solve the problem on my own. That I let my hands drop from their work and find rest in the power of God to provide, and only move when He leads me to.

That’s not to say that we should never try to solve problems on our own. We’re not called to a life of laziness where we wait for God to do everything for us, but there is something to be said for recognizing when a problem is beyond our power and being willing to hand it over to Him.

Where Are You Still Striving When God Is Asking You to Stop?

So what are the areas in life where you’ve been running into dead end after dead end, or come to the end of what you can do? What problems have you put everything you have into solving without making a meaningful difference? Maybe those are areas of your life where you need to let your hands drop from your work and cease striving. Not in the sense of giving up, but in the sense of handing it over to the God whose voice shakes the earth. Because when we give it to Him and follow His lead, we can rest easy knowing the One who is able is in control.