Be Still and Know - Part 3

Sit Down: What Psalm 46:10 and Five Loaves Teach Us About Stillness

"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted  among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" 

— Psalm 46:10 (NKJV)

Let me ask you something honest. When was the last time you were actually still? Not asleep. Not scrolling. Not sitting in traffic with your mind running a hundred miles an hour. I mean still. Hands open. Heart quiet. Nothing to prove and nothing to fix.

If you had to think hard about that, you are not alone. We live in a world that treats stillness like laziness and busyness like righteousness. And if we are not careful, we will bring that same restless spirit right into our walk with God. We pray on the run. We read on the run. We serve on the run. And then we wonder why we feel so empty when we are doing so much.

Here is the one truth I want to plant in your heart today: You cannot know God as God until you stop trying to be God. Stillness is not the absence of activity. Stillness is the surrender of control.

The Context: Stillness in a Shaking World

Psalm 46 is not a spa-day psalm. Read the whole thing. Verse 2 says, "Though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." Verse 6 says, "The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved." This is a psalm written in the middle of chaos. Earthquakes. Wars. Collapsing kingdoms.

And right in the middle of all that shaking, God speaks: "Be still."

The Hebrew word there is raphah. It does not mean "be quiet." It means to let go, to drop your hands, to cease striving. It is the picture of a soldier lowering his weapon. Of a man unclenching his fist. God is not saying, "Relax, nothing is wrong." He is saying, "Stop fighting this battle as if it depends on you. Let go. I am God. You are not."

Do you hear the difference? One is a sedative. The other is a surrender.

The Scene: A Hungry Crowd and Empty Hands

Now turn with me to Matthew 14. Most of us know this story as the feeding of the five thousand. But look at how it begins.

Verse 13: "When Jesus heard it, He departed from there by boat to a deserted place by Himself."

Heard what? John the Baptist had just been beheaded. Jesus was grieving. He was looking for a quiet place. And what happened? The crowds followed Him. Verse 14 says, "He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick."

Then evening came. The disciples looked at the crowd, looked at the clock, and did the math. Verse 15: "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away."

Now watch what Jesus said in verse 16: "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."

And the disciples answered the way we all answer. Verse 17: "We have here only five loaves and two fish."

Only. There it is. That is the word of a heart that has not yet learned to be still. We look at the need, we look at our hands, and we say, "Only." Only this much money. Only this much time. Only this much faith. Only this much strength left.

Three Commands That Change Everything

Look closely at what Jesus does next, because this is where Psalm 46:10 walks right into Matthew 14.

1. "Bring them here to Me." (v. 18)

Jesus did not ask the disciples to make more bread. He asked them to bring what they had. That is the first step of stillness. You stop clutching the little you have and you place it in His hands. What is your five loaves and two fish today? Your limited resources? Your broken marriage? Your fading hope? He is not asking you to multiply it. He is asking you to bring it.

2. "He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass." (v. 19)

Do not rush past this. Before anyone ate, everyone had to sit down. Five thousand men, plus women and children, told to stop moving. Stop pushing. Stop grabbing. Sit. That is raphah. That is "be still." Jesus made a hungry, anxious, pressing crowd sit down in a deserted place with no visible food in sight and simply wait on Him.

Could you have done that? Could you sit down when everything in you says, "Do something"? That is exactly what God is asking of you in Psalm 46:10.

3. "He blessed and broke and gave." (v. 19)

Notice who does the work. Jesus looked up to heaven. Jesus blessed. Jesus broke. Jesus gave. The disciples only distributed what He had already multiplied. And verse 20 says, "So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained."

Twelve baskets. One for every disciple who said "only." God does not just meet the need. He exposes the smallness of our unbelief with the greatness of His supply.

Why This Points Us to the Cross

Do not miss what Jesus is showing us here. He breaks bread in a deserted place to feed a multitude that could not feed themselves. Sound familiar? Not long after this, He would take bread again, break it, and say, "This is My body."

The feeding of the five thousand is a picture of the gospel. We came to Him hungry, empty, with nothing to offer. He did not send us away. He was moved with compassion. He was broken so that we could be filled. That is grace. Not what we bring to the table, but what He puts on it.

And salvation itself begins with stillness. Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God." You cannot work your way to God. You cannot earn your way to God. You have to sit down on the grass and let Him do what only He can do.

The Difference Between Knowing About God and Knowing God

Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still, and know that I am God." Not "know about." Know. There is a knowing that only comes on the other side of stillness. The disciples knew about Jesus before the loaves were broken. They knew Him differently after. Why? Because they finally stopped calculating and started watching.

Here is the contrast we have to face:

• Restlessness says, "It depends on me." Stillness says, "It depends on Him."

• Restlessness counts the loaves. Stillness brings the loaves.

• Restlessness sends the crowd away. Stillness sits the crowd down.

• Restlessness ends in exhaustion. Stillness ends in twelve baskets left over.

Which one describes your life right now?

Practical Application: How to Actually Be Still

Let me get practical, because stillness does not just happen. It is chosen.

1. Start your day sitting down before you start standing up. Before the phone, before the emails, open the Word. Even ten minutes. Let God speak before the world does.

2. Name your "only." Write it down. The thing you keep saying is not enough. Then pray, "Lord, I bring it here to You."

3. Stop rehearsing the problem and start rehearsing His promises. Psalm 46:1 says, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Say it out loud. Repetition builds faith.

4. Obey the next thing without demanding the whole plan. The disciples handed out bread they did not understand. Obedience often comes before explanation.

5. Look for the twelve baskets. Keep a record of God's faithfulness. Stillness gets easier when you remember He has never once failed you.

The Challenge

Here is where I want to leave you. Jesus said to a hungry crowd in a deserted place, "Sit down." He is saying the same thing to you today. Whatever you are carrying. Whatever you are counting. Whatever you keep calling "only." He is not asking you to fix it. He is asking you to bring it and sit down.

Will you? Will you stop long enough to let God be God?

Because the end of Psalm 46:10 is a promise, not a suggestion: "I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" God will be exalted whether we are still or not. The question is whether we will be still enough to see it, or so busy that we miss the miracle happening on the grass right in front of us.

Be still. Bring what you have. Sit down. And watch what He does with it.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. 

Used by permission. All rights reserved.

© 2026 Pastor Jeremy Berryhill. All rights reserved.