Be Still and Know That I AM God

Be Still and Know That I AM God

May 5, 2025

Host: Hon. Sam Rohrer

Guest: Dr. Renton Rathbun

Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 5/5/25. To listen to the podcast, click HERE.

Disclaimer: While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning the following dialogue.

Sam Rohrer:

Hello and welcome to this Monday edition of Stand in the Gap. Today. I trust that you had a restful and worshipful weekend in the midst of all that’s going on around us. Actually things happened in Ukraine, a greater war there. It’s building a building volcano in the Middle East with Turkey. Yeah, Turkey’s moving into conflict with Israel very quickly. War with Iran is moving ever closer with us and Iran negotiations falling apart Last week and if you didn’t know, there was a successful ballistic missile fired from Yemen and avoiding six Israeli and US attempts to shoot it down and it successfully landed there in the Tel Aviv area, the Arian airport yesterday. So trusting in the Lord is something all God’s people need to do. Trusting in God is what we’re told to do all through scripture, isn’t it? Such as improper that says trust in the Lord with all your heart, yet the busyness of our day.

I don’t know about your day, but I think I can guess. I know my day. I think it’s busy. The increasing demonic distractions all around us, they compete with that command to trust in God. And herein is the core challenge, I think for all believers. That is rejecting the distractions, noting it for what it is, rejecting it, reducing the busyness, and just stopping long enough, being still frequently enough to think about how little we are in control. And yet how great is our God who is fully in control? Amen. Right now it is this need and challenge that God had laid on my heart to address today on this program and to do so with special returning guest Dr. Renton Rathbun, speaker and consultant on biblical worldview instruction for BJU press. And this our monthly focus on education, biblical worldview and apologetics. And the title I’ve chosen to frame today’s program is this, be Still and know that I Am God that’s taken from Psalm 46 10 and with that rent and thank you for being back with me today. It’s a great topic that we’re about to engage and I’m glad that you are here.

Renton Rathbun:

Yeah, I’m glad to be here too is a topic that challenged me as well as enjoying it as well.

Sam Rohrer:

Renton, let me go a little further and just lay this out here. You know the power of this single command direct from the mouth of God here in verse 10 of the short 11 verse chapter in Psalms where it says Be still and know that I am God. But the balance of that verse says this, I again, the focus on God, I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. And it follows a chapter which begins with the familiar two verses which I’m going to read. Ladies and gentlemen, you’ll recognize it first two verses of this chapter where it says God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea. Now rent an understanding. The instruction of Bible verses starts with understanding context. So would you share briefly the context of this short phrase we want to examine today, be still and know that I am God.

Renton Rathbun:

Well what’s really helpful in the Psalms many times, especially in this chapter is that we have a topic sentence that kind of tells us this is what this chapter is about. So every time, every verse you read remember this. And so the topic sentence is just what you read, that God is our refuge and strength of very present help and trouble because then following that we go into these detailed physical threats. Though the earth should change though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, though the waters roar and form foam and though the mountains quake and swell, all these physical things the verses are telling us are coming or here, this is what makes us fearful. And I want you to also notice in these verses that it’s not saying so therefore God will stop the earth from shaking and the mountains from slipping into the sea.

It says as these things happen, you see down in verse seven, the Lord of host is with us. The God of Jacob is our stronghold. And what you see there is this doxology and doxology just means this explosion of gratefulness. And so the gratitude is not that God will stop these physical threats, but that he is there with us in these physical threats. And so the verse eight and nine continue and tell us to behold the works of the Lord. And so then we get this idea that we’re supposed to remember the things he has already done and then that leads us to verse 10, which tells us to be still. And it doesn’t say to be still and feel that I am God. It says be still and know that I am God. So there is a sense here where knowledge is needed. So we have this thankfulness idea, we have this remembrance of God’s works that leads to a knowledge of God that allows us to be still in the knowledge of him.

