Virginia Brandt Berg (1898-1968)
IN PSALM 46, IT SAYS: "GOD IS OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH, A VERY PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE. Therefore we will not fear, though the Earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea,
"THOUGH THE WATERS THEREOF ROAR AND BE TROUBLED, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." -- Psalm 46:1-3. In the 10th verse we come to that again:
"BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the Earth. The Lord of Hosts is with us." -- "Be still and know that I am God!" Oh, that is a wonderful passage! I had an experience this week that surely brought that to mind.
I WAS IN REAL DIFFICULTY to find someone whose address I did not have, and yet there was an emergency; it was a great emergency!
JUST EVERY PART OF MY BEING SEEMED TO THROB WITH ANXIETY because that party had to be reached, and reached at once! It was something that just was necessary and needed immediate and vigorous action. I felt for a little bit like I would just fly to pieces if I didn't get ahold of this party, get some word to them!
I WAS IN SORT OF AN INWARD TURMOIL, WHEN SUDDENLY THIS VERY VERSE CAME TO ME, just be still, get quiet, know that I am God. -- And so I sat down, and very quietly I looked to the Lord, just composed myself and asked God's Spirit to be with my own heart and help me to have faith and believe Him to do something so that I could get in touch with that one before something was going to happen that would have been disastrous!
SO AS I SAT THERE VERY STILL, AND THAT VERSE HAD COME TO ME, "BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD," I WAS REALLY COMPOSED to a sweet quietness. And then as I sat there very quietly looking to the Lord, there came His Voice to my heart: Just write a note and take it to where they lived before.
THE PARTY HAD MOVED and that is why I couldn't get in touch with them. -- Take it to the apartment where they once lived, and maybe there would be some reason they would come back there, or the people that owned the place would find the note.
IT SEEMED LIKE IT WAS JESUS THAT HAD SPOKEN TO MY HEART, SO I WROTE THE NOTE, and then immediately I got in the car with a friend of mind. We went over to the apartment and just as we pulled up there, the note in my hand, here came this very party that I had wanted to reach but no one could give me her address! Here she drove up in a car!
ISN'T IT WONDERFUL HOW THE LORD WORKS OUT THINGS! And it was just the Lord that dealt with that emergency and it brought to success the whole issue! I learned then that as God's Word says, my strength "is to sit still!" In Isaiah 30:7, God's Word says, "Their strength is to sit still."
IN THESE CRISES DAYS THERE IS SUCH A MULTIPLICITY OF CARES AND BURDENS and so many things to be kept up with, and the mad rush! And with all the excitement it seems like we have a greater need than ever before for this kind of Divine stillness, that God can just bathe our souls in quietness.
YOU KNOW, IT IS ONLY WHEN YOUR MIND IS QUIET AND SERENE AND THERE IS A POISE OF SPIRIT, that you can look to God to help you, and you hear the still, small Voice, or you come to know God, as the Word has said here: "Be still and know that I am God."
WELL HOW DID MY GETTING STILL MAKE ME KNOW THAT HE IS GOD? The answer to prayer was so wonderful! He really worked a miracle! And while I knew that He was God, yet again there was a witness, again here was God answering prayer in such a way that I knew in a new way that He is God!
FOR A YEAR AND A HALF A LONG TIME AGO, I HAD TO LIVE WITH SOMEONE THAT WAS ALWAYS THROWING THE HOME INTO CONFUSION AND DISHARMONY, or at least they brought a measure of it into the home. It just seemed like this party could stir up the very dregs of our souls.
IT WAS AT A TIME LIKE THAT THAT GOD REALLY TAUGHT THIS LESSON: JUST TO KEEP QUIET and He would handle that whole situation. The only hope for that situation was to not be disturbed and hurt, but to get alone with God and let Him put His hush upon us, just like He had commanded: "Be still."
IT WAS ONLY WHEN JESUS SPOKE THAT THE WINDS BECOME STILL! And the same sweet Voice that commanded stormy Gennesaret to be still put a Holy hush on our souls when this happened in our home.
SO MANY PEOPLE HAVE GOT THE IDEA THAT STILLNESS IS A SORT OF CONTROLLED TENSION, a practiced poise, and that you can compress anxiety in some way! Well if you do sometimes, you are just inwardly a boiling cauldron, though you are seemingly calm on the surface.
BUT THAT ISN'T THE KIND OF STILLNESS WE ARE TALKING ABOUT! The stillness of God isn't passivity! But it brings about the greatest clarity of thought and intensity of your desire God-ward. And it is in that stillness that you come to know God's will, and His Plan for your life.
I KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE, AS I HAVE OFTEN TOLD YOU, THAT DIVINE STILLNESS OFTEN COMES THROUGH TRIALS AND TESTINGS! You say, "Oh, how can that be?" Oh yes! It subdues the soul, and suffering humbles the spirit! Are you going through a testing right now? Well, dearly beloved, you just get quiet and be still before the Lord and He will tell you why. Sometimes I know there are times when He doesn't tell why, but as a rule He will tell you why!
HE WILL SHOW YOU HOW TO GET ALL THE SWEETNESS OUT OF IT, and how to look to Him in such a way that He will teach you wonderful lessons from it! But you've got to get quiet! There has to be that sweet still devotion, and then He can speak to your heart!
"NOT IN THE TUMULT OF THE RENDING STORM,
Not in the earthquake or devouring flame,
But in the hush that could all fear transform
The still small whisper to the prophet came.
Oh soul, keep silence on the Mount of God!
Though cares and needs throb around like a sea
From supplication and desires unshod,
Be still and hear what God shall say to thee."
WHAT SHALL THE BELIEVER DO IN TIMES OF DARKNESS? -- JUST SIT STILL AND LISTEN. Let him trust in the Name of the Lord, and rely upon his God. Let him just sit still, as the Scripture says, sit still and listen.
NOW THE FIRST THING TO DO IS TO DO NOTHING! -- That is, stand still. That's hard for human nature to do! There's a saying, "When you're rattled, don't rush." In other words, when you don't know what to do, just don't do it.
I KNOW MANY TIMES IN LIFE I HAVE RUN INTO SORT OF A SPIRITUAL FOG and I have wanted to do something so badly in my own strength! I've just felt like I had to unsnarl the tangled wires, or I had to somehow find an answer to the situation -- but do something!
THE HUMAN ENERGY JUST FELT LIKE IT HAD TO RUSH OUT AND TRY TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM ITSELF, or work it out in some way! Dearly beloved, maybe sometimes human energy may help, but more often than any other time, just anchor your boat and let it swing upon its moorings for a while, and simply trust God!
WAIT UPON HIM, AND SEE WHAT GOD WILL DO, and then as we are quiet and really trusting, God can work! Worry prevents Him from doing anything!
IF OUR MINDS ARE DISTRACTED AND OUR HEARTS ARE STRESSED, and the darkness of shadow strikes terror to us; or we run here and there in a vain effort to find some way of escape out of the dark place of trial where the Lord doubtless allowed us to get -- He can't do anything for us!
THE PEACE OF GOD MUST QUIETEN MINDS AND REST HEARTS! PUT OUR HAND IN THE HAND OF GOD like a little child and let Him lead us out into the bright sunshine of His Love! To those in the hospital, or at home in beds of sickness, or the troubled businessman riding in his car:
GOD HELP YOU TO TRUST HIM! BE STILL! LET HIM DO THE WORK FOR YOU! Perfect faith will bring the victory. Put your hand in God's hands, God will work it out! Amen.