American missionary Benjamin Weir was captured by Shiite Muslims and held for 16 months. He faced loneliness, imprisonment, and the constant threat of execution.
On his first terrifying night of captivity, he was left alone in the room of a private home. He scanned the space and let his imagination bring him closer to God.
An electric wire hung down from the ceiling, exposing 3 naked wires where a light bulb and socket had been removed. And he thought about the triune God—Father, Son, and Spirit—reaching a hand toward him, reminding him, “You’re alive. You’re mine. I’ve made you and called you into being for a divine purpose.”
He began to count the horizontal slats on the French doors. There were 120. What could those pieces of wood stand for—so many of them? “That’s it!” he thought, “So many. A crowd. Like the book of Hebrews tells us: I have a great cloud of witnesses, past and present, who testify to the faithfulness of God.”
He noticed a game bird on a shelf in one corner of the room, probably shot and stuffed by a former occupant of the room. A gray bird, like a dove. And he thought, “A dove! Like Noah’s bird, the one released from the window of the ark! It went searching and brought back a bit of greenery, a sign of life, a new beginning, hope in the chaos!”
What was he doing? He was practicing God’s instruction in Psalm 46— “Be still and know that I am God.” That’s the scripture passage we’ll study this Sunday at Hillcrest.
Be still. Literally the Hebrew could be translated, “Let your hands hang down.” In a crisis, our first response is to say to ourselves and others, “Don’t just stand there —do something!” But there are times when God himself advises us: “Don’t just do something — stand there!”
Whatever you’re facing today, get still enough to meditate over the character and promises of God. Knees don’t knock when we kneel on them!
Tom
Tom Goodman serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.