Series: Songs of Worship—Getting Real With God
Sermon: Be Still
Speaker and Writer: Elia King
Refresh: Open with prayer. Ask God for understanding through the Holy Spirit.
Read: Psalm 46 (ESV). As you read this text a second time in the English Standard Version, what new insights did you discover about God’s character?
Reflect: Every once in a while someone asks which church I attend. When I give them the name, most people usually try to play it cool while they pretend like they know which church I’m referring to. But inevitably, the question comes up. What do you believe that makes you different from other churches?
I usually try to explain that the Seventh-day Adventist tribe derives its name from two of our core beliefs. Many people are familiar with the idea of “Advent.” It’s a term we use most often around the holidays to talk about the arrival of the baby Jesus. But the word itself is not unique to Christmas, although you might think so due to its popularity among makers of holiday count-down calendars. The Latin roots of the word are really more general, referring simply to an arrival. So because we live in anticipation of the soon return of Jesus, the founders of this tribe upheld that “Adventist” should remain part of our official name.
The other piece of our name, “Seventh-day,” often gets a more complicated answer. Perhaps a basic explanation is that we celebrate a day of rest, the Sabbath, on the seventh day of the week, or Saturday. Although the question “Why Saturday?” offers a multitude of explanations, the one that I find most Adventists can agree on has something to do with the fact that we rest on that day.
With those two things in mind, I’d like to suggest that Psalm 46 is a text that should resonate deeply with us—especially if we choose to affiliate ourselves with this tribe. We have always believed in the importance of rest. And we look forward to the day when the world will recognize the supremacy of God as the author of the cosmic story to which we all belong. So while we often interpret the “be still” part of Psalm 46 as a call to personal stillness (as we have done even in the Daily Walk earlier this week), the writer of this poem also anticipates a time when God will call the whole world to be still—to stop and recognize the reign of Jesus as the solution to the chaos we have created.
That is, at least in part, the reason we pause to worship every Saturday. To remember that God is the One who makes our universe spin. To keep our own work in perspective. And to anticipate the soon return of our coming King.
As you prepare to worship with us this weekend, I hope you can carve out some quiet time to reflect on the work of God in your own life, and to consider the bigger story to which Jesus might be calling you.
Recalibrate: When was the last time you stopped to recognize the work of God in your story?
Respond: Pray that God will provide an opportunity for you to glimpse the bigger story to which you have been called.
Research: Go back and read Psalm 1 in several different versions. Consider how these two Psalms might paint a bigger picture of God’s work in the world today.