Be still for the presence of the Lord

Scriptures: Genesis 28, Exodus 3, Isaiah 6:1-7, Matthew 17:1-3, Matthew 8:1-13

Structure:

Introduction
Verse 1 – Holiness
Verse 2 – Glory
Verse 3 – Power
Conclusion

Introduction:

When our kids were young we took them to the Wellington Zoo

The day we went they had the Cheetah’s out of their cage taking them for a walk around the grounds on a leash
The zoo keepers explained to us that if we ever find ourselves in the presence of a Cheetah in the wild, the best thing to do is stay completely still, don’t move a muscle
Because as soon as you start running the Cheetah is hard wired to think you are dinner and will chase you down
Being in the presence of a creature as fast and powerful as a Cheetah gives one a feeling of vulnerability and respect at the same time.

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series

In this series we are looking at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the heritage of our faith.

The song we are looking at this morning is Be still for the presence of the Lord

If you ever find yourself in the presence of God the best thing you can do is be still.
God won’t eat you, like a Cheetah might, but he is powerful and you can’t outrun him, so you may well feel vulnerable.
Being still and listening shows God respect and it helps us to take in the experience; to be present to God

The music and lyrics for “Be Still” were written by David Evans

David J. Evans was born in 1957 in Dartford, Kent, the United Kingdom.
He grew up in Winchester and was educated at the University of Southampton, studying social science

David Evans has been involved in a variety of church denominations and has led musical worship for much of his life

He works in the field of music education, having done research into the psychology of music
David will turn 63 this year but he was in his 20’s when he wrote Be still for the presence of the Lord

At the time Evans was involved in the charismatic movement of the 1980’s

The charismatic movement emphasises the ecstatic gifts of the Holy Spirit and encourages the expression of those gifts in gathered worship
For example, giving a word of knowledge, speaking in tongues, miraculous healing, prophecy and so forth
An ecstatic gift of the Spirit sometimes involves a mystical experience of God’s presence which overwhelms or transcends a person’s self
Many of the songs we might associate with the charismatic movement have tended to be upbeat, light and breezy type choruses
Be still for the presence of the Lord is not like that. Be still has a more serious, reverential tone.

In worship we are expressing to God how amazing he is

If we become too chummy or casual with God, then we undermine the basis of worship
Apparently David Evans felt that some of the worship of the charismatic movement risked treating God in a trivial fashion
So he wrote ‘Be still’ as a kind of reminder to the church of the awesomeness of God
We need to be careful not to treat the presence of the Holy Spirit cheaply
We need to remember just who God is (his holiness, glory & power) and be still in his presence

Verse 1 – Holy:

Hence the song begins…

Be still for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One is here.

Come bow before Him now with reverence and fear.

To claim that the Lord God is here, with us, may seem a bit presumptuous, but it’s not. In Matthew 18, verse 20, Jesus says to his disciples…

For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.
Which means when we gather for worship on a Sunday the Lord Jesus is present with us by His Spirit

Verse 1 highlights the holiness of God

Holiness encompasses a number of concepts at the same time
To be holy is to be different, not the same, unique, set apart as sacred
God is different from us, he is ‘other than’ his creation, not made of chemicals or physical matter like the earth or a plant or an animal

Holiness also speaks of wholeness or oneness – having moral integrity or goodness, being the real deal

God’s holiness holds together justice and mercy (as one)
God can be relied upon to do the right and good thing because he is holy

Reverence is a feeling or attitude of profound respect and deep awe

People have traditionally demonstrated their reverence by bowing down.

Verse 1 of the song also refers to the fear of God; bowing with reverence & fear

The sort of fear that is in view here is not terror or anxiety
The sort of fear that is meant, in this context, is the feeling or motivation to respond in worship and obedience to God

C.S. Lewis gives us a wonderful picture of what it means to fear and reverence God in his book, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe

– Lucy is curious about Aslan’s nature and in a conversation with Mr & Mrs Beaver she asks, “Then he isn’t safe?”

– To which Mr Beaver replies, “Safe? …Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he is good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

One of the ways we might encounter the presence of God is in reading the Bible

About 12 or 13 years ago now, I stood in the pulpit here and gave a reading from the prophet Isaiah, chapter 53. It was getting close to Easter
Isaiah 53 tells about the suffering servant – it describes in profoundly accurate detail the way Jesus suffered. You know the passage…

…Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. ⁵But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

As I read that Scripture I felt deeply moved and started crying.

It was like the Word of God was present to me in a special or unique way (or perhaps I was present to it) and my emotions were overwhelmed
Crying like that, in a work context, is very unusual for me. I’m a trained professional. I don’t do public displays of emotion even at funerals.
With tears comes a feeling of vulnerability, a feeling of coming undone.
Somehow though, I managed to get through the reading
When I had finished and taken my seat in the congregation again a sense of stillness settled over me – sort of like when someone does something really nice for you and you feel touched and humbled by it.

Scripture is holy. Sometimes when we handle the Scriptures, we become aware of the transcendent (the holiness or otherness of God) and we are filled with a deep sense of awe and respect.