And so those factors together is the big context of this. And also to remember that when he introduces God, the Lord of hosts is with us, he’s saying this isn’t just God is with us in peace, he is saying the Lord of hosts, this is Lord Saia. This is the same word that Luther uses in his hymn to introduce Christ. That the Lord is the Lord of hosts. The Lord of armies is there with us. He is a Lord of power. And so it’s really telling us in the context, don’t be afraid of the physical threats of this world. Don’t be afraid of the physical power of this world. Rest in the power of what you cannot see the power of God.

Sam Rohrer:

That’s powerful. Let’s go a little further into that. That’s a great foundation because there are two things here that we’re going to look at be still and what that means and how to do it. We’re going to get into that. Ladies and gentlemen, stay with us because it’s powerful. Be still what’s that mean? And then knowing that God is God and what that means and the results of what that will produce. So just in a couple minutes, what do we have? We don’t have much time here, but Rendon give just a quick overview of how these two in context work together of being still and knowing that God is God as it lay the foundation roadmap here for us.

Renton Rathbun:

So this word be still in the Hebrew is Rafa. It means to stop or to let go to cease. And that idea would be something like this. And some translations use the word stop striving. So this idea of the physical has made me so afraid and so scared that it’s almost like a child kicking and screaming who wakes up with a night terror and is picked up by their father and said, calm down. And the realization that they are surrounded by the real power of their father and not their own mind gives them that stillness. And so we can continue talking about that as we come

Sam Rohrer:

Back. Alright ladies and gentlemen, I know regardless of where you are, where you’re listening, your age, your location, your position in life, we’re all faced with the challenges of wondering what’s happening around us. So being still and knowing experientially that God is God, isn’t that something we all need? That’s the folks today’s program. Stay with us. We’ll be back, be still and know that I am God. Well if you are just tuning in, thanks for being with us today. This is Stand in the Gap today and our special guest today is recurring guest, Dr. Renton Rathbun. He’s speaker and a consultant on biblical worldview instruction for BJU press. And you heard short announcement about them in that last segment. So if you’re in the point where you have children or grandchildren and they are in need of which they all are a trusted curriculum that is guaranteed biblical worldview, then you definitely want to go there.

So Dr. Rathbun is a consultant for them and he’s with me and we deal with issues of practical nature, apologetics in a wide range. A theme today is a truth, a practicality from scripture. I know I have not talked to anyone who would not want to know more about this verse from scripture and that is this, be still and know that I am God. Alright, now in this verse, be still and know that I am God. There are in fact two parts. We’ve already mentioned them. There’s a process being still, and as I look at it, it answers the questions of how and why. It’s a process, but it’s part of it. And then it goes to the what tell you the product, the result, the result of the process. And that is knowing that God is God knowing that I am God. Now for the purpose of understanding what God is saying here, Renton, I’d like to look first at the what. Let’s reverse it and look at the aspect of what it means. What does it literally mean to know that God is God?

Renton Rathbun:

So what we have here is a pattern of what I believe is three activities like you were talking about a process that leads to knowing that God is God. And what you’re asking is what does it really mean to know that God is God? And this is important because God is not a God of our own making. And that is often what we do when we are in fear. We create scenarios that we want God to be for us at that moment. And God begins to look a lot like us instead of looking like the God of scripture. So if we’re going to know that God is God, we need to know who he is. So when it says to know part of that word, know there in the Hebrew is the Hebrew word, yada. It means in this case it has lots of meaning within it, but mostly it’s acknowledging.

So there’s an acknowledgement that God is God and who is this God? And so acknowledging that God is acknowledging the identity of our God and what is his identity? Well we find that in his attributes, attributes are merely characteristics of God that we are to essentially find in God’s word and then think about or reflect on those things. And so he is a God of justice. He is a God of love, he is a holy God, he is a powerful God, those kinds of things. How does scripture speak of God that way? This is why David over and over talks about his love for God’s word because it is speaking of the identity of our God, the one that is with us. And so when we begin to reflect, and that’s what I think this is really getting at, is how do I reflect on God as God? God’s word has to bring out those attributes of who He is that we might be able to reflect on him and that’s being asked of us in this verse.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay, let’s expand upon that a little bit if you don’t mind. And that would be in this context, there is a difference clearly between knowing about somebody knowing that I know about George Washington that he lived, I know about other individuals in history, I can read about them, but that’s not the same thing as knowing them. And that’s a little bit different. And even what you were saying, the aspect of acknowledgement of knowing that, acknowledging that God is God because obviously we must know and acknowledge that God is God, but we can know an awful lot about God but never know God either, can’t we?

