Be still and know that I am God.
It’s a verse from Psalm 46 that’s on a thousand plaques. But we get its meaning totally wrong. Discovering the right meaning, though, leads us to great encouragement.
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.
“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” So says the angel to the apostle John. What this means, according to G.K. Beale, the greatest living interpreter of the last book of the Bible, is that we are a prophetic people.
But how are we to understand this?
To be prophetic means to speak forth God’s word. That in turn implies the capability to hear and understand that word. To be a prophetic people, therefore, has to mean we are a people who can hear God.
This kind of statement often brings controversy and conjures up visions of slightly odd individuals saying strange things and claiming to have a pipeline to heaven which no one else can contradict.
