Be Still and Know - Part 4

The Boat: When Stillness Means Knowing

"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)

In Part 3, we sat down on the grass. We learned that the word "be still" is raphah, to let go, to release your grip. We watched Jesus take five loaves and two fish and feed a multitude, and we learned that stillness is not the absence of activity. It is the surrender of control.

But here is the problem. It is easy to be still on the grass. The sun is out. The bread is multiplying. Everybody is full. Anybody can be still when the miracle is in your hands.

What about when you did exactly what Jesus told you to do, and it landed you in the middle of a storm?

That is where most of us live. Not on the grass. In the boat. And this is what I want to press into you today: Stillness is not knowing where you are. Stillness is knowing who He is. Psalm 46:10 does not say, "Be still, and know that the storm is over." It says, "Be still, and know that I am God." The storm may not change. The knowing does.

The Context: A Psalm Written for Rough Water

Read Psalm 46:2-3 again: "Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling."

Do you see it? This psalm is not written for calm water. It is written for roaring water. Troubled water. Water that swallows mountains. The psalmist is not saying, "Be still because nothing is wrong." He is saying, "Be still because God is in the midst of it."

Verse 7: "The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." Not "will be with us when it settles." Is with us. Present tense. In the middle of the sea.

The Hebrew word for "know" in verse 10 is yada. It is not head knowledge. It is the word used for the most intimate kind of relationship. It means to know someone by experience, so deeply that you recognize them anywhere. In the dark. In the wind. At three in the morning walking toward you on the water.

Now let us get in the boat.

The Scene: Sent into the Storm

Matthew 14:22: "Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side."

Underline the word "made." The Greek is strong. He compelled them. He constrained them. The disciples did not wander into this storm through disobedience. They sailed into it through obedience. Jesus put them in the boat, pointed them at the other side, and sent them.

Hear this, because somebody needs it. Obedience does not guarantee calm water. You can be exactly where God told you to be, doing exactly what God told you to do, and the wind can still be contrary. The storm is not proof that you missed His will. Sometimes the storm is proof that you are right in the middle of it.

Verse 23: "He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there." Verse 24: "But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary."

Jesus on the mountain. The disciples in the sea. Separated by distance, by darkness, by water. And they rowed. Mark tells us He "saw them straining at rowing" (Mark 6:48). They rowed from evening until the fourth watch, which is somewhere between three and six in the morning. Nine hours or more, fighting a wind that would not let up.

Have you ever rowed all night? Prayed and got no answer. Worked and made no progress. Obeyed and saw no relief. That is the boat.

Verse 25: "Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea."

He did not send a rescue boat. He did not stop the wind from the mountain. He came Himself. And He came on the very thing that was trying to kill them. Job 9:8 says God "alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea." The waves that were over their heads were under His feet.

Three Truths from the Boat

1. Fear makes you misidentify Jesus.

Verse 26: "And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, 'It is a ghost!' And they cried out for fear."

Think about that. The answer to their prayer was walking toward them, and they thought it was a threat. Fear does that. Fear turns provision into a phantom. Fear looks at the very thing God sent and says, "That cannot be Him. That is going to hurt me."

How many times has God come toward you in a way you did not expect, and you cried out in fear instead of faith? The closed door. The unexpected diagnosis. The move you did not want to make. You saw a ghost. It was Jesus.

2. Stillness is anchored in "I AM."

Verse 27: "But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.'"

Now look closely at those three words: "It is I." In the Greek, it is ego eimi. I AM. It is the same declaration God made to Moses at the burning bush: "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14). It is the same phrase Jesus uses in John 8:58: "Before Abraham was, I AM."

Jesus did not calm the storm first and identify Himself second. He identified Himself first. Because the disciples' problem was not the wind. Their problem was they did not know who was in the wind.

Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still, and know that I am God." Matthew 14:27 says, "It is I; do not be afraid." That is the same sermon. Fear does not leave because the circumstances change. Fear leaves because the I AM has spoken. Psalm 46:6: "He uttered His voice, the earth melted." One word from Him, and what terrified you loses its grip.

You do not need to know how long the storm will last. You need to know who is standing on it.

3. You sink by looking, and you walk by looking.

Verse 28-29: "And Peter answered Him and said, 'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.' So He said, 'Come.' And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus."