Renton Rathbun:

Yeah, that’s right. When you look at the word like I was talking about the word yada, it does mean acknowledging, but it has another meaning within it as well. And that’s so rich about the Hebrew language. It is the same word that’s used when Adam consummated his marriage to Eve. It says Adam went in and knew Eve. That’s the word yada. And so this word here is not speaking about a mere knowledge of God or a mere acknowledgement of God, the way Satan might acknowledge that God is more powerful than him. This still has this intimacy built into this word. And so it’s an intimate knowing. And so you might think of it this way, I know about a lot of people, but I am particularly interested in knowing my wife. There are lots of things I know about her, but the reason why I know things about her is because my intimate love for her pushes or brings about this need to know her.

And so when you look at the rigorous knowledge, I mean that’s what you want to have. You want to have a rigorous knowledge of the one you love. And so the rigor is still there, but without the love it just becomes a rigorous knowledge about something, but it doesn’t become a rigorous knowledge of what you love. And so when you look at this difference that you’re talking about, I can know a lot about God, but if I don’t love, if not, if I don’t have this gratitude which is talked about at the very beginning of this chapter or the trust that this chapter is driving us towards, stop trusting in the power of this physical world and trust in the one you love, the one that loves you because he is here with you. And all of this drives us to a kind of knowledge that is an intimate, rigorous, if I can put it that way, knowledge of God.

So real knowing comes down to a God that requires us to study him piece by piece. And so he is a God who has attributes and we talked about that already, but to be clear, he is a god of love. What does that mean? What does scripture say about God’s love? Because I guarantee it’s not going to be like the kinds of things that people say on YouTube. It’s not going to be the kind of love we have come to know from the movies. So what is that love? What is his justice? I know it’s not the kind of justice we hear in the political realm, social justice. So what are we talking about when we’re talking about a God of justice? Think of the rigor it takes even understanding his power, his holiness his goodness. We often look at these things and think we know what they mean, but until we study God’s word, we might slip into the ideas that the world has given us and then apply what the world has given us to our God instead of studying His word. And to study in a rigorous manner requires a lot of help.

Sam Rohrer:

Okay,

You might need It does. Oh go ahead. It does and you’ve used the word rigor often and we’re talking about knowledge. You’ve used that word and all that, but you’re also identifying a part that’s related to time and experience because what is an incredible thing is that as we can come to know our spouse or someone else in a very close fashion, the longer you live with them, the more them say it in with God. The Lord saved me when I was seven years old. So it’s been well over 60 years since I’ve walked with the Lord. I know God far better now than I did when I first trusted him. So expand upon that a little bit, that experiential part, Renton, that’s part of knowing that God is God, that this God that we cannot see, we can come to know in an intimate way. That’s one of the incredible things about this

Renton Rathbun:

Verse. Yes, and that brings us back to what you were talking about before the process that brings us to the product. The product is knowing God. The process is quite experiential. It is intimate. It begins with the first part of the chapter that tells us, although all these things are happening, he is here. That leads us to a gratitude, a thankfulness that much like that example I gave before the first break. We are so taken in by this world and so filled with fear over all the real things that are really happening that are part of this temporary world. But he is here that gratitude, you can’t have gratitude without intimacy, which then leads to recognizing his faithfulness. And faithfulness is an intimate act and acknowledging that that leads us to a knowledge of him is all those steps of the process are very experiential.

