Lemanuel Williams: Let's go before the Lord in prayer. Thank you, Jesus. Lord, we can remain confident. That you are good. You are faithful. You are always here for us, even when we're faithless to you, even when we're not good to you, we can remain confident because of your goodness. We will see the goodness of the Lord. And so I just pray by your word, open our eyes that we may see Him through your word spoken to us. Be glorified in this time for your glory and our good in Jesus' name. Amen. Turn out my mic a little bit there, John. We're gonna turn ⁓ to Psalm, if you would stand for the reading of God's word. Psalm 46. This is where we'll be this evening. Hear the word of the Lord. It said, God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way. Though the mountains be moved in the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling, Saila. Skip down to verse eight. Come, behold the works of the Lord, and how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes war cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots with fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah. Truth of the text we're to see this evening is in his presence he protects our rest. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. There's an ancient Greek story and myth. If you turn on my mic a little bit more there, ancient Greek story and myth about this remarkably ⁓ handsome young man. Again, it's a myth that I'm about to tell you, not a real story. But a remarkably handsome young man. And he was promised to be granted long life if he never saw his reflection. And so he's the most handsome man inside of all of Greece. All the women want to get to know him, they admire him, they want to know him. But he's rejected, he rejects all of them because of his hubris. He thought highly of himself. He hasn't seen himself, but he knew that he was handsome. And so he didn't think anybody else deserved his affection. His heart became consumed with himself. So one day he comes upon a pool of water. And again, he's never seen himself because he's been granted long life. If he does see himself, he'll die. But he comes upon a pool of water. And he looks down into that pool of water. And for the first time, he sees himself. It was like a face like no other that he's ever seen. Unaware of how he looked before, he became captivated by his own beauty. And he returned again and again back to that pool, over and over again, to look at himself, see himself, until finally he was unable to actually pull himself away. He began to gaze at himself, and as he gazed at himself day in and day out, he became more detached from the people around him. And everything else around him, actually. And eventually he wasted away by the water, watching and staring at himself, consumed with not stopping to look at himself. Now the Greeks told that story as a warning against excessive self-love. This young man's name was Narcissus. It's where we get our word narcissism. Now, we know what that word means. It's someone who's arrogant, they're self absorbed, they're full of themselves. And that's because their life has been curved inward. It's a life that revolves around them. They have a God sized ego, if you will. I'm the center, I'm the star of the story. And if you listen to any so ⁓ so ⁓ psychologists or ⁓ cultural commentators over the last decade, you've probably heard that they'll say we're living in an age of narcissism. Now, that could be true to some degree. ⁓ there's a there's a scholarly debate about whether it's on the or not. Social media definitely hasn't ⁓ helped us out. It gives us more opportunities to put ourselves on display and platform ourselves. But what they find us out in research is this is not a Gen Z problem. This is not a millennial problem. This isn't even a social media Instagram problem. It's a humanity problem. Nearly 1700 years ago, long before smartphones, likes, followers, and selfies, Saint Augustine, a great theologian, he said this about the human condition. He said that we are incarvatas in say. That's Latin for our souls are curved inward on itself. That's not ⁓ an algorithm problem. That's actually a problem we inherited from Adam. In Genesis chapter 3, we see that our parents, Adam and Eve, They ate that forbidden fruit from the tree because they were promised that they would become like God. In other words, they were no longer interested in walking with God and obeying the word of God. They were filling themselves so much that they wanted to be their own God. They had a God-sized ego. They developed one. And what the scriptures say is when they ate the forbidden fruit, it didn't make them less obsessed with themselves, it made them more obsessed with themselves. Like Narciss, who's looking at the reflection of himself inside of that pool water. It's the same thing they did. It didn't make them, when they ate of the forbidden fruit, it didn't make them stop looking less at themselves. It started making them look more at themselves. That's why