Being Still

While I was at home this morning, the power went out. Usually it comes back on in seconds. But this time it was off for 10 minutes at least. So there I was, in stillness. The radio was silent. The refrigerator stopped vibrating. Fans stopped moving. I was in stillness. For a couple moments, my mind raced trying to make a plan for no power. I thought: don’t open the frig to preserve the chill inside. Go check the main circuit breaker box. Then I thought – pay attention. This is what stillness is like. NO humming of electronics or motors. NO vibrations. NO distractions or entertainment or overload of incoming information. I was being still in mind and body. It only took a tiny bit more focus to also be still in spirit, by focusing on God – on any quality of His character or any small passage of His word, on His story.   

Our Creator God made us and knows how we best function. He commands us to “Be still.” Be deliberate about being totally quiet within ourselves so that we can Know He Is God. Be still and see – see that He is God and we are not. That our problems, as real as they are, are finite and small in the context of Who He is. He is big, powerful, loving and full of grace toward us. Be still.  

This being still is different from eastern meditation or yoga. It’s different because it is not about being empty of mind but about knowing. Be still and know. Know the One who told Moses His name is “I AM.” Know the One who loved His people so much He sent His Son to pay the price for sin for them. Know the One who promises to never leave or forsake us. Know the One who promises to heal the broken hearted. Know Him.

You know the verse that recommends stillness: “Be still and know I am God.”

God is our refuge and strength,     an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way     and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,  though its waters roar and foam     and the mountains quake with their surging. Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,     the holy place where the Most High dwells…

“Be still, and know that I am God;     I will be exalted among the nations,     I will be exalted in the earth.”

 The Lord Almighty is with us;     the God of Jacob is our fortress.  Psalm 46:1-4, 10+11.

Judy’s condensed version: in times of earth-shaking, life changing trouble, be still. Notice that God is God. That knowledge is like a strong fortress of protection for you. No fear.