Summary of the Poem

“Be Still, and Know That I Am God: I Will Be Exalted Among the Nations”

The poem is a meditative expansion of Psalm 46:10. It calls the restless heart to cease striving and enter the profound stillness that alone enables a person to truly know God as the great I AM, the self-existent One who stands before and beyond all creation.

Against the backdrop of roaring nations, collapsing kingdoms, and the fleeting noise of human history, the poem contrasts the temporary with the eternal. Earthly powers rise and fall, storms rage and pass, but the voice that once measured the seas and set the boundaries of time remains unchanged and sovereign.

The central movement declares God’s ultimate triumph: every empire will become ash, every proud name will fade, and in the end every knee will bow and every tongue confess the same undeniable reality, “He is God.” Yet this exaltation is not achieved through louder noise, but through the quiet, irresistible weight of divine truth that outlasts all opposition.

The closing invitation is one of deep rest: because the throne of the Holy One can never be shaken and the Lamb will be exalted forever, the soul is free to be still, to cease its anxious striving, and to dwell in the unshakable peace of God’s final victory.

In essence, the poem moves from command (“Be still”) to revelation (“and know that I am God”) to consummation (“I will be exalted…forever”), offering both comfort in the present storm and unshakable hope in the coming glory.

Be still, though the nations roar like the sea,
though kingdoms collide and thrones cease to be.
The clamor of crowns, the shouting of men—
all of it fades when eternity speaks again.

Be still, weary heart, in the furnace of days;
the fire may rage, yet the Refiner stays.
The storm will be hushed, the earthquake will cease,
for the Voice that once measured the deep speaks peace.

Be still, and know—
not with argument, proof,
but with the quiet weight of unshakeable truth:
I AM.
Before mountains were born, before time began,
before the first heartbeat stirred in man,
I AM.

I will be exalted above every name,
I will be exalted when pride turns to shame;
from the ashes of empires, from altars torn down,
every knee will bow low and every tongue own:

He is God.
He is God.

So rest in the silence no chaos can break,
the throne of the Holy will never be shaken.
The ages will roll like waves to the shore,
and the Lamb will be exalted forevermore.

Be still.
And know.
He will be exalted.
Forever.