Be Still And Know God - Joel Schrock

Good morning. I want to greet everyone in Jesus' name. It's good to

be home again. We think probably most of you, most of you know.

We were at the Bethel Bible School in Niangua, Missouri. Not going

to give a report on that, but maybe just a couple couple things.

So we're there for three weeks. My role there was to teach the rudiment,

some music class as well as direct the course that was once a day.

There were roughly ninety students, five of them from here. Randall,

Elijah, Hope, Alison and Jessica were all there. I don't think I

missed anybody, you know afterwards, and it was really good just to have

some good home familiar faces there. We hadn't been there in that to the

Bethel Bible School in that capacity since it was at that camp used to be

in the different church. A couple well mostly Seymour Fairland did a couple of

years hosted it, so that was interesting. It's said that Missouri has five

seasons have spring, summer, fall, winter, and Bible school, and

that ranges. Bible School ranges anywhere from negative temperatures freezing rain to sixty five

and sunny. I don't know that we got the sixty five and Sonny,

but we got the rest of it this year, so pretty much anything goes

in those three weeks. So another enjoyable connection was Sarah's sister Alex and her

husband John were there. He is the Dean of Men, so interesting experiences

and we enjoyed our time. Probably would have been happy to do with less

sickness, but might have caught that here too. So the message I kind

of in connection with that, The message I planned to share this morning is

expanding a point one point that I gave in a chapel talk at Bible School.

So a little bit of this would be familiar to a few youth if

you paid attention then, and you pay attention this morning, so not not

complete carryover. So before I say what the title is, though, I

would like you to think, stop and think with me for just a minute,

when have you felt And I'd like you to think of a specific time,

if you could, when of you felt close to God sometime in your

life, maybe the most close you've ever felt to God, or when was

God able to speak to you maybe. So I'll just stop and let you

think for a little bit. See if you can pick out a time in

your life where where God is close to you, maybe where God could speak

to you. I don't know if that was enough time, but we'll say

it that was enough time. So like a little bit of feedback. Now,

if if neither one of these fits, that's okay. But anybody that's

willing like you, just to raise your hand if this kind of fits.

What what what came to your mind? So? For how many of you

was one of these situations sound right? Time when you were just running from

one thing to the next, or maybe in a situation with lots of of

of noise, or a situation in which you were doing a lot of talking

and a lot of being right, any of those match the time when you

thought God could speak to you, or you felt the closest to God.

Okay? For how many of you was it in some form or another,

whether it was just your mind, whether it was everything around you, but

in some form it was some form of quiet when God could speak to you

or you felt close to God? For how many of you? Does that

fit? A few more? Yeah? And so why is that the message

this morning? Is? The title is taken from Psalms Psalms forty six,

and it's the verse says be still and know that I am God. So

the title i'd like to think about about be still and know God and still

here if you look into the maybe the Hebrew, which you know not that

good at but I think maybe that word has a little of thought of surrender

maybe, and so we could think about it that way. But I think

still in a situation where where we are surrendering and knowing God, we're in

a place of stillness. I would like to say a couple of things at

the outset. This is not this is not specifically a message on technology and

effects of technology. That will come in a little bit, but that's not

the focus necessarily. It's not intended to be a critical message so much,

especially for those that are in a stage of life where that's really difficult.

Mothers with lots of little children, right, it's tough to be still.

We don't have that option a lot of times, I think. But that

I think that God's grace is there. That is that is the most important

work. But what this is meant to be is an encouragement to do our

best to create some time in space to listen, to be quiet and listen.

This is also not trying to not giving permission to be quiet when we

should talk. All right, we shouldn't always be silent. There are times

we should in fact talk. But why is it that people say, you

know, pick a time, pick an experience. Some people say, well,

I felt really close to God when I was out bow hunting. Right,

there's one Well why is that? Is it a figurement of the imagination?

