Be Still

“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” Psalm 46:10 (NLT)

By Alexandra Copeland 

Ecclesiastes 3:1(NKJV) tells us, “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven:" There’s a time to get busy doing the things that God has called us to do and the things that make our lives work. There is also a time to cease from all this activity, and be still; these are the times that many of us struggle with. We live in a society of a multitude of technological gadgets and apps to make everything easier and more convenient, yet we’re busier than ever. Many of us feel there’s not enough hours in a day to accomplish all that we need to. Carving out a decent chuck of time to get quiet and reflective seems like a luxury we can’t afford.

On top of this is our ever-shrinking attention span. It’s the byproduct of a preponderance of sound-bites, flashy commercials and videos that have overwhelmed our senses and collectively birthed an expectation and appetite for information on the double. Couple this with an already entrenched ‘I want it now!’ attitude, and you get a recipe for people who are no longer interested in looking under the surface for true meaning and substance. 

This on-the-go mode that we all seem to be operating under not only sounds exhausting, it is exhausting. We’re moving at a rate that doesn’t allow us to keep up with ourselves. We’re starving our souls and most of us don’t even realize it. Connecting with Heavenly Father is for sure the greatest luxury that life offers, and it is one that we cannot afford to miss. We need to indulge it increasingly in order to move through our existences with purpose and grace. 

Jesus Christ tells us in John 4:24 (NLT), “For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” God is to be worshipped, praised, trusted, adored, and reverenced. The emphasis is not on the place where we worship Heavenly Father. It is on our state of mind and heart. 1Corinthians 6:17 (NIV) tells us, “But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.”  Our at-oneness with God means that His love, strength, and power can flow through us and impact our lives and the lives of those we touch in a profoundly positive way. 

If we are in the business of living love through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, this must be our prime motivation. To empty ourselves of God’s good stuff, with the full assurance that He will continually replenish us is not only a great privilege, it is our responsibility as brothers and sisters of Christ. When it slips on the totem pole of our priorities, we are headed for trouble. 

  

We need to hear God’s voice
We cannot be at peace if we are disconnected from God’s reach. He tells us in Psalm 46:10 (NLT), “Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” It’s in the quietness of being still that we sometimes hear God’s voice the loudest. With so much going on in our world and with everything that we’re endeavoring to accomplish in the earth personally, we need desperately to hear from Him. Our aim should be one of strategically moving in seamless harmony with Christ. 

We need to grow spiritually
God is our Creator. He knows exactly what we need, and when we need it. We are designed in such a way that our souls need nourishment, and it is our sole responsibility to feed them. Jesus said in John 6:35(NLT), “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” We all hunger and thirst after spiritual goodies, even if we do not realize it. History has proven that humanity has attempted, and still attempts, to quench this hunger and thirst through many worldly methods, but this is always a futile attempt. Our souls crave the kind of spiritual nourishment that only Christ can provide; this is a truth that cannot be denied.

The world will not only disappoint us, but it will most assuredly leave us wounded, tired, and worn out from its craziness. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus Christ invites us to come to him with this heaviness, and he will give us rest. He tells us to learn of him, so we can live with grace and master life the way that he did. 

1 Peter 2:2-3The Message (MSG) tells us, “So clean house! Make a clean sweep of malice and pretense, envy and hurtful talk. You’ve had a taste of God. Now, like infants at the breast, drink deep of God’s pure kindness. Then you’ll grow up mature and whole in God.” We can’t behave as if we were created without a stroke of the Master’s hand. We are God’s workmanship, created for the good things He has planned. Like everything that He has created, we are to grow spiritually to be more like Him with each passing day, so that we will become spiritually mature and experience a wholeness that fulfills us in every way.

We need to be guided  
In John 16:13-15The Message (MSG), Jesus Christ was speaking with the disciples and preparing them for the difficulties that laid ahead. He told them, “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you. Everything the Father has is also mine. That is why I’ve said, ‘He takes from me and delivers to you.’”

We are not able to guide ourselves on a path that protects us and keeps us growing spiritually. God is an excellent Giver. He does not give us gifts that we don’t need. Through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, God has given us the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and direct us through life. The Holy Spirit is our friend and comforter. He receives communication from Jesus Christ, and then delivers it to us. This takes place internally. He operates inside of us, so he has a front row seat of the action. He knows what we need, and knows the traps that the devil has set against us. The Holy Spirit will navigate us away from danger, if we will follow his lead. Again, this is one of the important reasons why we need to be still, so that we can hear his voice. 

So often we find ourselves responding and clinging to God only when our lives have gone terribly wrong. He helps us of course, but He warns us to turn away from the world way before things get out of hand. He doesn’t want our tanks to run on fumes, because this is a sign that we’re not giving out of an overflow of His love. Psalm 37:7(NLT) tells us, “Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don’t worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes.”  There is never a time that we quiet our souls with the intention of hearing and receiving from Heavenly Father, that He does not deliver. Our reverence for His greatness calls us to quietness, and we should make the time, no matter how busy we think we are, to be still, and soak in His wonder. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. 

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. 

New International Version (NIV), Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.