"Be still and know that I am God..." (Psalm 46:10a). Stillness is growing extinct in our world. From the time our eyes pop open in the morning until the moment we drift off to sleep at night, our lives are in a state of perpetual motion. The vast majority of people have chosen to fill virtually every waking moment with sensory stimuli to inform, amuse, entertain, educate, and generally distract them so that they are rarely left alone to themselves ... or perhaps to God. It is almost as if they have decided that silence is the enemy.
Yet just the opposite is true. God often uses the silent intervals in our lives to speak to us.
According to the psalm writer, stillness and knowing God go hand in hand. It is virtually impossible for a person to know God if he does not stop long enough to hear Him. The word translated
"be still" is actually one that means
"to stop striving." It also carries the idea of
"relaxing" or
"dropping one's hand in surrender." These words were written against the backdrop of a world that was wracked with earth-shattering change, trouble, and fear. And into that context God spoke two simple words:
"Be still."
(Dale Losch, Crossworld, January 2011)
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