they're ashamed and they want to hide. Because that's what sin does. St. Augustus says that sin causes us to be incarvated in se. That means curved in on oneself. Here's the picture of that. Imagine a beautiful flower, right? When it's fully bloom. Its petals begin to face outward, doesn't it? ⁓ to the sun. And as long as the petals are facing outward, it's flourishing. It's beautiful. It's as it's intended to be. That's where it receives it light its life. That's what it was made for, to face outwards. But imagine those petals begin to curl inward. They're no longer reaching out towards the sun. They're no longer receiving life from outside of itself. What happens? It begins to fold into itself and it begins to die. That's Genesis 3. Adam and Eve didn't simply break a rule, they folded in on themselves. Instead of looking for God for life on the outside, they looked at themselves for it on the inside. Instead of rejoicing from god ⁓ receiving from God, they begin to reach for God's place within their heart. So it wasn't just some eating of fruit. They wanted God's throne. The first sin was not them just eating a forbidden fruit. The first sin was them refusing to remain a creature and trying to become the creator. They became wise in their own eyes and they had a God sized ego. Brothers and sisters, that's what the Proverbs, the wisdom literature actually teaches us inside of the Old Testament. It not only teaches us don't be foolish, it tells us don't be wise in your own eyes. Because it's one thing to be foolish. It's far more dangerous to actually be wise in your own eyes. A fool needs instruction. A man who is wise in their own eyes feels they have nothing else to learn. Reminds us of ⁓ the first ⁓ the story of the first king inside of the Old Testament, King Saul, right? ⁓ if you're not read the story of First Samuel, I encourage you to read it. ⁓ but just to give you an overview. The story goes, he's anointed as king one day. ⁓ and Samuel's on his way to go to anoint him as king. ⁓ God picks him out, and as he's on his way to go find ⁓ King Saul, ⁓ Samuel ⁓ Saul is actually hiding behind a bag of stuff. Because he doesn't think he's worthy to become king, although the Lord has called him to become king. And that was actually a demonstration of the posture of his heart. ⁓ it it was a posture of humility. God chose him because of that, and so he was gonna exalt him for his humility to be king. But it's only after some time as he gets some success as king. He's won some major battles, he begins governing the people well, he's he's ⁓ grown in a little bit of glory that he starts feeling himself a little bit more. His ego begins to grow. And there comes this time inside of the story where God sends Samuel ⁓ to strip him of his kingdom. But this is what happens: ⁓ God gives him a specific plan to go win this battle against the Amalekites. And he basically says, Man, I'm not going to do all that God says to do. I'm going to just do some of what God says to do. And the reason why, because man, I've been doing this for a while. I kind of know I got a feel on it. And so, like. I know God wants to do it this way, but man, I've been in this for a while. I could figure it out my own way. He thought his way was a little bit better. So his ego began to grow over time. He had a God-sized view of himself, and he was wise in his own eyes. So God sends the prophet Samuel to strip him of his kingdom and to remind him of his real size. Samuel looks Saul in the eye as he's in that rebellion and he says to Saul, When you were, it's a piercing question. When you were small in your own eyes, Saul, did not God give you the kingdom? When you were small in your own eyes, do you hear what Samuel is saying? Saul, the problem is that you that the problem isn't that you thought too little of yourself. The problem is you're starting to think too much of yourself. Saul's problem is actually our problem with prayer. Let me connect the dots. It's why we don't pray. We start thinking too much of ourselves. We become too wise in our own eyes. And it sounds like this. We don't say that out loud. I'll pray when I have some time. Rather than I'll prioritize my time around prayer and consult God how to use my time in prayer. We we we have a God-sized ego and it sounds like this. I'll handle this. And if it gets too big for me, then I'll ask God to step in. That's not that's not humility speaking. Humility would say, I can't handle this even without Him. Pride makes prayer the backup plan. Humility makes prayer direct all of our plans. And in order to remedy being wise inside of our own eyes and having a God-sized ego and being able to develop a prayer life, we have to become, as prophet, as Prophet Samuel said to Saul, we have to become small in our own eyes. But how do we become small in our own eyes? The psalm we were just reading is written by the Sons of Korah. That's a shorthand title for ⁓ the crew King David gather night and day to pray inside of the tabernacle. And inside of