Be Still My Soul

06:05 Sunday morning

There are two building blocks for this meditation: the hymn and Psalm 46.

The Hymn

One hymn I love especially: “Be Still My Soul.” You can hear Selah’s rendition here.

Be still, my soul–
The Lord is on thy side!
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide.
In ev’ry change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul–
Thy best, thy heav’nly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul! thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul! the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul! the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul! when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

According to my vast research of 15 minutes on the Net, it was:

• In context of German Pietism
• Written by Katharina von Schlegel in the 17th century
• Translated into English a century later
• Set to Jean Sibelius’ “Finlandia”
• A favorite of Scottish runner and missionary Eric Liddell. The film ”Chariots of Fire” records his refusal to run on the sabbath in the 1924 Olympics.

Psalm 46

God’s Defense of His City and People

     1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change,
     though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
3 though its waters roar and foam,
     though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
     the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of the city; it shall not be moved;
     God will help it when the morning dawns….
10 ”Be still, and know that I am God!
     I am exalted among the nations,
     I am exalted in the earth.”
11 The LORD of hosts is with us;
     the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah

Psalms 46:1-5, 10-11 (NRSV)

We will not fear

I love this psalm because it assures me that God is with us. As the Pietists insist, the inner flame of God’s Spirit illumines every heart.

The prologue of the gospel of John has it, “The true light (Jesus) enlightens everyone.”

Therefore, the witness of scripture and of Spirit in unity say, “God is nearer to us than our breath, our heartbeat, our DNA.” Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Liddell taught the hymn to fellow prisoners in a POW camp in China during World War II, where he died.

Looking with physical eyes only, some would say he was deluded. But, looking with the eyes of God’s Spirit, you realize that God led him every step of the way. He was a witness at the 1924 Olympics, and a witness in the POW camp.

Circumstances do not define us. In Night of the Iguana, the Mexican innkeeper (Ava Gardner) describes the Rev. T. Lawrence Shannon as a broke, anxious drunk. The thin standing-up female Buddha (Debra Kerr) says, “Those are only his circumstances, not the man.”

Circumstances do not define us. God’s love does.

The psalm compares the white water, the uproar of war among the nations, with the quiet waters of the river that runs through the city of God.

The prophet Isaiah urged King Ahaz not to cower in fear before his little enemies the Northern Kingdom and Syria. But Ahaz refused, turning instead to the rapacious Assyrian Empire, which would help itself to most of Palestine in a few years. Isaiah warned, “You have refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently,” and chosen instead the flood. (Isa 8.6)

You lead me beside still waters, another psalm says.

God can quiet and reassure the trembling heart. Circumstances may or may not change. But God’s love enables us to stand, no matter what.

And, the psalm continues, God will destroy  the weapons stockpiled by the nations (Ps 46.6-9).

Then, the words that inspired the hymn: “Be still and know that I am God.”

Certainty comes to the soul of those who wait on the Lord. But it also is plainly seen in all the earth: God is exalted.

God is with us. Immanuel!

God is closer to us than our breath, our heartbeat, our DNA.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.