Right now, in the Eastridge daily reading plan, we’re reading through Psalms alongside the other books of the Bible in the reading plan. This past Monday’s reading included Psalm 46. I’ve always liked this Psalm; it’s a beautiful, lyrical expression of praise. The first part of verse 10 is possibly one of the most familiar sentences in the Psalms; in the NIV, it reads:
Be still, and know that I am God…
I’ve been reading the Psalms in the Complete Jewish Bible in addition to the NIV. That same sentence reads quite differently in the CJB:
Desist, and learn that I am God…
That’s a really different reading of the same concept, isn’t it? The phrase be still in the extremely familiar NIV translation of that verse, at least to me, suggests slowing down a little, an almost gradual deceleration of activity. The CJB translation uses desist, which sounds totally different. I decided to look up the word desist to see what nuances its meaning has, and, according to the dictionary, it basically just means to stop, although to me it really sounds like a pretty harsh command. Because I’ve heard it on Law & Order and shows like that, I asked a local judge about the legal definition of the term, and in legal uses, desist implies that one cease a particular action immediately.
Maybe that’s just what it takes for us to truly experience God speaking to us. Instead of us just being still or slowing down, maybe we have to stop completely. Maybe we have to even drop some of the things that aren’t necessarily bad but that weigh us down and hold us back from following Christ with all we have.
