Peace! Be still!
Peace! Be still!
by Joel Howard
see Mark 4:35-41
There's a command in the open
There's a word spoken
Summoning silence
and peace within
Every word I say
Every care I bring
Peace you require of me
Peace you bestow on me
I felt it in the air today
I felt it as I prayed
No matter what I tried to say
You scolded it away
When Christ was sleeping in the boat
His friends all questioned him,
"Don't you see we're going to die!?
We'll perish by the wind!"
It is I who questions you as well
With doubts and ponderings
"Am I enough? Am I enough?"
To you my cries I bring
Each word I say, each breath I exhale
Defames your very name
"Of course, my child, I'm good enough
Now silence, and obey!"
When I ask if I'm enough
He states his qualifications
When I ask if I have enough
He brings his goods and displays them
When I state what others think of me
He lifts my chin to view his face
When I question my own history
He reminds me how he sets things straight
"Peace! Be still!" The command has gone out
Its thick and overtakes the air
"Don't say a word, don't breathe a worry"
"You think it? Behold, I'm there!"
David said it well himself
"Dear God, I shall not want"
"I'm not allowed to think about
The things that I have not"
"Fear not," "Be still," he says again
"Child, do not be afraid"
He made the starry hosts above
And calls them each by name
I cannot proceed obediently
I must here hold my place
It would be rebellion to press on
He's got me here, beholding his face
Each word I say, each thing I speak
He simply bats away
I cannot state a satisfactory word
Only silence is okay
Its as if the Father has me under
The shelter of his hand
Has hemmed me in and called me friend
I can't worry - that's his command
No, "But, God!", no, "But Lord!"
No ands, ifs or buts
Jesus is God, Jesus is Lord
He will be, is and was
I feel the fire, the holy flame
He's commanded me to this pasture
I must abide, I must drink deep
Of the affections of the Father
To the well I dive down, to the fountain I swim
To the depths of my Savior
This majestic place, this solitude
This bounty like no other
