Be Still. But How? 

In my last post, I talked about being still. But for those of you mothers, wives and daughters, whose days are filled with the urgent and the important, what does this being still look like in a practical sense? How does it play out practically?

I find, that it is not so much sitting down for an hour at a time and doing nothing physically, but it’s more of a stillness of the mind and spirit, where you stop and listen to the Lord and listen to him speak to you and take your focus off whatever it is that is distracting your mind, and simply wait on the Lord. Bringing your requests to him and waiting on his answer. Listening for that still small voice that can so easily be drowned out by the tumult of the days activities.

We are given many opportunities of quiet, but it is our choice to take hold of them. We have to be on the look out for them. Sometimes it may be a few minutes in the early morning before everyone is up, or maybe while hubby is at work, or the children are taking an afternoon nap. Even waiting in line at the drive through at McDonalds can be used as times to be still. Times that we can quiet our hearts in order to hear what God has to say.

I know that these times are not ideal and should never take the place of our daily quiet time with the Lord, but I believe that God would have us use our time wisely and grab hold of any opportunity to commune with him, whether it be seconds, minutes or hours.

Can I be honest with you here? I am often guilty of wasting precious time on Pintrest, or surfing the net, or checking emails unnecessarily, or reading the news, when I could be using those minutes to read God’s Word or pray or meditate on scripture.

It’s so easy in this day and age, to be distracted by the technology that is at our fingertips. That’s not to say that it is not helpful, but I fear that it has become a large part of our problem when it comes to being still and waiting on God.

 We fill our minutes with fairy floss, neglecting the meat of God’s Word. We don’t stop to listen to what God would have us do. We don’t take a few seconds to pray for someone in need as they come to mind. We casually go about life, content with our weekly church services and mid week prayer meetings, happy to sit and soak in the Word of God at these times, but we carelessly disregard the little snatches of time God gives us to sit and be still and know that he is God. These precious times are so important. Our days fly by and all too soon the opportunity is gone and we can never get it back. It is gone forever.

I know that we can’t always find an hour or two to study and pray, but those few minutes in the Doctor’s waiting room, or at the stop light, or waiting for someone while sitting in the car can be used as times to be still before the Lord and listen to him. We don’t always need quiet to be quiet. In other words, there doesn’t have to be dead silence around us for us to listen to the Lord. We just have to quiet our hearts. Quiet our minds. Be always tuning our ears to God’s still small voice. His whispers to our hearts.

God’s Word tells us to redeem the time.

Ephesians 5:16

 Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

The Greek word here in this context means to rescue from loss. Meaning, to rescue or recover our time from waste. To improve it for great and important purposes. Well, being still before the Lord is definitely a great and important purpose.

It’s not easy, in our busy world, to make time for the Lord. It’s not easy to be still in the chaos we live in. God never said our lives would be easy. But he did promise that he would be with us and never forsake us.

We can’t expect to live life, being swept along in the current of the world, never stopping to be still before the Lord and then expect his blessings. God blesses those who wait on him. He longs for us to wait on Him.

Psalm 27:14

 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage,

 and he shall strengthen thine heart:

wait, I say, on the LORD.

I encourage you to make the most of those little moments of time. Look for them. Be excited when they come. Don’t fritter them away in frivolous activity but use them wisely. Make them count for eternity. Be still.

The Voice Of God

When we hear the voice of God

Speaking to our hearts,

Do we obey and follow Him

Or are we slow to start?

For when the Lord speaks to us,

We need to heed the call

And do the things He wants us to,

Giving to Him our all

I know at times it can be hard

To know the Father's will,

We need to listen to His voice,

For He speaks when all is still

Many times we fret so much

And rush so much about,

We then find all our busyness

May cloud our Saviour out

So this is why we take some time

To be still before the Lord,

So He can speak into our lives

And show us so much more.

© By M.S.Lowndes