Well, probably in a situation like that out on a solitary mountain somewhere,

maybe you're looking for a deer to shoot, but probably soaking up every

sight and sound that's out there. Maybe it's when you're looking at the stars

and there's not no it's a crystal clear night, there's no artificial light,

kind of dampening. That feels like you could just reach out and touch the

stars. And maybe that's when you know, maybe we say then that we

feel close to God in a situation like that. Or maybe it's when we're

walking through the woods by a little stream and there's no outside noises, ah

breaking that that stillness and the noises of the woods. Or maybe it's sitting

on a log at the beach looking at the sunset. But what is it

about those times and places that we could say, we might say that that

we felt we feel like we're we're closer to God than maybe some other times

of our life. Well, there's a few things I can think of.

There's probably more, but one is that generally in those situations you are being

quiet. I am being quiet. Generally in those situations, you're focused,

You're focus on what's there and not distracted by a lot of petty things.

Generally, in those situations, you aren't filling your mind with other noise and

racket like you know, for example, if you are out bow hunting and

you are trying to hear every sound and see every sight, you probably don't

have your air pods in listening to music or podcast or story, and you

probably aren't filling your eyes with artificial light like blue light, like a screen

for example. You are looking, listening, smelling, feeling, and you

are present. Now, I think we get a little bit of a picture.

I think this is a beautiful picture in a terrible time. So in

the account of the fall of man, that was a terrible time. But

I think in that there's a beautiful picture. Genesis three eight says and they

this is Adam and eve after they had sinned, and they heard the voice

of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

That's the first part of the verse. And so here I get the picture

of God in the cool of the day, with the day softening. Maybe

the birds are singing, the work's done, whatever that was, coming to

talk to the people that he created, that he formed, the part of

his creation that he formed with his own hands, and he took the time

to breathe life into which he didn't do with the rest of the creation as

far as it can tell. So that's a beautiful picture of God coming in

the cool of the day. Now, God, possibly because he understands the

difference in his creation, he created two cools of the day, one for

the early birds and one for the night owls, I guess. And these

are not the only times to hear from God, but I think they're beautiful

times that lend themselves to quiet reflection connection. So Psalms forty said I mentioned

that before. That's the and that's the passage that talks about being still and

knowing know that I am God. And looking at this psalm, it was

it was both inspirational and challenging to me that this is one of a few

psalms that are credited to the sons of Cora. And so I thought,

well, let's think about Korra for a little bit. Who was this man?

So you can turn to number sixteen a little bit. We'll come back

to Psalm forty six. Let's turn. Let's look at numbers sixteen. It's

a pretty familiar count of Cora, Dathan, and a Bayern challenging Moses,

Aaron, and ultimately God. And I'm not going to read this whole passage,

we know it, but I want to read. Going to read the

first eleven verses and then comment on a few things after that. So number

sixteen, starting in verse one, Now, Cora, the son of Ishar,

the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram,

the sons of Eliab and On the son of Pileth, sons of Reuben,

took men, and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the

children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the Assembly famous and the

congregation men every now, and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron,

and said, unto them, ye take too much upon you. Seeing

all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is

among them. Wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of the Lord.

So it's a pretty logical accusation here in some way, like everybody is

holy here, why are you lifting yourselves up? And when Moses heard it,

he fell on his face, and he spake into Corah and all his

company, saying, even tomorrow the Lord will show who are his and who

is holy, and will cause him to come near unto him, Even him

whom he hath chosen, will he cause to come near unto him. This

do take you censors, Cora and all his company, and put fire there

in, and put in sense in them before the Lord tomorrow, and it

shall be that the man whom the Lord doth choose, he shall be holy.

Ye take too much upon you, ye sons of Levi. And Moses

said unto Kaora, here I pray you, ye sons of Levi. Seemeth

it but a small thing unto you that the God of Israel hath separated you

from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself, to do the

service of the Tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before or the congregation

to minister unto them. And he hath brought thee near to him, and

all thy brethren, the sons of Levi, with Thee, and seek ye

the priesthood also, for which cause both thou and all thy company are gathered

together against the Lord. And what is Aaron that you murmur against him?

