If you’re a believer in Jesus, you’ve probably declared (with friends, in church, on social media) that you trust God. But do you trust Him enough to wait on Him? And do you trust in Him to be STILL while you wait on Him? And can you do so while in pain?
And can you be still and wait on God while in pain — for an indeterminate length of time?
Picture yourself going to the dentist. You’re in pain. And you need to see the dentist so she or he can give you that Novocaine and then take care of that cavity! But…
You have to wait.
In the waiting room.
And you don’t have your phone or a tablet. You don’t have anything to read. Let’s say all the magazines are taken by the others who are waiting. You have nothing to occupy yourself with. All you can do is just sit there.
Sit there. Waiting. In pain.
And you have no idea how long the wait will be.
Some of us don’t have to picture that. We’ve been there. Literally as well as figuratively.
Waiting on God to deal with a problem – or set of problems – in your life can sometimes be like waiting on a dentist to take care of your pain.
Quite often, we have to wait on God.
And we have to do so while we’re in pain.
And when we have no idea how long the pain will last or how long it will take for God to “show up.”
Well, allow me to point your attention to the 46th Psalm. Written by the “sons of Korah,” this is among the most beautiful psalms in the Bible. And here it is – in its entirety – in the New King James:
1 God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear,
Even though the earth be removed,
And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and be troubled,
Though the mountains shake with its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
6 The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
Who has made desolations in the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
He burns the chariot in the fire.
10 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 of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah
With this blog post, I won’t go into an in-depth exegetical breakdown of this passage. Allow me to just offer a few parting thoughts to encourage you as you meditate on this wonderful psalm – and I hope you will meditate on it.
First, this is written by descendants of a man who rebelled against God. Yet these descendants went on to faithfully serve God and sing His praises.
And this psalm was written, as the late and famous commentator Matthew Henry puts it, to encourage us “to hope and trust in God, and his power, and providence, and gracious presence with his church in the worst of times, and directs us to give him the glory of what he has done for us and what he will do.”
It was written to a nation that understood both victory and calamity and to a people who knew both blessing and suffering. And it’s a reminder to trust God and glorify Him in all such situations, knowing that He is our “refuge” and He will ultimately be “exalted in the earth.”
Not only is God “our refuge and strength,” He is a “very present help in trouble.” Do you see that? God is present with us. He is there with us. When we are in trouble, when we are in pain, God is there. He is not absent. He is not missing. He is present!
And we can seek sanctuary in Him. We can do so at all times. In other words, to use a modern term, God is our “safe space.”
And yet life can be unstable and loud, right? Psalm 46 has you covered. Note the phrases “Even though the earth be removed” and “though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” These are poetic allusions to when your world may seem turned upside down.
And Psalm 46 assures us that God is present and He is in control — even when the “waters roar” and the “mountains shake.”
That means God is in control and can be your refuge even when you are hurting, grief-stricken, anxious, or troubled. No matter how great the danger or how intense your emotions, God is in control.
God loves you.
God cares for you.
And He is there for you and with you!
It’s in that spirit that Psalm 46:10 gives us the voice of God Himself:
Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!
To be “still” doesn’t necessarily mean that you should do NOTHING.
It might mean that. Sometimes, God does want us to slow down or even stop. And sometimes it takes us stopping and just sitting — focused exclusively on Him — for us to hear from Him.
I am a big believer in quiet times before God.
But God, in Psalm 46, is obviously not telling us that we should freeze in place for days, weeks, or months at a time. That’s not what God means by “Be still.”
The word “still” in Psalm 46:10 is an English translation of the Hebrew word rapa, which means “to slacken, let down, or cease.” It basically means to “cease fighting” or “drop your weapons” or “stand down.”
Now let’s apply that to some contexts:
- Marriage: “Husbands and wives, stop fighting. Stop hurting each other. Still your hearts and focus on Me. Trust in Me.”
- Money Troubles: “Take a breath. Stop your worrying. Trust Me. Focus on Me. Listen to what I am saying to you. Are you listening?”
- Friend/Co-worker Troubles: “Stop the drama. Take a step back. Focus on Me. Listen to Me.”
Picture two people getting in a fight, and a third party coming in to break up the fight. And you get an idea of what God is getting at here. God is that third party. And He is saying that so many of our fights – external and internal – come from taking our focus off Him and putting it on our fears, worries, and pain.
We have to focus on Him.
We have to listen to Him.
Because He is the One with the power. He is the One who will be – and must be – exalted.
This is a practical benefit of a daily quiet time before God. We set aside our worries, problems, issues, and invest time in prayer and Bible reading.
It’s also a practical benefit of gathering in church together. Each Sunday (and, for those extra-faithful and who have the opportunity, during the week as well), we gather with our brothers and sisters in Christ to set aside worries, conflicts, division, and trouble — and focus corporately on God.
And it’s why Paul tells us to “pray without ceasing.” A daily quiet time and a weekly gathering with your church family are, I would say, the bare minimum to make sure you’re at least somewhat anchored in the Lord. But honestly, we should be continually focused on God. We should be praying regularly and often. And in His word as often as we can be.
It’s of course easy (or at least much easier) to trust in God and spend time with Him when life is smooth or relatively pain-free. But what about when the pain comes?
Can you trust in God as your “refuge and strength” while in pain?
And can you do so for an indeterminate length of time?
The bottom line is that waiting on God in pain is what draws us closer to God and makes us more “complete” in our relationship with Him. That’s what James tells us in his epistle. Here’s the first chapter of James:
2 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials,
3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.
4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
That’s not easy, I know. And that’s why James continues:
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;
8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Note that waiting on God and being “still” before God doesn’t preclude praying to Him and asking Him for wisdom. On the contrary, you’ll find an even greater need for prayer and divine wisdom while waiting on Him.
I can’t tell you how long your particular pain or struggle may last or how long it will be before God will “fix” your situation. But I can tell you that you’re better off with God as your refuge and strength than you are without Him. And I can also tell you this…
The more you trust God in your heart and exalt Him in your life, the more you will experience His provision and His peace.
God bless you.