Sam Rohrer:

Ladies and gentlemen, how well do you know God? Do you know him experientially and all about him and his attributes more now than you did last year? I hope I pray you can. If you come back, we’re going to shift from the knowing God, which we can to how and that’s involved in the whole idea of being still. Well, before we go into this third segment and talk about being still the process that leads to knowing God, I just want to make a mention here. You heard in that break a new focus versus to remember from standing the gap Today it’s a new series that we’re adding in and it’s because of the importance of knowing God’s word, memorizing the word of God. There’s nothing better to prepare us in times of trouble. Even the reference in what we’re talking today, this verse from Psalm 46 10, be still and know that I am God.

That’s a good verse to remember and memorize too and we’re looking at it. So we’re beginning a series and you will hear the same reference of that same one that you just heard from June 24 and 25 will play all week the next week, then we will begin a new one. So we’re encouraging all of you are listening to just look forward to that and with us attempt to memorize that verse. So look it up and then expect it when you listen to the program to hear it again. And it’s all to help us if we are to memorize scripture and we are thy word. Have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against you? How’s that happen? Well, I mean we memorize it. So that’s what we’re doing. I just wanted to give a heads up on that so you can note that and expect it in the days ahead and again with us memorize important passes of scripture.

So that’s what we’re doing. Alright, now Renton, let’s shift to the how and the why the process part. We’ve been talking about it, so let’s get right into it. What does it mean to be still? You’ve already kind of given a brief definition, but build that out and how is this state of being still, the state of being be still? How does it connect with the many verses in scripture, for example, which command us to meditate on God and his word, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament? There’s got to be a connection.

Renton Rathbun:

Yes. I mean in the end, this constant talk throughout scripture, especially with David in the Psalms saying, I meditate on your word day and night. We know these verses, but this meditation has been warped so much by the world. This meditation that we’re talking about on how we come to be still finds its pattern in the chapter we’re talking about. So what I want to lay out for your audience is that how we come about being still in God, it rests in our ability to meditate and meditating is brought out in this verse. So for instance, at the beginning, like I said, there is this call to thankfulness that he is with us during the times of the physical world is filling us with fear. Now this is not a small thing, thankfulness is not a small thing. It actually takes a conscious work. If you look at Romans 1 21 in the New Testament, it talks about how our hearts, our most deepest rebellion against the Lord is brought about by not giving thanks and not honoring our creator.

And this means that our greatest obedience then is to give thanks and to honor our creator. And so this thankfulness takes activities and what we find in the Old Testament is this reminder over and over again to remember who your God is. So after the Israelites cross the Red Sea, God commands them to build these stones so that when the children ask and say, what is that? They will remember what the Lord has done for them. Deuteronomy six tells parents, when your kid wakes up, you tell them about the Lord. When they’re walking in the way you tell them about the Lord when they’re laying down again to go to bed at night, you tell them about the Lord. God calls himself the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who took you out of the land of Egypt. Why does he do all this? Because he’s telling us that you need to remember my works. This is part of the work of meditation that’s being talked about here, so that when we get down to reflecting on God’s character, what we mean by knowing that God is God, we are going through a meditation process. The meditation of gratitude. God is our object, remembering God’s works that he’s already done and reflecting on the character of God. Those are the steps that we see coming out through the old and New Testament when it comes to meditating on God.

Sam Rohrer:

When you say meditate, you and I have been talking about this, our listeners are listening and we’ve all heard that word meditation matter of fact, the word meditation is all through our secular godless society. You got the folks that are sitting over in the corner meditation, but that’s not what we’re talking about here with scripture is a differentiate between biblical meditation to which you are referring and the meditation that’s so common in our humanistic God rejecting world.

Renton Rathbun:

What we have is a pattern in Psalm 46 that gives us, like I said, this way of finding peace because of the supernatural work of God despite the physical world around us. And so if we want to find peace in the supernatural work or power of God, despite the physical powers we see around us, we go into thankfulness, remembrance, and reflection like I said before. But the world’s understanding of meditation isn’t about a rigorous work of thinking on the object who is God? It’s clearing our mind, it’s clearing our mind from the supernatural one who is God and focuses actually more on the physical. What the world wants us to do in the world’s understanding of meditation is to find peace by way of trusting in who you are, who you’ve come to know yourself as, your feelings, your experiences. And so meditation from the world often is to be thankful for yourself. Remember? Oh, go