this psalm, they teach us how to get ourselves inside of the pop the proper posture of prayer. How to actually become small in our own eyes. And here's the word they give us, and I want to focus on this evening. Verse 10. Here it is. This is actually God speaking, not the sons of Korah. Be still and know that I am God. Be still. Now those words, they almost seem as laughable as they did last week when Paul is saying, don't be anxious about anything. Be still. ⁓ I'm a Williams, my dad and I we know very well we can't be we always move, and there's always a moving. And this is not that you know, being still is actually contrary inside of our culture. Western lifestyle has widely accepted and embraced a hurried lifestyle. Or ⁓ an author once said that these were the three groundbreaking inventions that actually are causal to this: the clock. So in 1370, the first public clock was set up in Germany, and historians popularly point out to that moment that this was a turning point when we shifted from using national. Natural time to starting using artificial time. So we used to use the sun rising to get up and the sun setting to go back to sleep. And then the seasons used to govern how we lived. So inside of the summertime, there's longer days where we would stay up, and in the wintertime, there's shorter days where we would go down. So we started managing our time artificially, and when we started doing that, we began in governing our own lives according to time as a resource, instead of it ⁓ governing us as time in general. So there's another ⁓ in invention that ⁓ contributes to a hurried life, the light bulb. In 1879, Thomas Edison, we know he invented the light bulb, which, among other things, cut way back on our sleep time. So before the light bulb, get this, prior to the light bulb, the average American slept ten hours a night. ⁓ But once the light bulb came on, we didn't have to go to sleep. So it increased potential for human productivity and also technology took off at the same time. So by nineteen sixty, central air conditionings, heaters and microwaves and dishwashers and laundry machines were common inside of all American homes. And get this, sociologists begin to predict that there will be this dramatic increase in leisure and ease of life by that time. ⁓ especially by our time. So even the the Senate subcommittee in 1967, they predicted by 1985 that the average American will be working, get this, 22 hours a week for 27 weeks a year. That's less than half a year. Don't you wish that was true? ⁓ but that's what they predicted because the technology was taking off, and so it would give us more leisure time to free us up. But in reality, on average, the time spent on leisure decreased by 1980. So here's what they got right. Technology would continue to advance and it would save us time. Here's what they misjudge, how we would use that time. Rather than use it for deep rests, we exchange it for more productivity and profit. Another invention that has contributed to our hurried lifestyle, the iPhone. We all know this. First iPhone released in June 2007. 2016 study found that an average iPhone user touches their iPhone 2,617 times a day. Starting ⁓ and staring at their screen time two and a half hours over seven, six sessions. A 2019 study discovered that in just three years, that figure has more than doubled to over five hours a day. So that is 2019. I can imagine what it is now. In the end, this is what we're getting at. Instead of technology slowing us down and freeing us up for more leisure, we now suffer from what mental health professionals call hurry sickness. A behavioral pattern characterized by rushing and anxiety and being busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. That's our new normal. Another professor, Michael Ziggorelli, he conducted a five-year study on 20,000 Christians in the United States and identified that busyness was the number one distraction from life with God. Here's his conclusion. I'll throw it up on the screen. It may be the case that one, Christians are assimilating to a culture of busyness, hurry, and overload, which leads to two. God becoming more marginalized in Christian lives, which leads to three. A deteriorating relationship with God, which leads to four. Christians becoming even more vulnerable to adopting secular assumptions about how to live, which leads to five. More conformity to a culture of busyness, hurry, and overload. And then the cycle begins again. Here's why I quoted all the research. Here's what it's saying: we are busy people. We're a hurried people, and it is a very foreign concept for us, for what the text is calling us to, to be a still people. Even more, the research is proving that even if we have the opportunity to be still, we justify reasons for why we can't be still. Be still. Man, I got bills to pay. Be still, bruh. I gotta manage a household. Be still, sir. I'm putting in more hours than anyone else so I can advance further in my career career than anyone else. Be