Be Still
Be Still
You will be delivered by returning and resting; your strength will lie in quiet confidence. (Isa. 30:15)
Contrasting Reputations
When disaster comes, do you want to be the superhero? Do you want to feel unstoppable like the Jason Bourne character in the Bourne movies? That’d be great, right? Yet this world, with its self-centered values, is utterly backward. Hence, the otherworldly shock that God’s thoughts and ways are not our thoughts and ways (see Isa. 55:8). Contrast the Jason Bourne-like character with Hezekiah, king of Judah from the time he was twenty-five years old. “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord God of Israel. . . . He remained faithful to Yahweh and did not turn from following Him” (2 Kings 18:5–6). His confidence was not in himself and his ingenuity.
Contrasting Styles
Jason Bourne is self-reliant, quick to act, and nearly superhuman. Hezekiah, conversely, was God-reliant, quick to seek the Lord, and unspectacular. When he received a threatening letter from the all-devouring Assyrians, he did not respond with a flurry of activity and desperate battle plans. Rather, he “read it, then went up to the Lord’s temple, and spread it out before the Lord” (2 Kings 19:14). Hezekiah acknowledged and praised the Lord, requested His help, and asked that the Lord would be glorified.
Hezekiah believed that the Lord is sovereign over the greatest threats on earth. In response to his faith, the angel of the Lord struck the Assyrians, who left Jerusalem without ever shooting an arrow.
Bottom Line
When troubles arise, bring your problem straight to the Lord. Acknowledge and praise Him, and pray that He be glorified.