Life is busy! Between the demands for our time and attention, it can be difficult to be alone or know how to quite ourselves. Even in our alone time, our minds constantly play our “to do” list over and over. Mental health experts agree that there are tremendous benefits of having down time. As a matter of fact, this was God’s recommendation.
Psalm 45:10 bids us, “Be still and know that I am God”.
Being still is the opposite of go, go, go. It is being comfortable in your own company and knowing how to quiet yourself. These times allow one to explore the impossibilities, get in touch with your passions, and your deepest desires.
If we do not know how to truly be still – not just sitting in one place without moving but to truly quiet our mind – we may miss the presence of God. God is always speaking; however, we often miss what He is saying because we are too busy to listen.
Psalms 37:4 tells us that if we, “Delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart”. Being still in God’s presence and delighting ourselves in Him will open our deep passions. This is where we will be energized. This is where God will meet us. The more we make room for God, the better we get to know ourselves and our deepest motivations – And it begins with being still.
I love the account of Elijah in 1 Kings 19, where God tells Elijah to go and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord because the Lord is about to pass by. As the story continues, there was a great and powerful wind, much like a tornado, but God was not in the tornado – there was a tremendous earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake. There was a flaming fire, but God was not in the fire. After all these loud disturbances, finally there was a small whisper and that is where God spoke.
In the busy loud life, we often get caught up in the boisterous commotion, clamorous environment, and sensationalism; however, this is not where we will find God. Let’s allow ourselves to be still and quiet and listen to God. He has something to say.
Rhonda L Smart – [email protected]