still, man. I will rest and slow down when I'm old. When life settles down, I'll settle down with God. Be still. Well, and then we try to get theological. My interpretation of that is when I get time to spend some time, then I'll be still. But in the meantime, I gotta take care of business. Be still. Lord, if I if I stop, everything's gonna fall apart. Be still. God, you're giving me so much to do for you. I'm just trying to steward. It well, we get all theological with it, but man, we can come up with so many reasons to justify why we can't be still. But when it comes down to it, here's why we justify it: because we become wise in our own eyes, and because we have a God-sized ego. How do we become small in our own eyes? God is saying here in the text, beloved, be still. What you say, preach it? I don't even understand. I'm having a hard time understanding what does it mean to be still? I'm gonna explain. But before I break that down, I actually want you to understand the context that he's telling these people to be still in. Here's the picture. The psalmist says in verse 2, I won't read it all. Listen to the descriptions he gives of the circumstance here. The earth gives way, mountains are moved to the heart of the sea, waters roar, and mountains tremble. This is the context he's telling them to be still in. You say, what does it even mean that the earth gives way? Well, have you ever stood on a beach? I know I grew up in Virginia Beach and done this several times. You hear the waves before you can even see them. They crash, they pound again and again and again. It seems almost aggressive in some way. And every wave seems to rush towards the land. The ocean, it looks like it's trying to actually swallow up the earth. But have you ever stopped to ask the question? Why does the water just stop at a certain place? Why doesn't it just keep coming? Scientists actually estimate that the earth, if it was perfectly smooth, the water on this planet would cover the whole earth on an average depth of 1.7 miles. I don't even know how high that is. So get this. Every day, billions upon billions upon billions of gallons of water rush towards the shore, and then they stop. A line in the sand. God asked Job the same question I'm asking you. Why does it stop? But he does it from another direction in Job 38, 8 through 11. He says, Who shut in the sea? And said, Thus far you shall come and no further. But this is what the psalmist actually wants us to imagine. Imagine that that boundary disappeared. Imagine that the sand no longer said no further. Imagine the sea actually never pulled back, and every wave continued to go further, and every tide climbed higher until neighborhoods begin to disappear and cities begin to disappear and valleys begin to disappear and mountains, the very symbol of establishment and permanentness, it they would disappear underneath the sea. What would you do to try to stop that? That's about right. Would you stand in front of the ocean and stretch out your arms and tell the Atlantic, stop! Would it listen to you? No. Because you're too small to hold back the ocean. You're too weak to wrestle with the waves. You're not wise enough to tell the sea where to stop and where the shoreline should actually be strategically stopped. You can't stop tomorrow's tide, much less the chaos of the world. But get this: this is what the psalmist wants us to see. We serve a God who doesn't merely survive chaos. He contains it. He governs it. He tells it where it must go and where it must stop. And if he tells oceans where to stop, do you really think your anxiety is beyond his rule? Do you really think your diagnosis or your health they can escape his attention? Do you really think your marriage is more chaotic than the sea? Do you really think your children are harder to govern than the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean? Don't miss this. The psalmist isn't saying God can calm the storms. He's saying even if he doesn't calm them. Even if creation comes apart, even if mountains disappear, even if oceans are swallowed up and the earth is and all hell breaks loose, he's saying you can still be still because your refuge was never the mountains. Your refuge was never the strategy to set the shoreline or to contain the sea. Your refuge has always been God. The psalmist zooms out again. And first he shows us creation coming apart, and now he wants to show us civilization coming apart. Verse six. He says, the nations rage, kingdoms totter. Nations rage, kingdoms charter. Have you ever thought about that? The fate of millions of people often rests in the hand of just a few sinful leaders and men. Men with egos, tempers like you, pride like you and I, envy, fear, ambition, all in our men just like you. Except they command armies. You know, the man down the street, if he has all this, he has a pistol, he can do some damage, but. A president has missiles. Kings have armies. A dictator can have a nuclear weapon with the same simple heart. Which gives far