Do not be too hard on Peter. Eleven men stayed in the boat. One man walked on water. Whatever else you say about him, Peter did the impossible, because he moved at the word of Jesus. "Command me." Peter did not step out on a feeling. He stepped out on a word.

Verse 30: "But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, 'Lord, save me!'"

What changed? Not the wind. The wind was boisterous when he stepped out of the boat, and it was boisterous when he started to sink. The only thing that changed was where Peter was looking. He was walking on water while looking at Jesus. He started sinking when he looked at the wind.

Here is the principle: You do not sink because the storm is strong. You sink because you got distracted. Hebrews 12:2 says we run "looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith." Isaiah 26:3: "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." Stayed. Fixed. Not glancing over at the waves every few seconds.

Stillness is not a quiet sea. Stillness is a fixed gaze.

And notice verse 31: "And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him." Immediately. Peter's faith failed, but Jesus' hand did not. His question, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" was not a rejection. It was a correction from a hand that was already holding him. Little faith still gets caught.

Why This Points Us to the Cross

Look at Peter's prayer. "Lord, save me!" Three words. No eloquence. No credentials. Just a sinking man and a saving Lord.

That is the whole gospel in a sentence. Romans 10:13: "For whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." You do not get saved because your faith is big. You get saved because His hand is strong.

But go deeper. Psalm 69:1-2 says, "Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me." That is a Messianic psalm. That is a picture of Christ on the cross.

Think about it. Peter began to sink, and Jesus caught him immediately. But when Jesus hung on the cross under the floods of God's judgment for our sin, He cried out, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:46). And no hand reached down. He went all the way under so that you would never have to. The waves of wrath that should have covered you covered Him.

He was not rescued from the deep so that you could be. Jesus walked on the water in Matthew 14. He went under it at Calvary. And on the third day He rose, so that every sinking sinner who cries "Lord, save me!" would find His hand already stretched out.

Isaiah 43:2: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you." That promise is not cheap. It cost Him everything.

The Contrast: Sinking or Walking

Let us be honest about where we are.

• A sinking believer measures the wind. A walking believer watches the Word.

• A sinking believer says, "Look what is happening to me." A walking believer says, "Look who is standing with me."

• A sinking believer waits for the storm to stop before trusting. A walking believer trusts while the storm is boisterous.

• A sinking believer asks, "Why is the wind contrary?" A walking believer asks, "Where is Jesus in this?"

Both were in the same storm. Both had the same wind. The difference was never the weather. The difference was the gaze.

Practical Application: Staying Still in the Storm

1. Stop interpreting the storm as a verdict. Jesus "made" them get in the boat. If you are in a hard season while walking in obedience, do not assume you failed. Ask instead what He wants you to know about Him here.

2. Name your ghost. What have you been calling a threat that might actually be Jesus coming toward you? Write it down. Then pray, "Lord, if this is You, let me recognize You in it."

3. Anchor to the I AM, not the outcome. When fear rises this week, do not rehearse the worst case. Rehearse His name. Say it out loud: "The LORD of hosts is with us" (Psalm 46:7). Say it until the volume of His voice is louder than the wind.

4. Fix your gaze on purpose. Distraction is a discipline problem. Set a time every morning to look at Jesus in His Word before you look at your phone, your news, or your problems. You walk toward whatever you are looking at.

5. Cry out early. Peter waited until he was sinking to say, "Lord, save me." Do not wait. The shortest prayers from the deepest places are the ones He answers immediately.

The Challenge

Verse 32-33: "And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, 'Truly You are the Son of God.'"

Notice what came out of the storm. Not just calm. Worship. They had watched Him feed five thousand on the grass, and they marveled. They watched Him walk on the sea, and they worshiped. The storm produced a knowing that the picnic never could.

That is why He let you go through it. Not to drown you. To reveal Himself in a way that calm water never would. "Be still, and know that I am God." You will know Him in the boat like you never knew Him on the grass.

So here is my challenge. Stop asking God to calm the storm before you trust Him in it. Stop measuring the wind. Take your eyes off the waves, put them on the One who is standing on them, and say what Peter said: "Lord, if it is You, command me to come."

He is saying, "Come."

He has never once let a sinking hand fall through His fingers. And He is not about to start with yours.

Next time, we get out of the boat and step onto the shore, and we discover that stillness was never the destination. It was the preparation.

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.