Sam Rohrer:

Ahead. Yeah. So the meditation of the world you’re describing, which most people would see is somebody sitting around legs folded and all that. That is a pursuit of a false peace. What we’re describing in the meditation here from God’s word is that which is focuses on the prince of peace, true peace. And they are starkly different Now build that out a little bit if you want to, and then also comment on this because I had another program last week with some folks and we were talking about all the clutter that is about us due to all of the expanding communication and artificial intelligence that’s generating all kinds of things and phones in our hand that we are linked to almost symbiotically and we have a lot of distractions. It seems that a generation ago there were less distractions. So we are in a point where we probably have very few people who really understand what it is to be still, but we’re consumed with distraction. Build that out a little bit again and why it’s so important. Just put this together.

Renton Rathbun:

Yeah. So I could tell you firsthand how technology has just destroyed our focus. As you know, I am the host of the Rent Rathbun show. It’s a podcast for parents. But as I put that show together, there’s so many things. I know that people are going to listen to my show on two times the speed because they can’t stand to hear a pause. I know that when I create little advertisements for my podcast, they better be under a minute. Actually they’d better be under 30 seconds because no one’s going to stare at your little advertisement longer than a few seconds. What we find is our technology has almost destroyed our ability to focus in a rigorous way. So in 2015, Microsoft did a study that demonstrated that our attention span dropped from 12 seconds in the year 2000 to eight seconds by 2013, which if you do the research on that, it’s shorter than a goldfish.

By the way. Between 2011 and 2021 daily mobile media consumption in the US skyrocketed from 45 minutes a day to 252 minutes a day. That’s a 460% increase. By the way, not to mention AI has turned us into mere zombies, unable to think anymore because AI has now become the most trusted, if I can put it this way, the most trusted online platform for information and accuracy, which is just very strange to imagine as someone from our generation. But as young people are growing up, they are seeing this as normal. And so what we see is it’s more and more difficult for us to even try and focus for 30 to 45 minutes during a church service. We are instead 30 to 45 minutes drives us to daydreaming and oftentimes sleep because we can’t imagine staying focused on the Lord for longer than that. And so these are the problems that we’re dealing with even to do any kind of meditation at all.

Sam Rohrer:

So ladies and gentlemen, you find yourself, you identify with that I think we all do if we’re honest because we’re a part of a time where these things are so driven. And what happens when you distraction? Well, you’re distracted. You think like the world’s idea of meditation and the pursuit of false peace and we don’t go to God, the God of the Bible, the one in whom we really can find our refuge and strength. When we come back, we’re going to conclude with talking about the benefits of biblical meditation and a template for how to do it with you and your family. As we go into our final segment now, we’ve tackled a subject today, I hope that you were with us from the beginning on this theme on which we were focusing the verse from Psalm 46, 10, which says, be still and know that I am God.

We’ve looked at this verse, so many applications, but in our day of so many distractions and so much intention, effort by the media and the political world all to create fear, to lessen any trust that a person would have in God and to drive them to government or to other things, not to God. This is really an essential part and it’s how we can in these days as believers, when the world is becoming more frenetic and beside themselves, responding to the, I’m going to say the demonically generated distractions intended to create fear. We can be calm because we know that our God is in control. Well, how do we get to that point? Well, if we’re not careful, we’re going to look more like the world rather than the world looking to dust and saying, how in the world can you be content and thankful to God?

Even in the times when things look like there’s new. So this is very practical and something we can learn to do better. And there’s benefits to this and I want to walk into that. Now, Renton, let’s just look at a couple things here, both a template. There’s a template for how we can do this and they’ll give some application for how parents can do it, even with their children. And even though there are those many listening who don’t have children at home anymore and have grandchildren, but this is still applicable. So go here first. What are some of the benefits of biblical meditation being still both as to the individual and to a family or to a larger group, a church congregation? As far as that goes,

Renton Rathbun:

I think it comes down to the real essence of it is what you were talking about before. The world has a false peace. It is a temporary feeling that makes them feel okay in putting their trust in themselves. Of course, it never lasts. It’s not really peace at all. It’s a manipulation. But one of the things we have with the benefits when we’re talking about with biblical meditation, we get real peace. True peace. Now, what’s important about that is we live in a world with real threats. What’s interesting about that chapter is it’s not saying that those threats are not powerful. It’s not saying that those threats are not real. It’s saying that in the power of those threats, in the reality of those threats, God is, there are many of us that wake up every morning looking at ourselves, fall apart. There are people that are facing real physical threats.