greater consequences. I had to pick up a book when I was reading this the other day. Henry Kissinger, he wrote this book called World Order. He was one of the most influential diplomats inside of the last century. And he wrote this at the beginning of his book in World Order about the myth that world order is. He says, No truly global world order has ever existed. In other words, this is what he's saying: the peace we're experiencing in the world is hanging on by a thread, and no diplomat, no leader, knows what that threat actually is. You think about that. Every morning morning you're gonna wake up assuming that the world will still be here tomorrow. That the grocery store is gonna open, your lights are gonna come on, airplanes are gonna fly like usual, nations won't launch missiles over here, banks will still function, your children are gonna go to school. But who among you can actually guarantee that tomorrow if I put you in charge of keeping the nations at peace, how would you do it? Which world leader would you actually trust? What treaty would you write? What army would you actually command? What phone call would you make to keep the peace? How would you keep sinful men from destroying one another? You can't. Because sinful hearts cannot ultimately restrain, and they can't be restrained by sinful hands. And yet every single day they are. Kingdoms rage, nations threaten. Armies are mobilized, presidents prostured, dictators, they're gonna boast, but they only go as far as God permits. They don't write history, they simply play the part that God has assigned for them. And if God can restrain the rage of the nations, do you really think your life is beyond his rule? Do you really think that the conflict in your marriage is more difficult to govern than the conflict with nations? Do you really think the broken relationships with your child or your parent or the drama you're having with a friend is more chaotic than the kingdoms of this earth? Do you really think that your workplace is more difficult to govern than world leaders? Do you really think your future will slip from his hands? Do you really think that your fears are stronger than the God who holds presidents and kings and dictators and nations inside of his sovereign hand? The psalmist says, God controls it all, guys. The oceans that can That can make the earth give way and the nations that actually rage every day. How does he do it? This is the climax that I think is absolutely brilliant by the psalmist. Because all of the chaos after all of it, the psalmist doesn't say that God actually raises armies. It says this in verse 6. He utters his voice. That's how he does it. Creation is roaring. Nations are raging, mountains are trembling, armies are marching, kings are threatening, missiles are ready, and God doesn't even panic. He doesn't struggle, he doesn't negotiate, he simply speaks. And in verse 6, this is what he says happens. The earth melts. Verse 9 it says, He makes war cease to end on earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear. He burns chariots with fire. In other words, he speaks. To the chaos and wars cease. And after the oceans roar, guys, after the mountains shake, after the nation's rage, after the kingdoms tartar, God doesn't shout over the noise, He doesn't panic, He doesn't scramble, He just simply speaks. And the same voice that speaks and causes the chaos and the wars to cease, turns to us to speak inside of verse 10, and He tells us, be still and know that I am God. When you begin to see the sovereignty or the control of God, you you can be still and just knowing that He's God. But being still, we're asking the question: what are we actually being commanded to do? It's actually what it sounds like. The phrase in the Hebrew literally means to cease, means to stop, means to desist, stop striving, ⁓ to abstain from action or to halt any sort of activity altogether. I love actually how the Latin Vulgate translates this. In the Latin, the word for this be still is vacate. It's where we get our word, vacation. This command is an invitation through prayer that in any time and in any place we can take a vacation. But our ego fights against that. God tells us, be still. And this is where the depths of the Christian life is actually found. It's the calling to the deep from the deep. It's the calling that Jesus was trying to get to his disciples. He says, Hey, hey, come to me, all you who labor and are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon me. Learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly, and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is easy. My burden is light. To be still, friends, is to enter into a call of rest. But what does that actually mean practically? Here it is. First, it literally means stop what you're doing, like it says. Take your busy behind, like me, I'm guilty of this. Sit down and be still. Stop all of your activity, including your talking. Stop. Sit still and quiet. Now, this is a deep practice that