Moses is saying, see, Cora is a Levi. And Moses is saying,

is it a little thing to you that you are separated out of this

people? To come close to God and to minister to the people, And

now you want the priestood also, And this story goes on. Dathan and

a Byron refuse to come up, and they accused and you think about this,

right, They're going from bondage to the land that flows with milk and

honey, right, And they accuse Moses of taking them from the land of

milk and honey just to kind of dispose of them in the wilderness there.

And Moses did become angry. But when God got involved here, God became

very angry, and he told Moses and Aaron in verse twenty one, separate

yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.

And this is one of those times Moses and Aaron stepped in and said,

for the sin of one man, are you going to they're in verse twenty

two, are you going to be angry with the whole congregation? And this

wasn't specifically, this was not only one man. But if there was one

man, batman was Cora. As far as I can tell reading this,

he seemed to be the ringleader Corra did so God heard them, God heard

Moses, Sron, Aaron, and he instructed. Then he said, you

tell the people to get away from them. And it says that a new

thing happened in the earth, opened up and swallowed Coorra, Dathan and a

Byron, their families and the goods. And it says all the men that

pertain to Kora. So I'm not sure what that meant exactly, but Kora

must have been some sort of leader. But numbers twenty six to eleven it

says, not, so how do we get the sons of Kora? Write

in Psalms Later, numbers twenty six eleven says notwithstanding, the children of Kora

died not and so why I perhaps they took a stand with Moses against their

father. I don't know that the Bible tells us that. But the Bible

does tell us that all the men that pertained to Kora went into the earth,

and so they must not have been part of those men at least.

So if we turn back to Psalms, and I suppose this is generations later

when this is written, but with that in their history, and we look

at Psalm forty six, I just thought verse two is interesting. Therefore,

will not we fear? And this is after God is our refuge and strength,

very present help in time of trouble. Therefore, will not we fear?

Though the earth be removed and that the mountains be carried into the midst

of the sea. And I think we think, well, the descendants of

Koru might have known something about the earth being removed, you know, And

so verse ten back to verse ten. Be still and know that I am

God. I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in

the earth. So Cora think about Chor As far as far as I can

tell, he was Moses and Aaron's first cousin. They were also descendants of

Levi. He was a leader, He was persuasive, He was likely charismatic

and clearly capable, and he must have had moving words. He had two

hundred if you caught that, two hundred and fifty princes men every now famous

in their congregation that followed him. And those men did not go into the

earth, but they got burned as a result of their rebellion. But what

would have happened if Kora had had the wisdom? We think about this whole

story, How many people were affected after that? People came back and said

and accused Moses and were angry with Moses for killing them off, and so

more people died. It was a It was a tragic, tragic situation.

And if you think what would have happened if Kora would have had the wisdom

of his descendants, and if he would have just simply if you would have

been still instead of talking and being right, if you'd have been still and

known God, how did that story been different. There's another familiar story I'd

like to look at in First Kings, chapter nineteen, and this is again

a very interesting story, a long story kind of connected different parts of this.

Where Elijah met up with Ahab and there was this drought going on for

years, and Elijah said let's let's get together with the prophets, bring the

prophets of Baal, and let's see who God is. All right, call

fire from heaven. We know that story. I'm not going to read that

story, But the part I want to pull out here is Elijah was fleeing

from Queen Jezebel after that victory because he had slain the prophets of Bale,

and Jezebel's after him. So as after that victory sort of that high point

on Mount Carmel, and now he's running for his life. The drought was

ended, and he was ministered to by angels and went on that strength for

forty days to Mount Horeb. Now I'm going to read One Kings nineteen verses

nine through thirteen, a few verses here. And he came thither into a

cave and lodge there, and behold the word of the Lord came to him,

and he said, unto him, what doest thou here, Elijah?

