Be Still and Know – EGP Blog post from September 12, 2012

Psalm 46:10 (NASB)

“Cease° striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations°, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Psalm 46:10a Or Let go, relax
Psalm 46:10b Or Gentiles

I always hear this passage as, “be still, and know that I Am God” (KJV/NIV) and the New Living Translation says, “be silent, and know that I Am God.” So, which is it?

The Hebrew word there (H7503, raphah, raw-faw’) means “to slacken”. It’s also translated throughout the Bible as “leave alone”, “be idle”, “abandon”, “fail”, and “be weak”. With such a versatile word, pehaps God means it all…

“Stop being so busy, stop trying to fix everything yourself, stop talking for a minute, leave whatever you’re worrying about alone for a while, you don’t always have to succeed, and you don’t always have to be strong… Why? Because I Am God!”

Deuteronomy 31:6 uses that same word, saying, “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble, for the Lord your God is the One who goes with you. He will not fail [raphah] you or forsake you.”

So, we can stop, rest, be silent, fail, and be weak, because God goes with us and He will never stop, never rest, never stop beckoning us, never abandon us, never fail us, and never stop being our strong tower!