Christians have practiced for centuries. It's called a practice of silent prayer. And we can trust, as one author said, that the practice of a couple of centuries of war of Christians and the practice of Jesus Himself may have a place in your life too. That's what he says. I believe that too. Here's a couple of practical things you can do to be still. First, pick a consistent time to sit quiet or still. And sit still before the Lord. ⁓ this could be moments when you're rushing, or like a moment right before you're rushing to on your morning drive to work. It could be right after dropping off your kids at school, it could be during your daily lunch break. Win actually doesn't matter as long as the win is consistent. Because get this, we buck against structure, but here's the reality: there's no such thing as a habit or a priority that doesn't have consistency. You can't get healthy just randomly working out in place, right? It has to be consistent. Second, create a ritual. So choose an ordinary place to become sacred or like holy ground for you. Find a favorite chair that you like in your room or in the living room, back porch steps or a patio or a closet, whatever it is. Find a place to make holy for yourself. The third thing is sit in a posture of prayer inside of that place. So Upright hands, your body speaks as much as your mouth does. There's a body language. Outright hands, pray something simple as an invitational. For example, here I am, Lord. Or come, Holy Spirit, be inviting. He said, Man, he knocks at the door. Anyone that lets me in, I'll come and dine with him. Let him in. Be inviting. Finally, for be quiet. Be still. And I encourage you practically how to do this, how I do it. I set a timer. You don't have to start off long, start with a minute. But let it incrementally increase over time. And you may be asking, what in the world is that gonna do for me? That misses the point. Being still is not waiting to receive anything. It's not pragmatic for us to ask, is this actually working? We're not looking for something. It's actually consenting to work to God's spirit. It's deeper than understanding and words can actually even tell you. You'll have to resist the urge when you start practicing this ⁓ to ask that question, is this working? It's about giving yourself to God, not getting something from God. But also it's about letting God get the first word in prayer. Then after that, your spoken words of prayer will follow in response to his word. Here's some ⁓ ways ⁓ and and quotes that people have said on the value of silent prayer. Eugene Peterson he says, talk in prayer is essential, but it's also partial. Silence is also essential. Diedrich Bonhoeffer said, silence is nothing else but waiting for God's word and coming from God's Word with a blessing. Mother Teresa said, Silence of the heart is necessary so you can hear God everywhere, in the closing door, in the person who needs you, in the birds that sing, in flowers, in animals. Now that's not some weird thing. What it is is just attuning you to the voice of God everywhere. Thomas Merton once said, Silence and solitude are the supreme luxuries of life. I believe that to be true. And when you practice it, you'll find out that it's true. Being still. Being still, guys. It allows us to see God and to hear God and have more confidence more and more that He actually is God. Be still. David paints a final picture that I want to look at as I rush to close in Psalm 131, verse 1 through 2. He says this: this is what being still looks like. ⁓ Lord. My heart is not lifted up. My eyes are not raised too high. I do not occupy myself with things too great or too marvelous for me. Pause there for a second. The God-sized ego, the narcissist, occupies themselves with things that are too great and marvelous for them. David says, I do not occupy myself with things too great or too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a winged child with its mother. Like a winged child is my soul within me. Sarah and I have had ⁓ three kids now. and every newborn season is a sweet season. But you know, even with the s the sleepless nights, ⁓ everything goes right when breastfeeding comes in involved, ⁓ when the kid gets the milk. That's the one thing I know for sure. Whenever everything is go chaotic, I can take my kid that's inconsolable, and I know exactly what to do. They just need my wife to give them the good stuff. I love how Jay-Z said in one of his ⁓ raps, he says, Super Bowl goals. My wife in the crib feeding the kids liquid gold. We in a whole different mode. We're in a whole different mode in our household too, ⁓ and feeding that liquid gold. ⁓ when chaos comes, they get that liquid gold. And she will hold them and they'll latch onto her and almost instantly the crying stops. The screaming stops. Their little bodies begin to relax. They begin breathing slow. But they're not paying attention to anything else inside of the room. They're not concerned with the noise around them. They're not worried