Be Still…..

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10

Be still….such an easy directive, but in this day and age, it is a difficult concept. The Passion Translation says it like this, “Surrender your anxiety! Be silent and stop your striving and you will see that I am God. I am the God above all the nations, and I will be exalted throughout the whole earth.” Be silent. Stop. Your. Striving. Why is this such a difficult task for us to accomplish? Between running errands, work, household chores, running the kids to different places, trying to catch up on our favorite TV shows, losing hours just scrolling between Facebook and Instagram, appointments, meetings….the list just keeps going….so much to do, so little time.

God asks us to be still. To stop striving. And THEN we will see that He is God. With everything that is going on in the world today, it’s hard to see past the panic of the virus, and the quarantine, and the lock down, and the need for toilet paper, and the……. Hard to calm our minds. Hard to be still.

As I was on my morning walk yesterday, listening to worship music, and looking at the world around me as things began to come to life for the day, God was speaking to me. Through the words in the songs, through the different things that I was seeing around me. Speaking to me with a still, small voice. I started snapping some pics with my phone to help me remember the things that He’d been speaking to me. STOP. The stop sign is what brought Psalm 46:10 to mind. BE STILL.

This has been a challenging thing for me to learn. In the silence and the being still is when some of the hardest things come up. I see myself and all my “flaws” so clearly. I don’t like it a lot of times, don’t like to see the “ugly” that I have hidden inside of me. The things that get ignored and pushed down when I am in the normal busy-ness of life. The stuff that makes me cry and the things that I know that I need to repent to God for. The thoughts that I’ve let creep in little by little, but after so much time of ignoring them, they have taken over like an unwanted vine. I know that it is necessary to look closely. So that I can work through it and move ahead. Be still. Stop striving. I keep reminding myself this throughout the day. During this time of “social distancing” I have begun to embrace it. To stop and listen to what God is saying. Through His Word, through the world around us, and, yes, even through the silence.

I would like to encourage you today to BE STILL and know that He is God. Even in the stillness where we wrestle with our true selves. He is God. Even in the “ugly” that we have hidden away. He is God. And in that stillness, when you stop striving, you will hear Him say, “I love you & I forgive you. I am your Strength, I am your Fortress, I am your Provider, I am your Healer, I am your Father. I gave my son to die for you. I love you.” He is so faithful. He never leaves us or forsakes us. He is the great I AM.

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10