Be Still

Psalm 46:10

Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

This morning the Father said, "Be Still."

This is very different from saying, "Be Quiet."

Being a teacher of young children I spend much of my day telling them to be quiet. Being the father of adolescent children I often hear them telling each other, when in the midst of an argument, to, "Be Quiet." Generally the words are not what I just said. "Shut up...." is usually the phrase of choice. Anyway you look at it this is not what the Bible means when it says "be still."

One very important spiritual discipline I learned early in my life as a believer was the discipline of stillness.

We are often told that we need to spend time with God but due to our reaction to legalism we often reject any kind of spiritual discipline as a means of growth in grace. I have personally found that daily disciplines of prayer, devotion and bible study have been the very fabric of growth in my spiritual life. "Being Still" is a part of all three.

While I said that God asking us to,  "Be Still" is not the same as Him telling us to, "Be Quiet", being still does involve quietness where possible. There is so much noise in our world. Perhaps the greatest noise is that from our own soul. I find it takes a very concentrated, focused effort to turn it all off and place our attention on what matters. But the rewards are great for doing so.

Our scripture tells us that being still is directly related to us knowing God in all His Glory. We must focus on God to comprehend him. This is no different than our relationship with others. No relationship can ever move beyond the surface if we do not spend time with each other focusing on the other.

The primary relationships we have are often given the least amount of our time. This is why they often fail.

When we were first getting to know a person with whom we were interested in building a primary relationship we spent lots of time together talking, sharing our thoughts and dreams for the future. We spent time just being together. Then when we got married or became solid as friends we thought we did not need to "be still" with each other. Almost from the moment we stop taking concentrated, focused time to spend in solitude with each other - "being still" with each other - stopping the noise that takes us away from each other's attentiveness - the relationship begins to die.

It is not strange to me that so many people end up involved in adulterous relationships in our generation. Not only is there a God Shaped hole in us, we are created with a spouse shaped hole as well. When it is not filled continually with the one we chose to be our life partner it will be filled with someone else. That someone else will be someone we spend time with. People fall in love with people they spend time with. That is why so many affairs are with people that work together or are involved in ministry together. The only way we can keep this from happening is to continue to fill the spouse shaped hole inside of us with our spouse by "being still" with them.

The same is true of God. Other gods will take His place if we are not filling our souls with Him on a moment by moment basis.

You may say that not everyone who does not spend "be still" time with their spouse ends up in adultery. That is true. But they end up in loneliness and isolation. The same is true with God. We may be able to maintain an outward obedience to God without intimate "be still" time with Him. But it will be a more dutiful and religious relationship. He wants us to know Him so deeply. And he wants us to be known by Him in that same way.

The only way we can reach that place of intimacy is to "be still" with Him.

On a practical basis I find that spending time with God as early in my day as possible is the best. It sets my heart on Him for the day. When I first became a believer I began to pray that He would be my first thought of the day. Soon He was. When He was not I found that whatever took His place was a noise in my soul that needed to be stilled. I still walk in that joy even after over forty years of belonging to Him.

Whatever moves us away from our focus on Him is noise that needs to be stopped.

I remember so well one period of time where I had a choice to make that showed me how important keeping this principle was. I started my daily "Be Still" times as soon as I got up. They were and are the best times of my day. When I was in university I had a wonderful band director who became a real friend. He loved sports cars. He owned an Austin Healey that needed a lot of repair but was well worth the investment even then. He wanted me to have a car so he gave it to me. All I had to do was pick it up in two weeks. The morning after he told me he wanted me to have it I went to have my "be still" time. Instead of God showing up the Austin Healey arrived. I imagined fixing all the different parts on it. I painted it a nifty color of metallic blue.... my favorite color. I drove it around with my girlfriend and everyone on campus thought it was so cool.  I did a little reading and prayed a short prayer but did not notice that I did not connect with my saviour at all. This went on for a week. One morning I felt so drained and lifeless. I realized that I was missing God like crazy and my heart was growing dim to His love. I found myself being irritable and having some temptation issues that I had not experienced for a while. I tried in vain to "be still" with Him but made no connection. When the Austin showed up I felt a bit of delight but suddenly realized it was the problem. I had been spending time with my Austin to the neglect of the real love of my life. I tried for several more days to get the Austin to go away without success. Finally one the day before I was going to pick it up. I asked the Lord to show me what I had to do to get back to the place with Him I had before. He said, Give me the car." That day a burnt offering went to heaven. I willingly and joyfully gave the one who I could not live without what I could not live with. I called my band director and told him how much I had appreciated his gift but that I could not accept it. The next morning I had the most wonderful time of joy in the Lord's presence.

This pattern has kept me from so many things that would have destroyed my life. As I have come to a place of stillness with Him, leaving behind what ever disturbs our relationship I have found His peace to be precious beyond anything else.

Now when He says, "Be still" I know it is not a rebuke but an invitation to come away with Him to the secret place where we share quiet moments that no one or thing can steal the joy we have together.