Be Still

A week ago the school nurse called to inform me that one of my girls had sustained a concussion due to a scary fall on the playground. Several days passed as my daughter experienced headaches, short-term memory loss, extreme fatigue, and confusion. The only effective treatment for such a condition is rest. In the beginning, no one had to tell her to rest because she felt so bad that she could easily self-moderate. However, as more days pass and she begins to feel better, convincing her that she must continue to restrict certain activities is becoming rather difficult! I wish I knew how many times in the last few days I have said, “Be still.”

Through the repetition of telling my daughter she must be still in order to recover, I have been convicted of how many times I ignore the call in my own life to be still. We are told in Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” This verse is not a call to laziness or emptiness. It is an exhortation to stand firm in our faith and observe the mighty works of God.

Consider what Moses says to the people in Exodus 14:13-14: “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. … The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Consider also what the Spirit of the Lord speaks through Jahaziel in 2 Chronicles 20:17: “You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf.” As the people stood still, God brought about their salvation.

The New Testament also clearly points to God as the author of our salvation as we remain still. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Good works freely flow out of salvation (Ephesians 2:10, James 2:17), but works will never obtain or secure our salvation. As we stand still and see God for who he is and ourselves for who we are, God saves us and changes us according to his grace.

In Gentle and Lowly, Dane Ortlund poignantly exposes our futile attempts of self-advocacy and encourages us to be still in the sufficiency of Christ when he writes, “What if we never needed to advocate for ourselves because another had undertaken to do so? What if that advocate knew exhaustively just how fallen we are, and yet at the same time was able to make a better defense for us than we ever could? No blame shifting or excuses, the way our self-advocacies tend to operate, but perfectly just, pointing to his all-sufficient sacrifice and sufferings on the cross in our place? We would be free. Free of the need to defend ourselves, to bolster our sense of worth through self-contribution, to quietly parade before others our virtues in painful subconscious awareness of our inferiorities and weaknesses. We can leave our case to be made by Christ, the only right one.”

We can be still because God is not still.

My daughter desperately wants to return to her normal activities, but to do so right now would be detrimental to her healing. She must be still in order for her brain to heal. Similarly, we must be still in order for our hearts to be healed. We cannot add an ounce of merit to our salvation. To try would be in direct opposition to God’s grace. Christ is our advocate. We can rest because of his finished work on the cross, his resurrection from the grave, and his continual intercession for us. We can be still because God is not still.