Thank you for your help. Sarah Geis is a graduate of Denver Seminary’s philosophy of religion degree program and an adjunct professor at Denver Seminary and Community College of Aurora. “For a long time I have held my peace; I have kept still and restrained Myself. You are our help in times of trouble. Be still and know that I am God. So how should a modern Christian look at this verse from almost 3000 years ago and apply it to their lives? Nothing changes. Stillness instead of rushing everywhere. Heavenly Father, I know that you are God. Although Jerusalem had no river running through it, the symbolism harks back to the river in Eden and forward to the life-giving river of Revelation 22:1–2 (see also Ezekiel 47). (Matt. And there it was right in front of me. This is a meditative exercise in which the practitioner seeks to transcend her mind in order to attain a deeper relationship with God. Come and see what the LORD has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. And it’s not like the theology behind the incorrect interpretation is entirely false. There are many philosophical and biblical problems with contemplative prayer itself, but we will not discuss them here. (John 11:6f) Please teach us to be still until You get finished with your work. For further information or to subscribe to the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL go to: http://www.equip.org/christian-research-journal/. The last verse simply reaffirms God’s revealed character as Israel’s Almighty and faithful Lord: To sum up, this entire psalm reveals several recognizable truths: Worldview Confusion. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. Worldview confusion is at work when anyone interprets “Be still and know that I am God” to advocate a state of being beyond rational and conceptual thought. In the midst of King Saul’s excuses for disobeying God in and after Israel’s conquest of the Amalekites, Samuel interrupts him, saying, “Stop [Raphah]! An Examination of the Passage. Thus, they call out: The faithful are not left in the dark: God Almighty is with them and is their fortress against all danger. When seeing Israel as the Church, Assyria as the forces of Satan, and God as God, it’s safe to say that we can look at this verse as God working against evil forces for the sake of His people, the Church.“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” -Matthew 16:18. Article ID: JAP363 | By: Sarah Geis and Douglas Groothuis, This article first appeared in the Practical Hermeneutics column of the CHRISTIAN RESEARCH JOURNAL, volume 36, number 03 (2013). Too many people think it's something good and don't realize the harm. Psalm 46:10 is a direct command from God to stop our futile efforts in dealing with things that are His domain. And Lord, this wonderful instruction continues in the New Testament too. 4-6). On biblical revelation, see Francis A. Schaeffer, “Is Propositional Revelation Nonsense?”. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. But have you noticed that in verses 2, 3, and 6, the ‘nations are in uproar”? To “Be still” is the Hebrew word raphah meaning abate, cease, forsake, or let alone. On the cross, Jesus cried out in agony, “My God, my God, Why have you forsaken me?” Far from being a mere cry of despair, this was a prayer of faith taken from David in Psalm 22.1 But these invaluable writings can be abused easily. If only they had stayed, been still…the Gospel story might have been written quite differently! The worst part of misinterpreting any verse or passage is that we never learn the inspired biblical truth behind it. On one noisy day, with the crowd shouting,” Crucify Him,” there was one who was still. Misinterpretation abounds when, instead of seeking to understand what a passage actually says, we engage in the hermeneutical error of eisegesis—making the text mean what we want it to mean. (Ruth 3:18), Lord, we have read about Job and seen but a mirror of ourselves. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way. 27:19). There is, of course, no place for such lobotomizing inChristianity, since God makes Himself rationally known in words and deeds (John 1:1–18; 2 Tim. (Matt. Let us not twist the Scriptures to our own destruction (2 Pet. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire. These usages of raphah are either commands to cease current activity in order to change behavior or listen, or, in the case of Psalm 138:8, it is put negatively, as a plea that God not cease caring for His creatures. It is here that Jesus actually walks on the waves, and the disciples were terrified and thought Jesus to be a ghost. Draw near to every member of Christ's body, and protect Your people Israel against the increasing roar of the nations.
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