Whose voice is loudest and 

which one are you listening to?

 

Be still. What picture comes to mind when you read those two words? Be still.

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

I have written about this verse before, but today it is in my thoughts again.

Being still is something I have great difficulty in doing. I don’t have any trouble being busy, crowding my days with activities, running back and forth from task to task. But being still? Not so easy.

It’s so difficult to be still in such a restless world. It’s such a challenge to stop and be still in a world that calls us to busyness, that pulls us along in its current of always needing to ‘do’ something or ‘be’ someone.

This year has been a very busy year for us. In February we made some changes in the direction of our transport business. Just after that, we had a local flood in our little town of Katherine. In June we had the wedding of our daughter, and now yet another wedding is in the planning phase for our youngest daughter. Another daughter is due to have baby number six any day, and another daughter is expecting her sixth in December. I have a Ladies Conference in just over 2 weeks that our church is hosting, and I am speaking for and that only begins to scratch the surface.

As you can imagine, I have felt like I’ve been pulled in a hundred different directions, and I feel like a dog chasing its tail. Running around in circles, not really accomplishing a whole lot except working up a sweat and panting in frustration. I just finish one task when another one hijacks my time.

Everything in me screams to keep busy, keep running, don’t stop, don’t rest.

Can anyone relate? Does this sound like your life at times?

What does God call us to do in this verse in Psalms? To be still.

Yes, there is definitely a need to be busy and get things done, but there is also a need for stillness. For quietness. For solitude. For focused meditation on God and his Word.

The being still in this precious verse, has to do with surrender, letting go, forsaking and striving no more.

”The word used here - from raphah - means properly to cast down; to let fall; to let hang down; then, to be relaxed, slackened, especially the hands: It is also employed in the sense of not making an effort; not putting forth exertion; and then would express the idea of leaving matters with God, or of being without anxiety about the issue.” Barnes.

Being still carries the idea of being quiet and easy, not fretful and impatient or restless, but resigned to the will of God. It doesn’t mean to be inactive and unconcerned, but quiet. A quietening of the heart.

My word for the year, that I chose in December of last year, is REST. And this ‘being still’ really reinforces the lessons I am trying to learn in this area. Surrender. Letting go. Taking time to breathe. And more importantly, taking time to sit in God’s presence, in stillness and with a heart of submission, eager to hear what he wants to say to me.

It’s been harder than ever to make time for quiet meditation and study of God’s word. The devil is very busy trying to thwart the plans of a time set aside for study, learning, connection and spiritual growth. But as one of God’s children, I need to make time for stillness.

To be still is a choice. And often it’s a hard choice. We are all carried along by the tides of busyness, and we all have important things to do, but there is a time to just sit, and be still. And more importantly, to be still and know that God is God. To take time to tune out of the world and into God. To listen for that still small voice.

It’s so hard to hear God speak when we are letting the world scream in our ears. God speaks in the stillness. The devil screams in our busyness.

We find this phrase ‘be still’ in another place in the Bible that is worth mentioning. Look how it is used here.

Mark 4:39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still.  And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

The difference here though is that in the Greek, these words, be still, mean to be silent or be dumb. So, in essence, hush or shut up. The Lord told the waves and wind to shut up! And I think sometimes, we need to just shut up, be silent and listen.

We fill our lives with so much ‘doing’ and not a lot of ‘listening’. We dart from one task to the next, always on the move, never resting, never stopping to catch our breath. But God requires us to come into His presence and just be still. To quieten our minds and our bodies and listen to what He has for us.

I think of Mary and Martha and the ‘encumbrance’ of Martha in contrast to the ‘quietness’ of Mary as she sat at Jesus feet. Mary chose the one thing that was needful. And that was to sit and be still and listen to the Lord. (Luke 10:42)

Sometimes we are intimidated by silence. It forces us to address issues we might be running from. It makes us stop and think. It causes us to focus on other things. But silence can be a great healer. It can be a time of communion with the Lord and gleaning guidance and wisdom from Him, without the distraction of a noise-filled world.

This is something I have been learning to do over the past few years. Sitting in the silence and letting God speak to me. I am becoming comfortable with stillness. I have begun to crave moments of solitude and times to sit and let God’s peace wash over my soul.

It has been said that we have upwards of 50 000 thoughts a day! And a lot of those thoughts are not healthy. They are anxious or fearful thoughts. We have to tell our minds to be still. To hush. To shut up! But quieting the mind takes practice. And it takes God’s help. We have to renew our minds and be transformed. (Romans 12:2)

Every day is a struggle. A battle of sorts. To keep our minds focused on God while we go about our crazy and hectic days. A constant renewing of our minds. A conscious effort of quieting our hearts and letting God speak to us. Of listening in the stillness.

If I can just force myself to stop and take the time to be still and surrender my will to God’s perfect will and sit down in body and spirit and really focus in on what He has for me, I find that the ‘noise’ quiets for a time and I am able to learn more about God’s purposes for my life and I find precious promises in His word that help me as I go about my day.

Sometimes I think that our being still is more like a little child that is sitting down on the outside but standing up on the inside. They’ve been told to sit, but there is rebellion in their heart as they only outwardly obey.

We sit still, we ‘look’ like we are quietly spending time in prayer and study, but on the inside, we are anything but still. Our mind is distracted; we are not focused on the words in front of us or the prayer on our lips. Our to do list is running endlessly through our mind.

Being still is not just an outward appearance. It is a matter of the heart. It is an attitude of stillness. If we are not going to quiet our hearts and minds, we might as well keep running. God sees us through and through and He knows whether we are truly being still.

And so, here I sit. At my computer. Quiet music playing from the speaker on my phone. The air conditioner whirring softly above me.

And it’s not because I have nothing else to do. If I could only explain what I am neglecting in these quiet moments, your mind might explode. The morning has been very busy attending to the admin side of the business, babysitting precious grandchildren, fielding phone calls, doing household chores and the list goes on.

But in a moment of quiet, with little ones off home and the dishes and washing now done, I felt the pull of my to do list, I heard its call loud and clear, but something else was calling me. Or should I say, someone else was calling me.

God was calling me to be still. He was calling me to lay it down and rest for a moment. Not sit and scroll but sit in his presence. Meditating on the Words of scripture. Listening for his voice. He was calling me to commune with him.

Can I encourage you to let God’s voice be the one you listen to? Busyness will scream at you. Your to do list shouts. And often God’s voice is quiet. But it is there. And he longs for you to make time for him.

Stop thinking about your to do lists, put down your phone, just for a moment. Sit before the Lord. Dwell on his holiness. Listen to his whispers to your heart. Ask for a heavenly perspective on whatever it is you are facing. Focus on his presence. Set your mind on things above. Take time to worship him. Read your Bible. And don’t just read it, study it. Learn from it. Write it down.

If we want to hear God speak to us, we must sit still before him and read his Word. We need to take time to cry out to him, laying all our cares at his feet and let his peace flood our soul as we soak in his mercy and love and goodness, bringing the much-needed rest we crave. 

Give yourself a piece of quiet. Give yourself a moment’s peace. Take time to be still. Do whatever it takes to make time to spend in God’s presence. It’s not only our bodies that need rest. We have to give our souls time to catch up. We need soul refreshing. We need renewal. And the only way we will get it is to get with God. Alone. In the stillness. Surrender your lists. Take a long, deep breath. Let God speak to you.

Stillness is not a lack of noise. It’s a time to pause and reflect on God’s presence in our lives and his goodness to us as his children.

Isaiah 26:3 KJV - Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.