about anything. It's like they entered into their own little world. Time they finish eating, though. ⁓ you guys know what this is like. If you had kids, they they have the ⁓ they become milk drunk, right? ⁓ so they're out. ⁓ the milk going down the side, but they're out. They're completely satisfied, they're comforted, they're completely at rest. As long as they had the milk, they can actually cope with anything. But then something changes. There comes a season that every parent knows, it's called weaning, what David is just talking about. Little by little. We have to teach our child that they can no longer be depending or be depending on being attached to their mother's breast for comfort or getting the liquid gold. It'd be weird if you're 18, still breastfeeding, right? Like you have to be wean. At first, they don't understand that, right? They cry, they reach, they protest. But over time, something beautiful begins to happen. They stop looking to the milk and they begin to look for their mother. It goes from I want milk to I want my mama. And when they get their mama, they crawl into their mama's arm. No bottle, no milk, just her. The rest that they're gonna rest against her chest, they're gonna relax their little arms, they're gonna breathe slow. They don't understand everything that's happening around them, they're not trying to control everything that's happening around them, they're not scanning the room for danger. They're simply still. They're calm, they're quieted, not because they have what she can give. But because they have her. David says in our Psalm, Psalm 131, I have calmed and quieted my soul like a weaned child with its mother. Like a weaned child is my soul within me. Do you hear what David is saying? He's saying, My soul has grown up. There was a time when I only came to God for what He can give me. God, give me peace. God fix this. God provide this. God remove this trial. But now I've learned something greater. Through stillness and quietness, I've learned that God Himself is enough. My soul no longer rests because I immediately receive an answer in my prayer. My soul no longer rests because ⁓ everything starts to work out. My soul is resting because I have the Father. And that's exactly where Psalm 47 brings us. After oceans roar and mountains fall, and nations rage and kingdoms totter, God speaks not with panic, not with fear, not with anxiety, but with sovereign authority. And he tells us, beloved, be still. And know that I am God. In other words, stop reaching for what I can give you and rest in me because He is the deepest piece of the Christian life. It isn't found actually when chaos disappears, it's found in the middle of the chaos, and you realize that He is still your father, like a weaned child in his arms. Your soul can be still. Not because the storm's ended, but because you've learned that his presence is better than any gift he can give you. Don't miss this. None of us naturally come to God like a winged child. Sin has taught us. That we are, as I said at the beginning, incarvated insect, curved in on ourselves from the garden until the day. Our hearts have been bent inward, and with our God-sized ego, we keep looking within ourselves and depending on ourselves, we become our own refuge, we become our own provider, we become our own protector, we become our own savior. But here's the good news of the gospel, friends. You ready for it? Jesus Christ came to turn back you and I to the Father, where Adam and Eve ran from God's presence. Christ came to bring us back into it, and at the cross, the eternal son of God, who enjoyed perfect fellowship with the Father from all eternity. He entered our judgment so that rebels like us could be welcomed into the Father's embrace and into his arms. He took our unrest so we could receive his peace. He bore our separation so that we can enjoy his presence. He died the death that our pride deserved so that we can live a life of humble dependence that we were created for through his death and his resurrection. Christ doesn't merely give us peace, he gives us God. A God who is our strength and our refuge, even when the earth gives way and the mountain shakes. A God who is a present health in time of trouble, even when nations rage and kingdoms fall. A God who is more than able to protect your peace because He is our peace. As Mountain Luther once wrote, a mighty fortress is our God. A bulwark never failing. Our helper, he amidst the flood of mortal ills prevailing. And though this world, hear this, we're dead with devils filled, will threaten to undo us. We will not fear, for God has willed his truth to triumph through us. What is that truth? Here it is: that you can be still and know that he is God, and we can stop our striving, we can stop pretending we're God. We can stop carrying what only God can carry. We can stop trying to be our own refuge. And no matter what happens in your life or where you are in life, you can stop and be still in his presence. And all you who labor and