February 22, 2010 THE DISCIPLINE OF SPIRITUAL TENACITY

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God…

In a world consumed by worry and uncertainty, these eight little words can – and should- ease our souls in even the most troubled of circumstances. Whatever our struggle, whatever we are facing, God gives us these simple instructions:
     1) Be Still
     2) KNOW that I am God
We must understand that the second is absolutely dependent upon the first – to think that we will truly know God as the Almighty without taking the time to “be still” before Him is to delude ourselves. Are we overwhelmed by worry? Are we afraid? Uncertain? We must ask ourselves honestly then: Are we being still before Him?

I used to work with a very nice woman who was, well, a talker. I’d go into her office to drop off a bit of paperwork and I’d be in there for 20 minutes while she told entertaining anecdotes and dispensed bits of her personal wisdom. She was always pleasant and upbeat, but after I’d worked with her a while, I noticed something - she never asked how I was, or seemed interested in hearing about anything in my life, and I noticed this was the case no matter who she was talking to. The comments of others were mostly ignored and seemed simply to serve as a springboard for more stories of her own. I’ve come to realize that this is often how I approach God. I’m so busy prattling on about my own life that I never provide an opening for Him to speak. Being still isn’t easy to do – we can become distracted, impatient, we can feel as if there are simply dozens of things that need to be done and our time before God is spent simply dispensing our “to-do” list for the Almighty. To say it like that almost sounds disrespectful, but if I’m honest, that is exactly what I’ve been guilty of doing all too often in the past.

There is certainly a place for petition to our Lord. A critical part of our relationship with Him is expressing our needs, our struggles, our frustrations, hurts and questions – and understanding that he cares DEEPLY about all of those things. But we must also give Him the opportunity to answer those – we must be still before him.

It is in that time of stillness that we will come to know, truly and without reservation, that He is God. He doesn’t say “Be still and hope…”, “Be still and wish…”, “Be still and believe…” He says: Be still and KNOW with a certainty that leaves no room for question.

It is from here that Chambers pulls today’s devotional as it relates to our Spiritual Tenacity:
Tenacity is more than endurance, it is endurance combined with the absolute certainty that what we are looking for is going to transpire. Tenacity is more than hanging on, which may be but the weakness of being too afraid to fall off. Tenacity is the supreme effort of a man refusing to believe that his hero is going to be conquered.

Absolute certainty: is that how we feel about our God? Are we absolutely certain of who He is and do we know beyond a shadow of a doubt know that HE will conquer all? It is those moments of failure to recognize God as God that leave us worried, afraid and uncertain. When we KNOW that He is the Almighty, the Ancient of Days, the Alpha and Omega – it is then that we can be completely at peace because we know that He has it all in His holy hands. And when we struggle with that knowledge? Be still before Him, that we may know.