Be Still and Pray

Good morning, friend!

I am grateful the Father saw fit to awaken me this morning. For the next several days, I will be sharing the devotional thoughts the participants of Haiti Music Camp 2015 are pondering miles and miles away. I pray it will be a blessing to you.

I praise God for the opportunity to share His Word with you. I must also say I have definitely been called to participate in this manner, not because I am the most worthy individual, but because in His mercy the Father wants to transform me by His gracious hand. The more I assume the responsibilities accompanying this role, the more I become humbled by and aware of divine grace. The more time I spend meditating on our theme (Be Still), the more convinced I am of my utter need to quiet my heart and soul before God and let Him reveal to me that He is God.

Do you and I know that the Creator of all is indeed God?
Have you and I heard His voice this morning telling us He is God?

I pray you and I have come to Music Camp 2015 with a burning desire to be quiet before Almighty God and humbly learn all the Holy Spirit means to teach us. Would you pray with me?

Gracious Master, we thank You for today and commit this topic to you. Breathe on us, O breath of God, and teach us to worship You in spirit and in truth as we glean much from You. And, as always, “May the words of our mouths and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer” (Ps 19:14). Amen!

Our camp theme is: Be Still.

Today, we are merely introducing the theme.

“Be Still,” He says to you and me.

What does stillness mean?

Stillness is a place, a very special spot of quiet surrender (or humble letting go) to the work of the Holy Spirit. It is a specific spiritual or heart location where we come to rest in and learn from God. And as we will find out and remember during this whole camp, we enter stillness as we acknowledge the Lord as God, as Creator, as Father, and as the exalted King worthy or our reverence and praise.

Our theme verse is Psalm 46:10, which reads, “He says, 'Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.’ ”

Now, I invite us to pause and memorize the verse before delving into its depths. So, please repeat after me:

Psalm 46:10.

“He says, 'Be still and know I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations;

I will be exalted in the earth.' ”

Let’s unpack it a bit.

What is a psalm? It is a sacred song or poem of praise. Essentially, a psalm is a hymn to be sung or recited in God’s honor. In other words, we don’t read psalms to show how spiritual or righteous we are; we read and sing and recite them for the purpose of heralding God’s honor and glorifying the Father.

Next, what is Psalm 46?
One of the 150 songs written for liturgical purposes in Israel, Psalm 46 has a heading that tells us a bit more about it. It goes like this: For the director of music. Of the sons of Korah. According to alamoth. A song.

The heading teaches us that this particular psalm was so important that the director of music, the most skillful musician in all Israel, was entrusted with the charge of its performance. A specific directive like “according to alamoth” implies only the choirmaster would be knowledgeable and proficient enough to know how high or low, how fast or slow the psalm should be sung. Only such a one would be qualified enough to determine the ins and outs of this musical style. 

Since the psalm is to be performed in God’s honor anyway, we can be grateful to know that no one is more skillful a musician than God Himself—as God, He ordains; as Father, He engenders; as Creator, He composes; as Lord, He instills in our hearts the impulse to worship. He is the One entrusted with the performance of Psalm 46:10; we are but the vessels that carry out the song which points to the beauty of the Cross.

And who were the sons of Korah? They were Levites, descendants of Korah, son of Izhar, from the Kohathite branch, men who served the Lord and His people in the Tent of Meeting by caring for and carrying the most holy items used in the liturgical worship of the time (Numbers 4:4). In the time of Moses and Aaron, Korah led a rebellion that, as we will see, can shed some light on the nature of Psalm 46. Despite their special privileges, specific restrictions were placed on the Kohathites such as not being able to touch the actual sacred objects (Numbers 4:15) nor go into the sanctuary even for a moment to look at them (Numbers 4:20). In time, Korah and some other revolutionaries became filled with jealousy leading their disturbed hearts to revolt against those divine restrictions. Not content with their already privileged position, their contentious spirit grumbled and sought to usurp the priesthood, thus challenging the God-ordained authority granted to Moses and Aaron (Numbers 16:10).

How often do you and I respond like Korah? How often do we find ourselves dissatisfied with the assignment God has given us, preferring instead someone else’s lot? No wonder we often quote, “The grass is greener on the other side of the fence.” Do we not realize that, with our focus on the self, we will drag others down with us? That is exactly what happened with Korah’s companions. That is exactly the legacy inherited by Korah’s descendants, the sons of Korah.

Centuries following that incident, the grace of God still allowed the sons of Korah to remain in the service of God while teaching the people of God. Praise God for His grace! Yet, as they were doing so, the tendency of dissatisfaction inherited from their ancestor still made its way into their writing and teaching. Fed by the unfortunate conditions of exile in a foreign land packed with foreign gods, the besetting sin of self-focus was not completely eradicated from their daily living. In fact, it was probably so ingrained in the writers that it easily influenced the context in which Psalm 46:10 was written.

Psalm 46:10.

“He says, 'Be still and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations;

I will be exalted in the earth.' ”

Who is the “He” mentioned here?

God. YHWH. The Great “I AM.” The One who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. The faithful witness. The Firstborn from the dead. The Ruler of the kings of the earth. The Alpha and the Omega. The Amen. The One who sees and knows and interprets human motives. The One who sets the captives free. The One who says, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” The One who is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. The One who promises to make the Levites (that’s you and me, dear musician friends) who minister before the Lord (that’s our testimony, dear Music Camp family) as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.

That such a HE would say, “Be still” does not merely evoke the sweet and tame quiet of human hearts; rather, it is the cessation of wrestling, the cessation of fighting, the cessation of striving, the cessation of seeking to right all earthly wrongs in our own strength. “Be still” calls us to surrender our perceived "rights" and to cease brandishing our threatening "swords" and to stop insisting on having our own way:

You know,


-  the right to say anything we want (never mind when free speech dehumanizes others)

-  the right to have some peace and quiet (never mind when it communicates rejection and annoyance to our spouses, children, friends, and others)

-  the right to label anyone different from our expectation as "other," "disgusting," "worthless," "untouchable" (never mind that it hinders fellowship)

-  the right to denigrate and slander another individual (never mind the professional, emotional, and relational damages caused by our interference)

-  the right to spend money any way we want (never mind that others go without basic needs)

-  the right to hate and curse those who have wronged us (never mind how it violates God's commands to love and bless my foes)

As we learn to stop fretting, “Be Still” invites us to pray. Today, when matters surface that tempt us to despair and wrestle, let us take them to the Lord in prayer. When issues tempt us to get mad or frustrated, “Be Still” invites us to quiet our hearts and pray to the Lord of lords.

O, precious Lord, You are speaking. You are calling us to be still and pray when all we want to do is striving, fretting, wrestling, battling, brandishing, hating, cursing, denigrating, slandering, labeling, indulging, speaking out of turn, and so much more . . . Help us to take every matter that teems our hearts first and foremost to You in prayer. Help us not to forfeit the peace You have offered to us so freely. Help us not to pick back up burdens You have called us to leave at the foot of the Cross. We love You, Father, and thank You for the call of prayerful stillness. In Jesus' Name, we pray. Amen!