My tears, and the stillness that followed, were a natural expression of reverence – a sort of internal bowing of my heart before God’s goodness.

The second part of verse 1 of the song continues…

In Him no sin is found, we stand on holy ground.

Be still for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One is here.

We stand on holy ground sounds echoes from both Genesis and Exodus

In Genesis 28, Jacob is on the run for his life, after having deceived his father and stolen Esau’s blessing
At sunset he came to a holy place and lay down to sleep, resting his head on a stone
He dreamt that he saw a stairway reaching from earth to heaven, with angels going up and coming down on it.
And there was the Lord standing beside him, on earth.
Then God spoke to Jacob promising to be with him and protect him
When Jacob woke up he said, “The Lord is here. He is in this place and I did not know it.”
Jacob was afraid (he felt small and vulnerable) and said,
“How awesome is this place. This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
Jacob responded to God’s presence in an attitude of worship, promising to give God a tenth of his income.

We are also reminded of Exodus 3 when God called Moses

Moses was tending the sheep of his father-in-law when he noticed a burning bush. Although the bush was on fire it was not consumed
When Moses drew closer to see what was happening God called from within the bush saying, “Moses, Moses.”
And Moses said, “Here I am.”
“Do not come any closer,” God said, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

When Robyn & I got engaged, we gave a wedding invitation to my pop (my grandad). He immediately said, ‘The church will fall down if I walk into it’, by which he meant, I haven’t been to church in years and I don’t feel worthy to go.

My pop associated church buildings with the presence of God – his generation considered churches to be holy ground
For him attending a wedding in a church was not a trivial thing – the very thought of it raised feelings of vulnerability and reverence.

In some ways our contemporary western society has lost its sense of reverence for the holy. Many things that were once considered sacred are now treated as ordinary or profane.

Traditional Maori culture has managed to retain a respect for the sacred though

A few weeks ago a German tourist died on the Tongariro Crossing

The local iwi put a rahui on the mountains for three days
A rahui is a ban or prohibition against a particular area or activity
You could say a rahui is an order (or edict) to be still
No one was allowed to walk the Tongariro Crossing while the rahui was in place – in a sense it became holy ground (tapu)
TV reporters interviewed the son of the man who died and he said that, while he didn’t understand the Maori language (the words they spoke), he felt a deep sense of reverence or respect from the local iwi (tribe)
He was genuinely touched by the people and the rahui protocol.

We need to recover our sense of the sacred if we are to give God the honour he is due.

Verse 2 – Glory

While verse 1 highlights the holiness of God, verse two emphasises the glory of God…

Be still for the glory of the Lord is shining all around.

He burns with holy fire, with splendour He is crowned,

How awesome is the sight, our radiant King of light.

Be still for the glory of the Lord is shining all around.

The word glory has more than one meaning

Glory can mean ‘high renown, fame or honour, won by notable achievements’
As in the glory of winning an Olympic gold medal, or the glory of saving someone and being known as a hero
Certainly the Lord’s achievements are very notable and he is famous everywhere
God’s glory is a weighty thing; a thing of substance, the real deal, solid glory through and through, not just glory coated

But glory can also refer to beauty or splendour, radiance or magnificence

As in, the sunrise over the mountain was glorious
This sense of the word glory also fits for God
God’s grace is beautiful, his smile is radiant, he is clothed in splendour

For Christmas last year I was given a book of poetry by Anne Powell, who lives on the Kapiti Coast. She has a poem called Letting Go…

When it comes to prayer

trying hard is not the answer.

Think more of flying

a kite to freedom

on a clear day

or bathing beneath a waterfall

each sense awake

or letting the heart-gaze rest

on beauty.

Beauty opens to presence.

I want to draw your attention to that line: Beauty opens to presence.

One of the ways we become aware of God’s presence is by being still enough to let our heart-gaze rest on beauty
When I see something beautiful, whether that’s a sunset
Or the moon when it is full and close to the horizon,
Or dolphins leaping out of the water
Or Tui feeding in a kowhai tree
Or a snow capped mountain bathed in sunshine
Or a child’s smile
Or a quiet act of kindness done in secret
Whenever I see beauty I am reminded of God our creator
Beauty opens to [the glory of God’s] presence
But to see the beauty that opens to presence we need to be still, still on the inside.

Back to verse 2 of our song…

‘Be still for the glory of the Lord is shining all around’
Jesus said, Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God.
Perhaps when Jesus said this he meant, you can see the beauty of God’s glory everywhere you look.

In Isaiah 6, the prophet had a vision of God

In his vision he saw seraphs (heavenly creatures) calling to one another:
Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.
If you read on you will see how Isaiah felt both vulnerable and full of reverence in God’s presence – he was acutely aware of how far he fell short saying, ‘Woe is me. I am a man of unclean lips…’

When Moses came down from the mountain, after meeting with God, he had to wear a veil because his face shone with the reflected glory of God

Even though the glory of God, in the face of Moses, was second hand the people still couldn’t look at Moses directly.

