Read Psalm 46:10

10       “Be still, and know that I am God!
               I will be honoured by every nation.
               I will be honoured throughout the world.” (NLT)

It is so easy to conclude that things are out of control. Whether it be the politics of the Middle East, the world refugee crisis, religious extremism, or our own individual circumstances. We wonder if we ourselves can impose any order on the disorder.

The short answer is that we can’t do very much. We can do something, but it is not within our power to control or manage the affairs of the world or even our own affairs. What saves this from despair is a grasp of our text today.

We don’t have to play God. We don’t have to be in charge. Most of us have created a sort of mini-world where we further our own ends and advance our own causes. We want life to be under control so that we have the life we figure we want to have.

But the psalmist invites us to step down from our thrones. The psalmist calls us to ‘relax’ or be still. We don’t have the whole world in our hands, God does. We aren’t the masters of our own destinies, he is. The psalmist invites us to quit agitating and worrying. God knows what he is doing (even if we may not always know).

The very first sin recorded in the Bible was basically about humans wanting to be God. Ever since, we have not been content to trust that God is in charge not us. This does not lead to laziness or passivity but to a settled confidence that we are in the hands of one who knows far better than us how life is to be lived.

Blessings
David Reay