BE STILL
Eric Liddell, memorialized in the film Chariots of Fire, won a gold
medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics before going to China as a missionary. Some
years later, with the outbreak of World War II, Liddell sent his family to
safety in Canada, but he remained in China. Soon Liddell and other foreign
missionaries were interned in a Japanese detainment camp. After months of
captivity, he developed what doctors feared was a brain tumor.
Every Sunday afternoon a band would play near the
hospital, so one day Liddell requested they play the hymn “Be Still, My Soul.”
As he listened, I wonder if Eric pondered these words from the song: Be still, my soul: the hour is
hastening on / When we shall be forever with the Lord. / When disappointment,
grief, and fear are gone, / Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored. / Be
still, my soul: when change and tears are past / All safe and blessed we shall
meet at last.
That beautiful hymn, so comforting to Eric as he faced
an illness that led to his death 3 days later, expresses a great reality of
Scripture. In Psalm 46:10, David wrote, “Be still, and know that I am God.” In
our darkest moments, we can rest, for our Lord conquered death on our behalf.
Be still, and allow Him to calm your greatest fears.
God’s whisper of comfort quiets the noise of our
trials. (RBC)
