Tag Archives: Psalm 46:10

The Bible and Science – Acceleration

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It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings. Proverbs 25:2 (NIV)

This may be a strange verse to start a devotion about acceleration. You can find words like quick, distance, faster, and many mentions of time(s) in the Bible but not acceleration.  Starting, stopping, changing direction, and falling is concepts that are found in many stories and verses in Scripture.  So, I started with Proverbs 25:2 because it is clearly something “kings” have searched out as a foundational base of the science of motion.

Acceleration covers speeding up, slowing down, falling, and changing directions while moving.  Another way to think about it is changing velocity over time.  Velocity is speed with a direction, that thought is better when you realize that when you have speed and are moving, you are going somewhere.  That is why you can have positive (going faster and faster) or negative (going slower) acceleration.  Not moving or not changing speed means no acceleration.  (“Science Minds” please bear with me as I will be “wandering” a bit.)

Since acceleration is not a Bible term I will give three verses that show aspects of that motion:

  1. Psalm 46:10 Be still and know God. If you are to “be still” it would make sense that you were moving. So, to stop in the Lord you are decelerating.  After you have spent time with Jesus and are ready to move you will accelerate
  2. 2 Corinthians 3:18 We are transformed with ever-increasing glory(NIV paraphrased) Glory to glory(KJV) Jesus meets you where you are in life, but He wants you to be increasing over the time you are His. This is an example of acceleration; gaining more of Him as you continue forward, in life, in the “Jesus life”.
  3. Deuteronomy 28:7 Come at you from one direction and leave in seven directions. As your enemies move at from one direction they will turn to flee from you.  That is an example of acceleration (changing directions). I can see them hitting angels that are shielding us and being turned aside. You could bring in several other laws of motion here but that may happen later.                                                              ∞ Jesus, help us to continue moving forward as we are spending time with You.

To Know God

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jesus at door

To have a greater knowledge of God you can always study more.  This will be a logos word where you can add to your understanding and become familiar with other people’s exploration into who God is and what He does.  Reading more books will also help to expand your knowledge of God.  In these studies you can pick the aspect of God you’re interested in and find many quality books and study-helps that will advance your understanding of God.

Then you could do the WWJD approach.  But here a good foundation in who Jesus is and what He did is required.   After all, if you are asking yourself what would Jesus do you should have read the Gospels several times so you can base your actions on the understanding you have.  One good thing here is if you keep doing it you will grow and change. (I read a post on Facebook recently that said using this approach you should not rule out overturning tables and beating people with a whip.)

I recommend doing what Psalm 46:10 says to do which is Be still and know that I AM God.  The term “be still” has several meanings and can be translated to be silent, be at rest, or to stand one’s ground.  But in Psalm 46:10 it means to be feeble, weakened, or faint.  The term “know” is yada and it means to know by observing, reflecting, or by experiencing something.

This leads back to the studying/experiencing God we talked about before.  There are logos and rhema words/experiences with God.  People who pursue God by just reading about Him will never have more than that and can, they lose that.  But when you have/get a rhema word from God you are changed, it has spoken to your heart and you will not be the same.  Now when this person gets the logos word they find new and deep truths about God and are eager to share them.  It is not easy to quiet yourself and be still but it is the way God suggested that you do it.

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Be Still and Know God #2

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Psalm 46:10 – Be still, and know that I AM God. 

“Know” is yada it means knowing by observing and reflecting on things or by experiencing it.

I really did not deal with the knowing part of the verse in the first study, mostly because I did not have an idea of how too. But talking before a church service with my Pray Partner Team, more or less on this subject it gave me some direction.

How do you know God and how do you know God was the two questions that came out of that conversion.  No, they really are not the same question. Let me try again.

Do you know God by studying, praying and or fasting?  Then, how do you know God: Savior, Healer, Teacher, the Big Man upstairs, is He my Lord or your Lord or Someone you visit three times a year?

A problem I had with this question was the people that read their Bible cover to cover every year and have read it in several translations and do a lot of good things and Jesus will still say, “Depart from me for I never knew you (Matthew 25:41).” Brother Darwin helped with this question when he stated a difference between logos and rhema words of God. People can have a logos word by reading and that is all they ever have; then there are people who have had a rhema word and it changes them. Rhema words are those special words that speak to your heart and change you in some way.

Back to yada and my questions of “how do you know God?” If you want an answer, you will have to have both, as an example let me use two of my favorite examples – Peter and Paul.  Peter “grew up” with Jesus, he walked and talked with Him, healed, ministered and listened to Him teach – truly a logos experience. Peter also denied Jesus but because Jesus loved him after the denials he had a rhema experience.  Paul also had logos as a Pharisee but tried to destroy the church until he had his rhema experience (Acts 9). He then spent the rest of his life experiencing Jesus as he ran his race.

Be Still and Know God

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Waiting, being still what is the difference?

Remember that our modern English words don’t necessary translate nicely with Hebrew words.  Wait and being still are two words/phrases that can have several meanings and depending on your favorite translation of the Bible a verse may read different ways.  Wait can also mean hope so it will help how you view a passage if you look it up in your concordance.  “Being still” also has several meanings so if you find a verse you like check it out and see how it adds to your understanding.

Sometimes the Hebrew word for “still” can also be translated “wait.” That is why the Amplified Bible can be helpful, it will give alternate meanings to words. Anyway here are some different verses and there “be still’s.”

To “Be Still” means to stand one’s ground, confront, to stand before as in: I Samuel 12:16 – Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes! (rain at wheat harvest when Israel wanted a king)

Exodus 14:14 – Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today.

To “Be Still” means to be still, silent, to rest as in: Psalm 4:4 + 5 – In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Offer right sacrifices and trust in the Lord.

Habakkuk 2:20 – But the Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him.

Jeremiah 23:18 – 22 Who has listened and heard His word? …. But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed My words to My people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.

To “Be Still” means to be quiet, hush or come to silence as in: Nehemiah 8: 10 + 11 – Do not grieve for the joy of the Lord is your strength. The Levites calmed all the people, saying, ”Be still for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve.

Zechariah 2:13 – Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from His holy dwelling.

To “Be Still” means to be feeble, weakened, faint as in: Psalm 46:10 – Be still, and know that I AM God.  “Know” is yada it means knowing by observing and reflecting on things or by experiencing it.

In any of its meanings for me to be still is very hard; I try, sometimes I can do it many times I don’t.  For me anyway this is not meditation or musing over a thought this is just standing/sitting still and quite before God.  If you can really reach a time of being still you may find yourself like Oral Roberts in his book The Ultimate Voice (p. 101), “There was no moving of my physical body, only the wild beating of my heart.” 

All verses are NIV.