Be Still, and Know that I am God (Psalm 46:10a)

Be still! It takes stillness to know God, to reflect, to hear God’s voice, to think, to wonder, to worship, to gain wisdom..  In the busyness of our lives (or perhaps just in the distractedness) we have too little time to be still and quiet, to slow down and to allow our hearts to experience awe.

What does it mean to be still?  To be still is to be quiet. It is to “slow down” and add” breathing room” to our lives. It is to create awe and to recharge our heart. It is to provide us time to think and to listen – both to our God and to our spirit. It is to enable us to pray and to hear God’s tenderness, gentleness, and forgiveness.  It is to slow us long enough for us to see God and His strength and power and care. 

What difference does it make? Stillness brings peace in our world of tension and stress. It brings a quietness in our world of troubled hearts. It draws us closer to God and produces gratitude in our lives.  It allows the Spirit of God to minister to us through the Word of God. It brings us back into sweet fellowship with our loving God. It gives us the time we need to react and respond to life and to issues with wisdom and discernment. In a world filled with hasty tweets, shares and posts of opinions, taking time to be still would make a huge difference in our own lives and in the lives of all of those whom we influence.

What hinders it? Our busyness.  Our schedules are full and so is all of our extra time.  Our down time is just more busyness as we run from one event to the next and swipe from one entertaining screen to dozens more. Our distractedness hinders our stillness as well.  Our meals are filled with chirps and dings and background news reports. Our eyes are always focused downward and we rarely hear the voices of those around us. Our minds are numb with information overload and with information-nobody-cares. Our emotions are stretched thin as we swipe from sorrow to shock to hilarity and back to sorrow in matters of seconds. Our desire to be right hinders stillness.  We HAVE to comment and make our voice heard. We HAVE to correct all the perceived errors in the world. We are driven to share our view and to trump everyone else’s. Stillness is the answer! 

I say it again: It takes stillness to know God, to reflect, to hear God’s voice, to think, to wonder, to worship, to gain wisdom. 

My goal?  To be still more than I have been.  I invite you to do the same.

Thanks for reading.

Your friend,

Dave Young