THE exhortations, “sit still” and “stand still” occupied our consideration in the two previous months respectively. We have now to speak on the injunction, “Be Still.” To sit still implies a waiting posture; to stand still one of halting on a march; to be still suggests an awe and quietness of mind. Hence we read in Psalm 4:44Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. (Psalm 4:4), “Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.” Also in Psalm 464There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. (Psalm 46:4), the psalmist, speaking of God as a refuge and strength and present help in trouble, expresses his confidence in God, though the earth be removed, and the mountains carried into the sea, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Then, calling attention to the desolations God hath made in the earth in fighting against His enemies, the Psalm concludes: “Be Still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”
When God’s judgments are in the earth, when He shakes His rod over a nation, over a people, or an individual; when He utters His voice, and that a terrible voice; when He permits circumstances to transpire which cause alarm, distress, or sore trouble; when God shows His people hard things and makes them to drink the wine of astonishment; for a soul to be still at such a time is almost supernatural. Yet what God enjoins is not to be looked upon as an impossibility, but by grace to be attained unto.
When the disciples on one occasion were on board ship with their blessed Lord, “there came down a storm of wind on the lake, and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. Then He arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.” Here was a time of danger and trouble. Let us particularly note the measure of faith the disciples had in their Lord. They believed He had power to do many things, but their faith was not strong enough to fully believe He had power to rebuke the wind; hence said the Lord, “Where is your faith”? They had affirmed just before, “we perish”; their faith evidently was not in exercise in God who holds the winds in His fists, and the waters in the hollow of His hand.
We may consider that to sit still, to stand still, and to be still, implies three degrees of faith. To sit still is a faith of early seeking after God; to stand still is a faith of expectation for the Lord to appear in the hour of danger to be still is a faith of entering securely by faith into Jesus Christ. The words of Joseph Hart seem somewhat to the point. After describing two degrees of faith, he says:
“But he that into Christ believes,
What a rich faith has he!
In Christ he moves, and acts, and lives,
From self and bondage free He has the Father, and the Son,
And Christ and he are now but one.”
We apprehend that by such a faith only can the soul “be still.” He can then commune with his own heart and be still. Faith in Christ’s felt presence stills him, silences his fears, quiets his mind, produces peace in his soul, and gives him an humble assurance that although trouble may be without, dark clouds in the future, and no stability in any of his outward things, yet by faith in God he can be still in his soul and believe that God is God.
Some persons might imagine that such a faith, is not an active faith, but rather a passive one; but it is both active and passive. It is active, inasmuch as communion is more or less maintained with the Lord. To move and act and live are lively motions, and imply that the graces of the Spirit, such as joy, peace, and love, are in exercise. These graces lead in the way of tender gracious walk with God; and the continued shortcomings, the plague of indwelling sin, the weakness of the flesh, which hinder and oppose this gracious walk, become the grief and the burden, which gives daily, more or less, an errand to the throne of grace. Then those things which, like water, appear to put out the fire, work as oil to cause the flame of earnest cry unto the Lord. With such oppositions the soul may be sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; sorrowful over his own weakness and inability, yet rejoicing he has an arm of strength in the Lord, and that he stands in the Lord and not in himself. He rests in the Lord, and not in himself.
“Till we attain to this rich faith,
Tho’ safe, we are not sound;
Though we are saved from sin and death,
Perfection is not found.
Lord make the union closer yet,
And let the marriage be complete.”
Reader, is this your prayer? We trust it is the prayer of our heart; may the Lord grant it to each of us. There may be some who will read this article and the two foregoing on the subject of stillness who have no sympathy with such a religion, which they may compare to an old stagecoach of the past generation, and think they have found a way to heaven comparable to the motor-cars of the present time, in trusting to the work of their hands. Should it be the case that such an individual is glancing at this page, and we are right in assuming that you do not receive the Word of God as a little child and have no desire to do so, but are proud of your present attainments and supposed knowledge, your position is not to sit still, for your stillness may if grace prevent not prove your undoing. We say not so as your judge, but rather to warn you. “Behold, all you that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand: ye shall lie down in sorrow.” (Isaiah 50:1111Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow. (Isaiah 50:11)). It would be your wisdom to understand your way, which should be one of fleeing. There is a city of refuge, there is a way of escape, there is a way for you to strive to enter into.
Each course is set forth in the Word of God, and should your eyes be opened to see your danger, you are invited to run. However religious you may be, while your religion is your trust, it can be no place for rest, because your sins are still lying at your door. Ruth, who was told to sit still, had left her own people and her gods, and had fled from Moab, a place of idolatry, and had come to put her trust under the wings of the Lord God of Israel. Naomi sought rest for her daughter-in-law, and she obtained it by being united to Boaz. And unless we are united to Jesus Christ, Boaz’ great antitype, we cannot find the stillness in any sense of gospel peace.
To sit still, stand still, and be still, are active operations of a God-given faith, who works by His good Spirit in the soul. It is sometimes in the still small voice. It is always effectual, whether in great power or in small degree, and it is a work we can cherish. It is also a work that can be resisted, hence it is said: “Quench not the Spirit.” If we quench a thing, we practically resist. We do not say man is stronger than God, neither do we say we can stop His work; but it is possible by sinful actions to grieve the Spirit, and He withdraws His operations till we acknowledge our offenses.
May God grant us much of the stillness we have briefly hinted at, that we may show forth His praise, and glorify Him in our daily walk to the Kingdom.
New Cross, June 17th, 1905.
S. B.