Stand Still

When I wake up in the morning, I try to thank the Lord for another day because our mercies are new each day and once more I woke and have the honor and blessing of spending time alone with God. There are three things I have learned from our Jewish brothers and sisters that I try to do daily as I come before the Lord. Those three things are:

1. I sing to the Lord, “Shaviti Adonai L’negdi Tamid. I will sing this a few times. Basically what I am asking is for the Lord to go before me and for me to see things through His eyes. I want to see the whole world the way the Lord sees it, and this includes each person.
2. The second thing I do is sing the first part of the Shema. Shema Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad. Baruch shem k’vod malkhuto le’olam va’ed. The Shema is an affirmation of faith, but to me it is so much more.

Shema is usually translated as listen in our bible but it is so much deeper then just listening.

Shema is about hearing God, obeying God, perceiving Him. When I sing it out loud I am telling myself to listen to Him, to obey, to perceive to consider. I am also singing this to my brothers and sisters Israel, those that are the olive branch and those that are grafted in because I want us all to listen and obey.

Another word that is really important to me in the Shema is echad.

This word is usually translated as one or unity. In some English translations of the Shema they will translate it as “the Lord is one”, it can also be translated as “the Lord alone”. When the bible talks about marriage and the two becoming one flesh, that word is echad and you could also say the two are unified, the two are apiece or the two are together. All of these would be correct.

This is a clip from Hebrews4christians and I’ll link the whole page but this explains a little bit about this first section that I sing in the morning.

3. In the gospel of Matthew is the Lord’s prayer. Three times a day, faithful Jewish men and women prayer “The Amidah” or “The prayer”. I’m not going to go into details about this prayer but it’s basically 19 blessings divided into 3 sections. These 3 sections are praise, prayer requests and gratitude/thanks.

During the time of Jesus, Rabbi’s would teach their students a shortened version of the Amidah and that is what Jesus was doing when He gave the Lord’s prayer. In the morning I pull up a version of “The Amidah” that I use as a power point for me to praise and give honor to God. It helps me because I remember to pray for those that are sick, I remember to pray for Israel. I personally need that type of structure to keep me on point at times.

What does this have to do with standing still?

One of the sections of the Amidah is titled Tefillah which is usually translated as prayer. It is derived from the root Pe-Lamed-Lamed and the word l’hitpallel, meaning to judge oneself.  It’s about looking within yourself. Let me share the Hebrew perspective on tefillah:

When I come to this section of the prayer, it does become a joining together of mind and spirit. I used to just lift my prayer requests up to the Lord and I hoped He would answer them. Many of them I wouldn’t leave in His hands for very long before I would take them back and try to fix things myself. Then I would cry out to Him, “Why won’t you answer my prayers?”

The truth was I had only learned to stand still in some areas and wait. I would pick and choose what I could wait for. God wants us to trust Him in every crisis even if it doesn’t make sense.

The LORD makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in him;
²⁴ though he may stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand. Psalms 37:23-24

Firm is the Hebrew word kun.

If we are trusting in Him our steps are firm, they are appointed, directed, ordered and provided. They are reliable, rested and strengthened. When you are not trusting in Him they aren’t reliable, rested or strengthened and its why we feel exhausted. This has been a really hard lesson for me. I believe that God had to let me wear myself out until I was so sick I had no choice but to say “Help me” and to surrender to Him.

I used to read about Israel’s Exodus from Egypt and I would shake my head and say, “How many times do you have to make the same mistake over and over?” I would wonder how they could complain and doubt God when they could literally see a pillar of fire and a cloud. But we all do that to Him in one way or another. How many times have you prayed or a financial miracle? How long did you wait for that miracle before you tried to find help somewhere else?

The Lord led Israel to a spot between Migdol and Pihahiroth where they were cornered. The Egyptian army is coming at them from the only direction they can run and at any time they could have just stood still and trusted in the Lord. The Lord didn’t need the Red Sea to wipe out an army. God led them to a place of bitter waters, they could have asked the Lord for fresh water nicely, they could have trusted the Lord to provide. He led them to a base of a mountain where He planned to marry Himself to the people and give them a covenant. All they had to do was wait for Moses to return and when they began to question if he would return they asked for an idol. All they had to do was stand still.

² Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. Deuteronomy 8:2

If we don’t learn to stand still and Shema, then how do you really think we will do in battle? How will we know which direction God is telling us to go? How will we sync ourselves with His timing?

¹⁴ The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Exodus 14:14