They are seeing themselves die away. They are seeing a loved one with incredible medical problems, and all of that looks so real and because it is. But what this does, what biblical meditation does is it prepares you for the loss of the temporary in exchange for the eternal. And when you are preparing yourself for the loss of what is temporary and exchanging that for the eternal because that is your focus, that you are thinking about the eternal God and the eternal attributes of your God who has done great things for you, and you’re filled with gratefulness. This gives you boldness in this battle. Ephesians six says, we are right in the middle of a battle. We are not at peace. We are not at peace time. But it is possible to have peace during a sensation of peace during battle, during wartime, because you know have a God who is the God sadat, the God of hosts, who is the power that you can trust in?

And also, as you do biblical meditation, you find that you start to become heavenly minded instead of earthly minded. Colossians three, two through five, Colossians tells us right there, set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth, for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. And when you think about what that means, meditate on what that means. When you start creating a meditation program in your life, your mind starts going to the heavenlies and the things of this earth, they slip away. Not that you’re not interested in this earth, not that you don’t care, but the things that would make you filled with fear or make other people filled with fear doesn’t fill you with fear because your mind is already with Christ in heaven. And as a benefit with our family, we need a generation of children that understand the process of meditation, A process that will help them be heavenly minded, a process that will help them have boldness in this fight, a process that helps them know this is all temporary. It does hurt. It is awful. There are horrible things happening, but put your trust in the power you cannot see because the power that you do see is temporary.

Sam Rohrer:

Renton. We’re closing down here. Let’s go to this next step. Meditations. David in his Psalms talks about meditating on the Lord on his bed, indicating he’s done for the day. It’s probably dark around. He’s by himself. Describe a little bit of this template for biblical meditation. Does it have to be in a quiet room? What’s a good time? When do you do it as an example? And can a person be meditating when he’s walking down the street? I know it’s not possible to meditate when I have a phone in my hand. That’s right. Right. So describe a little bit about this template for actual biblical meditation.

Renton Rathbun:

Meditation is rigorous, so it will take focus. So you need to be in a place where you can focus. Sometimes that’s in your bed, sometimes it’s in a quiet room, sometimes it’s on a walk in a quiet place. But what it requires, this focus needs to come with what I consider four questions. So the template to good meditation starts with these four questions. Question number one, what have I put my trust in? What am I fearing right now? Being honest about what’s going on around you, why am I fearful? What have I been actually putting my trust in that has led to my fear? Question number two, how then do I acknowledge God’s presence? And this is through thankfulness. We would think that thankfulness is an actual product, but actually we should enter his gates with thanksgiving in our hearts. We should enter his courts with praise.

That’s what said in Psalm 100 verse four. So entering the presence of God is most blessed. I believe when you enter with thankfulness that even though all this fear is around you, you’ve asked, how should I acknowledge God’s presence with thankfulness? And I enter his presence with thankfulness, that he is there with me. Question number three, what has God already done for me? And I begin to think about all the different things he has already done for me. I go in scripture and watch what he’s done for others and see that he’s been good to others, but he has been good to me, specifically as I go through the remembrance of all the things that God has done. And lastly, question number four, who is my God? How can I reflect on his character that I might know him better through his word?

Sam Rohrer:

Ladies and gentlemen, in what have I placed my trust? How do I acknowledge God’s presence? Gratefulness, reflect on what has God done for me already, and then focus on the person of God who is my God? Alright? Be still and know that I am God. There’s great power in that, ladies and gentlemen. I hope that you will make efforts to be still, to meditate, and that tomorrow you’ll know God better than you know him today.