We’ve been reflecting in recent visits on the theme found in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” One thing I want to be careful to not do is simply lead you through a review of things we can intellectually know about God. That list would be very long and tiresome to learn and remember.
God wants us to be still long enough, that as we reflect on things that are true about God we can see how they relate to our daily life. That’s how we begin to experientially know God. Let me illustrate.
I remember as a teen flying in a small, one engine plane from island to island in the Caribbean en-rout to Venezuela, South America. Leaving Puerto Rico the sky was overcast. The next island we could land on was two hours away. If we missed it north or south we would not have enough fuel to get to another island. Some of the clouds were quite heavy so we had to fly around them.
After two hours we couldn’t see an island and were not able to make contact by radio with the airport. I asked the pilot if we were lost. He joked, “No, we just don’t know where we are.” That didn’t give me much assurance. I was scared, so I prayed to the Lord: “Lord, I’m committed to serving You. I’m hoping we make it to the next island and then on to Venezuela. If you allow us to crash into the sea I will trust You with that.”
Right after I prayed I had an inner peace. And shortly thereafter we made radio contact with the airport and later landed safely.
I had known that God was faithful. Through the experience I came to experientially know that He is faithful.
