Be Still

As a kid I think I was constantly told to “Be Still”! Admittedly, I was a serious wiggle worm with a propensity to keep moving. Sitting still was not on my daily list of things to do. Stillness is still not something that is always on my daily list of things to do. Being still is an art, and it is one that I have striven to cultivate in my own life. Our society values people who are on the go, and so do our churches. Scripture tells us to do things like: follow God, pursue righteousness, and flee from temptation.  All of these things require action. However, we are also told to “be still”. What purpose is served by being still? Psalm 46:10 tells us, “Be still and know that I am God.” Stillness allows us to put focus on God: the creator and sustainer of our souls. 

Sometimes I enjoy being still…quiet, aloneness, and introspective. I have found that stillness can be a state of the heart and mind, not of being. I spent a lot of time in my car driving back and forth to my mom’s house while she was terminally ill. I found this to be an incredible time of aloneness, and of thoughtful contemplation. I would often drive the full hour to her house and realize I had not even turned on the radio; I had been consumed by the stillness around me, and in that stillness, when we allow Him, God speaks.

“I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from Him. Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him”. Psalm 62:1 & 5

I can rest in Gods’ care for me, and can put my confidence in Him to give me hope and victory over whatever is going on in my life. Cultivating stillness allows me to spend time in quiet contemplation before God, allowing Him to speak into my life.

“Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me”.  Psalm 131:2

Instead of worrying about all manner of things, I can rest in God’s care for me, the way a baby relies on its mother for rest and nourishment. Then, weaned, grown away from milk, ready for more. My soul, having found its rest in God, is ready for more.