are wearied and heavy laden, come to him and he will give you rest. Take his yoke upon you. Learn from him. He is gentle and lowly. And he will provide rest for your souls. For his yoke is easy, his burden is light. If you will be still and know that he is God. Amen. Let's pray. God, how often have I looked to the things you can give to me? How often myself, Lord, I I've not cherished you. I just want everything you can do for me. How often, Lord, have I walked in my own strength, thinking I can provide my needs, that I can protect everything that you have so graciously given me. But Father, here I am so grateful that for each and every one of us, you're providing us in this text the opportunity to see that we could just cast our cares on you because you care for us. Lord, that we can rely on you and you will be our strength no matter what's happening inside of our life. Lord, you cause the oceans to stop. How much more, Lord? Can you mend broken relationships? How much more, Lord, can you and your sovereignty work inside of the midst of our chaos and still give us peace? So, Father, I just pray, remind us of this as your word has been planted into our hearts. Let it dwell richly there throughout this week and evermore to be reminded that your presence is enough. You are enough for us. You are the gift. And Lord, I just pray that we would find even this week a way to just be still and be with you. That we would pause our activity. We put aside our self-importance. And we remember that you are God and God alone. And even more, you're our Father, where we can calm and quiet our souls and like a winged child find rest in your arms, no matter where we are. So, Father, do that for us in our hearts. Grow us more in living in your presence for your glory and our good. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. And we turn now to a time of responding to God's word. As you said, man, it always requires a response from us. And we respond in three ways corporately. One of the ways we're going to do is a moment of corporate confession and we'll go into communion. Another way is we ⁓ we have a time where we're gonna sing together. And I encourage you guys, man, this is something worth rejoicing about. That we can be still and know that he is God, that he is ours, he's our treasure, he is our possession. We have him. So sing, sing loud, ⁓ because It's a God that we have and He's given Himself to us. But then we'll have a time of giving as well, where we're going to just rejoice in that and be cheerful givers because the Lord has been so generous to us with what He's given us. But in this moment right now, ⁓ I want to say this if you have not yet placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you can't be still. Your heart will always be filled with anxiety and worry. You'll always be in a hurry. Because without God, the one who is sovereign over all things, you're the one that's sovereign, thinking you're sovereign over all things, but you'll find out very quickly you can't. You can't be. So you want to place your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. I always want to put this out here for us. Love to speak with you. I'll be in the back at the end of the service. Love to speak with you about that. Next steps towards taking ⁓ faith and placing your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. What we want to do now is stand. We'll do our corporate time of confession. Then we will take our communion and sing. Sin 3, 2, 1, Lord Jesus, our risen Savior, we come to you in sorrow for our sins and confess to you our weaknesses and unbelief. We have lived by our own strength and not by the power of your resurrection. We have lived by the light of our own eyes as faithless and not believing. We have lived for this world alone and doubted our home in heaven. In your mercy, forgive us. Amen. The Almighty and merciful Lord grant you pardon and forgiveness of all your sins, time for a minute of life, and the grace and comfort of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Let's stand and sing, guys. Song says Open the eyes of my heart, Lloyd. Open the eyes of my heart. I wanna see you. I wanna see you. Open the of my heart Lord open the eyes of my heart I want to see you I wanna see you come on sing it with us y'all sing it open the eyes of my heart Lord open the eyes of my heart I want to see you I want to see you I want to see you. See what my chance he opened you. Open the eyes of my Lord. Open the eyes of my eyes. I want to see you. I want to see you to see you high Shining in the light of your glory. Why should power Do we sing holy, holy, holy, to see your highly As we sing holy, holy, holy open the eyes of my Lord Open the eyes of my eye. I want to see you, I wanna see you more. I want to see you. Open the eyes of mouth. I want to see you. I want to see like you see. I want to see what's the see I live in you shining in the lighting in the light of you. To see your high shining in the light, shining in the light.