And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord, God of

Hosts, for the chick children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down

thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword and I even I only

am left, and they seek my life to take it away. And it's

a side note in the chapter before he met up with the servant of Ahab,

who told him he had saved a hundred of prophets of God. So

he must have he must have known he wasn't the only one, but he

sure felt like it. And in that story he was seems the only one

that stood up in that way verse eleven. And he said, go forth

and stand upon them out before the Lord, and behold. The Lord passed

by, and a great strong wind rent the mountains and break in pieces the

rocks before the Lord. But the Lord was not in the wind. And

after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord is not in the fire.

And after the fire, a still small voice. And it was so

when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face and his mantle and went out

and stood in the entering of the cave and behold. And then the story

goes on God and Elijah talking. God tells Elijah what to go do,

puts him to work. But that's not the point of this. The point

I'd like to pull out of this is when did God speak? And how

did God speak? And so the other thing is when did Elijah feel compelled

to cover his face? All right? There was the wind and this must

have been a significant wind because it says it tore the rocks. Like that's

a pretty significant wind. If you've ever seen a wind, do that?

Okay, power a lot of power there. And God was there, he

was, but he was not in the wind. He did not speak to

Elijah through the wind. All right. And then there's earthquake. And you

know what could be get our attention more than the earth? That were the

whole earth shaking, right, the whole earth the foundations are built on,

Like if if anything should be stable, it's the earth. And that starts

shaking, right. There's tremendous power in an earthquake like that. But God

didn't speak out of that earthquake to Elijah. And then there's a fire,

you know, and anybody that's dealt with big fires has a lot of respect

for fire. Fire is a powerful thing. I remember back when you could

burn do field burning. And there's big field, good sized field, not

quite two hundred acres that you know, if you'd get that and ring it

just right, and that thing would come together, it'd create its own wind.

And I just remember those whirlwinds and there sounded like freight trains, you

know, And you just had a lot of respect for that fire. This

muss been quite a fire. But God didn't speak to Elijah through that fire.

When Elijah felt the need to cover his face, it was when it

was in the silence. The still small voice held unmatched power, and no

fire, earthquake, wind could match it. Now we think, well,

what about Jesus, What did Jesus do? And there's just you know,

you could look at you there's a lot of examples from Jesus, but a

couple that found interesting. Matthew four. I don't know, we'll turn to

this one. But between Jesus getting back ties in his calling the disciples,

we know that story too very well. He went into the wilderness for forty

days and fasted, and you think about that, this is at the beginning

of his ministry, and you think about the temptations that he faced and Satan

came to him, and you know, is this really worth it? Isn't

there another way we could do this? Like you could get the world a

different way. But Jesus himself, it seems, went out and it was

quiet, and took strength from the Father. Mark six. I might turn

to that Jesus was rejected in his own hometown. But then he sent the

disciples out. Verse seven of Mark six. He called unto him the twelve

and began to send them forth by two and two, and gave them power

over the unclean spirits, and commanded them to go on their journey. Don't

take you know, don't take a bunch of stuff with you. And it

says in verses twelve and thirteen. They went out, they preached that men

should repent, cast out devils, anointed people with oil, and healed them,

and in verse then it talks about some other stuff here in verse thirty,

and the apostles gathered themselves together into Jesus and told them all things,

both what they had done and what they had taught. Jesus' response was,

come, come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while.

So they did the important work of going out and talking, of healing,

of preaching, teaching, of all these things. Then it's time for some

quiet, and it's time to listen. Now that particular, a little quiet

time got interrupted by the five thousand. So you know, Jesus performed one

of the most amazing miracles there. But still I think we get a picture

of jesus intent there. And when Jesus was facing I cannot imagine there was

a greater temptation than this. He was facing betrayal, he was facing denial

by one of his closest friends, and ultimately death on the cross, and

he knew that. He took his disciples to Geessemone by themselves to pray,

and he took Peter, James and John with them a little bit farther,

smaller group. And then he went by himself a little bit farther to hear

from well, to cry out to the Father, and I think ultimately to

hear from the Father. We said, well, how does that work for

us? What? What do we do? Well? We are all in

different stages of life, different ages, different stages, different things going on.

