Be Still

If you’re a parent, no doubt you have said these words to your child(ren) at one time or another – in actuality, you’ve probably said it more times than you can count.

When they get excited, they can’t contain themselves. They wiggle and worm their bodies around; they fidget and fuss; they shake and shimmy; and all it takes is the word that they can get up and go and you’d think they had been shot out of a cannon!

And then they are off into their own world, not paying any mind to what is going on around them, only whatever it is that they were so focused on. After a while, they become weary of it and are once again looking around for the next thing that will capture their attention. They go from happy to discontent, searching for something more, in a relatively short period of time.

How often have I been like that with God? Sitting and waiting for an answer about something I want, something I think I must have. Wanting more…and often more than I need or am supposed to have according to his will. I wiggle, I fuss, I beg, I plead…please, God…just let me have this; let me do this; let this go my way. If he doesn’t seem to answer, or if he’s not giving me the answer I want, I stick my fingers in the pot and start meddling. Oh, at first I just put in one finger, but after a while my whole hand is in there mixing it all around, trying to get it just the way I think it should be.

Often prematurely, my mind tricks me and tells me that God has said “ok fine…go!” And I’m off and running, without thought, without thanks, without truly considering if this is his will.

But then I find out that he didn’t say GO; he said BE…. BE STILL! Please child, just be still… wait…quit fussing…

• Psalm 46:10 says: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

• Psalm 37:7 says: “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”
To be still means to:
• Be silent, be calm, rest, cease, settle, quite down, hold your tongue, be peaceful

It also means to:
• Wait, forbear, let alone, cut off, cut down

And to:
• Remain, bow down

When I truly stop and listen to him, I amazed to find contentment in just him. Not in things, not in people…only him. I silence myself, I silence the world around me, I silence the enemy’s whispers. I settle down and rest in Jesus. I don’t speak. I wait. I remain in his presence. I bow down. And then…

There is glorious communion with my God. He holds me; he loves me; he tells me that I am his. He tells me that I am beautiful, made in his image. He encourages me; I know I can do all things he sets before me. He listens to me; he understands me. He knows my every thought; all my needs, all my pain, all my joy…he knows it all!

In the busy-ness of life, it’s so easy to miss hearing his voice. But there is one thing you must do first.

Two little words:

BE STILL.