"be still and know that I am God"

I've been thinking a lot lately about what exactly it means when we are to be still before God. What exactly does it look like? How do I do that?

"Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

Being still is not something that I am good at. I always want to be doing something. But Go dhas been chalenging my lately with this. While all activity isn't wrong, there are times when I need to stop and just be in God's presence. The constant busy-ness and endless noise of our society can sometimes drown out this simple call to be still – to stop and just meditate on who God is and worship Him.

Moses uses similar words when he speaks to the Israelites in Exodus 14. He is speaking to a nation that has just fled from slavery in Egypt and is now stuck in a seemingly impossible situation – they have Pharaoh’s army approaching on one side and the Red Sea on the other. In fear they cry to Moses asking why he brought them into the desert to die when they could have just as easily died in Egypt as slaves. Moses says this in response to them in verses 13-14:

“Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (emphasis mine)

In the midst of their fear and panic, Moses tells them to “be still, because God will fight for them.” It seems almost to be a strange command in the situation that they are in. But, they are being called to stop trying on their own and allow God – to concentrate on just being in the presence of God as He fights the battle for them, rather than scramble and panic and try to do it themselves.

As I was thinking about these two Scripture passages, which seem at first glance to be quite different, I started to notice a similarity between them. They both talk about a need to be still before God. When we learn to be still before God in our everyday life, it becomes easier to be still before God and trust Him to act when trouble comes our way.

I know when I’m in a situation where I appear to be stuck, much like the Israelites were in Exodus 14, I often react as they did – with fear and panic and even anger. But, I have also heard God say those same words to me that Moses said to Israel: “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” That’s so counter-intuitive in those situations! I don’t want to be still! And so I often make things worse by trying to win the battle on my own. But, I also know that the few times (fewer than I would like there to be) I’ve actually listened when I heard those words and allowed God to fight for me things have turned out for the better in the end.

"Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

My prayer today is that we would better understand what this means and that we would learn to take time to be still before God, rather than this constant activity that we have come to see as normal.


(Disclaimer: For those who read my posts on the Alive Minstries webpage http://www.alivebc.com/, much of this post is the same as what I posted there recently.)

God's will

On Monday night at Alive, Mike started a series of messages on how to know God's will for your life. What he said on Monday was really nothing new to me, but it was good to hear and be reminded of it all again.

Then at Life Group (Bible study, caregroup, home group, whatever you want to call it) on Wednesday we were talking about it more and I got to thinking. I was struck by a really cool thought, and that is, I know that for right now, I am doing God's will for my life. I know that He has called me to do what I am doing. I thought that was pretty cool.

I'm not doing exactly what I thought I would be doing a few years ago. When I began my business degree, my intention was to finish it and then go on to a professional accounting program and become a tax accountant (I know, a little wierd). But, upon finishing my degree I just wasn't finding work in the right places to get started on that. After a bit of a detour with just doing some basic bookkeeping for a repair shop, God finally got me to where I now know He wanted me from the beginning . . . working in sort of a behind-the-scenes way in ministry. Yes, I sit at a desk and deal with numbers all day, but no ministry of any size happens without people who keep track of the money and all that kind of stuff. I know that, at least for now, this is where God wants me!

This doesn't mean I don't have dreams of other things, that I also feel are from God. Some of you have probably heard me talk about some of them, the main one being my desire to see the average church person have the skills to take things that a preacher or teacher says and go back to their Bible and check the accuracy of those things for themselves. This is something I have a huge passion for and it drives to do what I can now. I have no idea if some time in the future I will be called to do this for my work. Right now I know it's something I am called to do in my non-work time.

I won't say that figuring out God's will for my life has been easy. It hasn't. But, I do know that it is worth seeking out what it is, because when you figure out what it is, there is nothing that can compare to it!

learning patience

So, this past week or so has most definitely been a week of learning patience for me. I have thought in the past that I was a patient person, but this week I realized I had much to learn in this respect.

It started with an email virus that wiped out my entire email address book. And, of course, I didn't have most of those addresses saved elsewhere . . . something now changed. But, I had to hunt them all down again (many hours wirth of work) and then re-enter them. I enterd them all, only to find the next day that the same virus had wiped out my address book again! I had spent enough time dealing with all of this already and now I had to again.

On top of that, I was trying to do this all with a wrist brace on (which for those of you who have never experienced it, it makes computer work difficult and awkward). I just wanted to get all of this done and everyone's email address re-entered and all that back to normal, but I eventually had to just stop working on that and wait until I was better able to type.

See, I have tendonitis in my right wrist and have been told that I'm headed for carpal tunnel syndrome very quickly if I'm not careful . . . absolutely the last thing I want with my career involving computers. Well, this past week I was paying for overuse of my wrist and wearing my wrist brace all the time . . . and not to thrilled about it (just ask my roommates who probably heard more than they wanted to about it).

The combination of these things meant things weren't exactly the way I wanted them to be and there was nothing that I could do about it. I had to be patient and wait until I was able to type again to be able to re-enter all the email addresses I had tracked down.

Needless to say, I learned very quickly that I'm not as patient as I thought I was. It was a humbling experience to realize that . . . and I know now that it was a lesson that God wanted to teach me and He used it to draw me closer to Him.

One of the few things I could do when I got home from a day of work this week was read my Bible, pray, and just spend time worshipping God. It was what I needed to do this week. I had been falling into the trap of my only time in the Word being the time I spent preparing for leading a Bible study or writing something . . . which isn't good. You don't hear God speak to you when that's the only time you're in the Word, because you're not trying to listen to God for you, you're looking for what it says that speaks to the topic you're preparing to lead a Bible study on or write something on. You miss so much of the Bible this way!

At the time, this was a frustrating week, but as I sit here now and reflect on it, I realize that it was a week that God used for His purpose. To teach more about patience. And to draw me back to Him and renew my desire to spend time with Him just for the sake of being with Him. There is nothing more that I can say, than "Thank You Lord."