How can we be quiet no God? And how can we hear his

voice? Again? This is not an exhaustive list at all, but a

few things I thought of is we can find some time to be silent,

we can be mindful, we can listen. We can listen for a word

from God. We can listens read the Bible, and that's the next one.

Read God's word. We can listen when we talk to God's people.

We can pray honestly, openly and in faith. We can shut out the

noise at least, we can keep from turning on extra noise sometimes. And

we can shut out the lights. And again, especially when I'm talking about

is extra things in our life like whip out our phone when it's unnecessary,

right, which I'm guilty of. Okay, this is not a sermon to

you and not to me. Okay, you can be present. You can

deny your flesh sometimes, right, you can fast, you can you can

even work out. And and one of the one of the teachers at Bible

School this year was it, I'm not sure how long ago. Uh,

he's a convert. He used to be in the military, and he's really

he's had a surgery in the last three surgeries in the last year. I

think for various things. I think he lived a fairly rough life. But

up until not too long ago, he was doing triathlons, so pretty tough

cookie. And he would say, is if your flesh doesn't want to want

to do it. You don't want to do it too bad, too bad,

you do it anyway, And and and he brought out that point too.

You deny your flesh. Sometimes some things right. Sometimes that puts you

in a better place to hear. Now, remember though, that being silent

is not enough. Mindfulness, yoga, meditation, these things are all gained

some traction and some circles, right. And there's some benefits. Like you

read about meditation, here's a list of benefit fits that I found. Easily

eases anxiety and depression, bolsters self confidence, reduces stress, reduces inflammation,

improves sleep, improves brain health, helps curb addictions, eases pain, controls

food cravings, decreases blood pressure. That's a pretty solid list. That's all

true, but it is vain and empty if you don't get the rest of

that verse and know that I am God, Know God. It's a great

start, a great place to get yourself to listen, but it's not an

end in itself. Now, you may not be able to find a quiet

place to meditate for an hour, but maybe five minutes. I'd be like,

I could just get up a little bit earlier. Sometimes maybe you could.

Maybe I could stop looking at your phone and a check out line.

Something as simple as that. Maybe you could stop listening to music in your

vehicle when you drive down the road sometimes, Right, it's not that these

things are all bad, but maybe sometimes we could discipline ourselves to create that

space, Like how many podcasts or books do we need to listen to?

We're in an information saturation time, stuff coming at us from every direction,

information, and it doesn't seem to like be increasing wisdom overall, and not

even really knowledge for that matter, as far as I can tell. So

are you in silence letting the Lord speak? Or maybe sometimes we're too busy

talking and being right? Do we always need noise? You know, I've

been mentioning this music, your phones, social media? Again, I had

to think back to I can so when I say social media, I still

think Facebook, and these wings will say, well, you old millennial fossil.

You know this is ancient history. Well I can remember one called my

Space. Can anybody remember my Space? It's not that many, Okay,

never was involved in it. I remember the name. About two thousand and

eight were face but caught my Space and somewhere in there if users, somewhere

in there, Dad I don't. I was talking about social media and was

talking about my face and some combination of my space and face. But turns

out he's pretty accurate, like a lot of social media anymore is mostly about

my face, And so do we need that? How much do we need

that? Like could we shut that off some? Right? The question is

not with all these things, The correct question is not what is wrong with

it? Although we could point out plenty of things that are wrong with some

of these different things, okay, But a lot of these things nothing is

wrong with it, okay. But the question is, like to end with

this question, can the still small voice speak to you in silence? Or

do you keep it drowned out