We see the glory of God, first hand, in the person of Jesus

In the opening chapter of his gospel the apostle John writes…
We have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father
And at the birth of Jesus, the glory of the Lord shone around
Then, in Matthew 17, we read how Jesus was transfigured on the mountain top with Peter, James and John as witnesses
As they looked on, a change came over Jesus: his face was shining like the sun and his clothes were dazzling white.

And, in talking about the glory of God in the face of Jesus, we are reminded of Jesus’ crucifixion & death, along with his resurrection & ascension to heaven

There is no glory without suffering – suffering always precedes glory
Each year, at ANZAC parades around the country, we pay respect to those who served, suffered and died in war
Part of any ANZAC service involves being still and observing a few moments of reverent silence
Sometimes we forget how much God has suffered (and continues to suffer) for his creation
If we show respect to fallen soldiers how much more should we show respect to Christ for all he went through.
The appropriate response to the suffering and glory of God is to be still in an attitude of reverence and respect

Verse 3 – Power

Verse 1 of our song draws attention to the holiness of God’s presence

Verse 2 talks about the glory of God’s presence
And the theme of verse 3 is the power of God’s presence…

Be still for the power of the Lord is moving in this place.

He comes to cleanse and heal, to minister his grace

Implicit in these lines is the good news that God is not coming with power to destroy us, but rather with power to do good to us

Minister here is a word which means serve
And grace is any good gift of God, usually undeserved.
In other words, the Lord serves good gifts to people, sort of like a chef serves a meal to the hungry or a chemist dispenses medicine to the sick or a priest serves communion to the faithful.

Last week we heard how God’s power cleansed and healed the bitter waters at Marah, so the people could drink (Exodus 15)

In the gospels we see time and time again Jesus’ power to cleanse and heal and minister God’s grace
In Matthew 8, for example, we read…

When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. ²A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”

The first thing we notice here is the man’s vulnerability and reverence before Jesus. He doesn’t presume upon God’s grace

He addresses Jesus as ‘Lord’, a title of respect and then he says, “…if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
He is truly respectful. He doesn’t tell Jesus what to do. He asks.
We can’t begin to understand how much rejection this man experienced in his life because of leprosy
He was taking a huge risk. He was making himself vulnerable. What if Jesus said ‘no’? It’s not like the man had any leverage in this situation. He is at the bottom of the heap.

³Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. ⁴Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

Jesus ministered God’s grace by cleansing and healing the man with leprosy

Notice though that Jesus still required the man to fulfil his obligation under the law after he had been healed
Jesus’ kindness does not equate to slackness or casual dismissal of the law. Rather Jesus’ kindness leads to respectful fulfilment of God’s law.

No work too hard for him. In faith receive from him

This line of the song reminds me of the Roman Centurion (also in Matthew 8) who came to Jesus for help…

⁶“Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

⁷Jesus said to him, “I will go and heal him?”

⁸The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

¹⁰When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith…”

¹³Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.

The Roman Centurion is at the opposite end of the social scale (compared with the man who had leprosy) and yet he still behaves in the same way when in the presence of Jesus – with vulnerability and reverence

Even though he is an officer in the Roman Army the Centurion treats Jesus with the respect due to a superior
And even though the Centurion has the weight of the Roman empire on his side he doesn’t exert this power (he doesn’t attempt to leverage Jesus)
But instead makes himself vulnerable before Jesus, for indeed he does feel vulnerable.
Like Isaiah, he is acutely aware of how unworthy he is saying, ‘I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word and my servant will be healed…’ Reverence and vulnerability you see.
The Centurion believes that nothing is too hard for Jesus and in faith he receives from Jesus.

Conclusion:

The song, ‘Be still’, reminds us of the holiness, glory and power of God

But these attributes of God’s presence are not separate things – they are integrated as one, just as God is one.
We may well feel vulnerable in God’s presence – but that’s okay, in fact it is appropriate
Vulnerability with reverence prevents us from treating God’s presence too lightly and it purifies our worship of God making it more meaningful.

In a few minutes we will share communion together

Communion is about celebrating the presence of Jesus among us
Communion is a holy ritual, not something to be treated lightly, but something to be handled with an attitude of reverence
Communion reminds us of the suffering and glory of Jesus
Just as it reminds us of the power of God over sin and death.

As we prepare our hearts to receive communion let’s stand and sing, Be still for the presence of the Lord the Holy One is here…

Questions for discussion or reflection:

Listen to (or sing) the song, ‘Be still for the presence of the Lord’. What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does it evoke for you?)
Why did David Evans write the song ‘Be still for the presence of the Lord’?
What is your experience of the charismatic movement? Or, have you ever had a mystical experience of God’s presence? What happened?
What do we mean by the holiness of God?
What does it mean to ‘bow before God with reverence and fear’?
What is the glory of God?
How did the man with leprosy and the Roman Centurion (in Matthew 8) behave in the presence of Christ? How do you behave in the presence of Jesus’ Spirit?
Discuss / reflect on Anne Powell’s poem, ‘Letting Go’. Is it true for you that ‘beauty opens to presence’? Take some time this week to let your heart-gaze rest on beauty.