“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalms 46:10
"The idea is something like this: "As you know the glory and greatness of God, stop your mouth from arguing with Him or opposing Him. Simply surrender." (EWC)
"In this setting, "be still and know that I am God" is not advice to us to lead a contemplative (expressing or involving prolonged thought) life, however important that may be... It means rather, 'Lay down your arms. Surrender, and acknowledge that I am the one and only victorious God." (Boice)
Surrender - the action of yielding one's person or giving up the possession of something especially into the power of another.
Yielding one's person!? And now I know why I cannot be still.....sigh ...
I'm guessing there would be those that look at me and think:
•You have a nice house
•You don't have financial concerns
•You are your own boss
•You can do whatever you want
•You're RETIRED
•You have TIME
All of the above statements are actually true. Does that mean I have a carefree life? No struggles? Abundant bliss? Hardly.....Am I blessed? Beyond measure. Do I struggle? In a nutshell...yes......
Those "freedoms" came at a very high price. With the exception of my house none of them are because I asked for them. All are a by product of great loss. And when great loss is attached it is incredibly difficult to separate.
So what is your greatest struggle right now? For me, it's TIME. Yours may be time as well. I look at my daughter's life....four children, a full-time job, a home.....never enough hours in the day. Me? Every waking hour is in need of filling. At least that's the way I see it. If I'm not DOING something I'm lazy. I'm wasting time that could be better spent. Surely I could be serving the kingdom... God, where are these grand plans I thought you'd have for me? Why am I sitting here AGAIN?
Ahhhhh......BE STILL.....and KNOW.... surrender EVERYTHING to me.....open your hands.....don't hold so tightly to that which was never yours to begin with.
I have great desire to serve God's kingdom. I assumed that's what I would be doing. In my human thinking it doesn't look like it to me.....I have too much downtime.....I'm wasting opportunity....but where is the opportunity??? (Yes, three question marks represent frustration.)
On Christmas Eve I read a devotion in a book I've clung to for the past six years....and, in God's perfect timing, he addressed this issue of time.
"As the people of God, we have become entirely too practical. We believe in having "all our irons in the fire" and that all the time we spend away from the anvil or fire is wasted time. Yet our time is never more profitably spent than when we set aside time for quiet meditation, talking with God, and looking up to heaven. We can never have too many of these open spaces in life --- hours set aside when our soul is completely open and accessible to any heavenly thought or influence that God may be pleased to send our way."
"We should have intervals of time when we do nothing, think nothing, and plan nothing but simply lie on the green lap of nature and "rest a while".
"Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
Mark 6:31
"Time spent in this way is not lost time. A fisherman does not say he is losing time when he is mending his nets, nor does a gardener feel he has wasted his time by taking a few minutes to sharpen the blades on his mower. And people living in cities today would do well to follow the example of Isaac and as often as possible visit the fields of the countryside, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. After having grown weary from the heat and the noise of the city, communion with nature is very refreshing and will bring a calming, healing influence. A walk through a field, a stroll by a seashore, or a hike across a meadow sprinkled with daisies will purge you of the impurities of life and will cause your heart to beat with new joy and hope."
Excerpts from: Streams in the Desert December 24
Jesus models perfectly for me how precious it is to spend time in silence and communion with the Father.
Now, again, God is showing me how to "convert" my head knowledge (what I've read many times and know to be true) into heart KNOWING (taking to heart and LIVING the TRUTH).
This has been a season of life I'd never have expected. It's a season that's been hard to walk. It's been confusing.....but ... it's also given me an amazing opportunity to seek the Lord AND it's given me the ability to look more compassionately on those whose outward appearances look like they've got it all together but, like me, may have internal struggles I know nothing about.....
I find myself, yet again, grateful. For if the painful lessons of this life lead to greater understanding of my God I'm all in.
Be still.....