“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
There was a great quietness in Christ, when He walked this earth, because He lived perfectly, securely, and sufficiently in the Father. As a man, He derived His peace from the God and Father of peace. This is why when assailed by the accusations of his enemies, His reply was always with tact and great self-control, firm and yet gracious. There were times when His zeal for the Father’s glory manifested itself in the turning over of the tables of the merchants in the temple, declaring to them that instead of being a house of prayer, they had made it into a den of thieves. Still, in the midst of a storm at sea, we see Him rise from sleeping, to confront the enemy who would cause the wind to blow and the waves to rise to destroy Him and His disciples. His rebuke of the wind came from the depths of a calm given to Him by the Father. In any study of the quietness of Christ in His demeanor, and the very evident calm in which He lived by the Spirit, there came forth the unveiling of the perfect man, and yet the great “I AM,” for by nothing was He persuaded to turn aside from His Father’s will and purpose. In every confrontation with His enemies, in every face to face encounter with the diverse needs of men and women, and children, He remained steadfastly calm, waiting upon the Father for His word, and His enablement by the Spirit, to do the will of God. Nothing was too difficult for Him, and nothing took Him by surprise. His calm and peace resided in His communion with the Father by the Spirit. Out of that calm He would overcome every obstacle and accomplish any and every work given to Him by the Father, especially that of going to the cross to be the sacrifice for sin, the sins of the whole world. Only Christ, resolute and firm in His pursuit of His objective, could overcome any and every obstacle in the profound quietness of the strength of His Father, by the Spirit. He has thus laid out for His disciples such a path for them to follow, a path of following in His steps, with the same demeanor, determination, and desire. How then is the believer, the disciple of Christ to know and live in this blessed calm of His presence, for God’s glory and the accomplishment of His will?
One begins as Christ began, being IN the Father, and the Father in Him. That which took precedence over everything else in Christ’s life and ministry was His abiding life in His Father by the Spirit, living in absolute dependence upon the Father for every need. He lived in the blessed calm, goodness, and mercy of the Father, because there was NO ONE else in whom He would trust, rely upon, and be submitted to. It is the same with the believer who has been placed into living union with Christ, for only by virtue of this union, and the desire and willingness to abide in, and receive, all from the Father, will the blessed peace of God, and His calm, be revealed in the life.
Practically speaking, how is abiding in Christ to be realized? The experience of knowing Christ begins with an accomplished fact, or truth. In John’s gospel, the Lord Jesus told His disciples: “At that day, you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” (Jn. 14:20) The first thing is to trust the Father to make real this blessed truth of one’s union with Christ. Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places is IN CHRIST, and the believer is IN HIM.
Secondly, since all is IN CHRIST, then all is provided for the believer to receive by faith.
Thirdly, it is in seeking, receiving, and resting in Christ, that His calm is known.
Dear Father, Grant us Your calm. In Jesus’ name, Amen.