OUR DAILY BREAD : BE STILL

[cimi]

MONDAY FEBRUARY 22


BE STILL

READ:
PSALM 46:10
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Be still, and know
that I am God.
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Years ago I responded to letters within a couple of weeks and kept my correspondents happy. Then came the fax machine, and they seemed content with receiving a response within a couple of days. Today, with email, instant messaging, and mobile phones, a response is expected the same day!

“Be still, and know that I am God.” In this familiar verse Psalm 46 I read two commands of equal importance. First, we must be still, something that modern life conspires against. In this hectic, buzzing world, even a few moments of quiet do not come naturally to us. And stillness prepares us for the second command: “Know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” In the midst of a world that colludes to suppress, not exalt, God, how do I carve out time and allow Him to nourish my inner life?

“Prayer,” writes Patricia Hampl, “is a habit of attention brought to bear on all that is.” Ah, prayer...a habit of attention. Be still and know. The first step in prayer is to acknowledge or to “know” that god is God. And in that attention, that focus, all else comes inot focus. Prayer allows us to admit our failures, weaknesses, and limitations to the One who responds to human vulnerability with infinite mercy.
__Philip Yancey

**Dear Lord, help me to be still.
Nourish my soul as I spend time with You in prayer.
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In prayer, God can quiet our minds.

**************************Today’s Bible Reading __ Psalm 46*******************************

1 God is our refuge and strength, and ever-present help
in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth
give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains
quake with their surging.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells. 5 God is within her,
she will not fall; God will help her at break of day. 6 Nations
are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our
fortress.

8 Come and see what the LORD has done, the desolations he
has brought on the earth. 9 He makes wars cease to the ends of
the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns
the shields with fire. 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.


11 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our
fortress.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Today’s Scripture passage ends with one of the
most well-known and beloved phrases in the Bible: “Be still, and
know that I am God” (v.10). The Hebrew word translated “be still”
can also be translated “become helpess,” “collapse,” “cease,” “fall
limp,” and “relax.” The sense is to stop striving. So Psalm 46 could
be translated, “Relax, and know that I am God.” Transformation,
deliverance, and resurrection are all works of God; we just need to
relax and acknowledge who He is. __Dennis Moles